Only way to afford playing heavy cav, is to jew the market place on a regular basic.... I think ive spent around 243k on upkeep the last 2 months of playing heavy cav. (Note: I only play maybe 1 hour a day or sometimes longer, but its rare)
My advise, have atleast 2 +3 items which you can juggle around with earning a little bit of gold each trade.
If not, then your bound to go bankrupt within a short time.
It sucks, but playing without armoured horses is suicide.... I fucking miss my Courser lancer, or 2h Arabian!
Hurrray for bodkin arrows.....
