Well, I think the reason the new animation is in, is because the old one makes it possible for cavalry to be far away from the enemy when striking. This is both unrealistic and unbalanced. I always avoided using this attack even though I am light cavalry with lance and long hafted blade for when on foot. This is due to me atleast keeping some honour when fighting, the only dishonourable thing I do is strike horsemen who have fallen of their horse when they are down. Sadly, this is not the case for the average cRPG player, and the animation was changed to avoid people exploiting it.
That being said, I do agree that the new animation is a bit crap. My suggestion is give the long hafted blade the same abilities when on a horse as a spear. Only being able to stab with the blade would fix all of this.
