I think it is important to remember just how expensive it is to raise and manage a horse. In Rome there was only one group considered wealthier than those of eques status: those who qualified as senators.
Right now I could probably count myself as a euzonos with a helmet. After I get my DVM I could hopefully afford enough to be an upper-end hoplite. There is one member on the team that, assuming stocks don't keep falling, could probably get away as a heavy cavalryman of some kind.
Of course, historically this all depends on where you are.
An example would be that piss-poor farmer in Hellas could be a full-on phalangite if he migrated to Baktria. Plenty of opportunity, land to have, and bronze for armor is cheap because Baktria had tin mines.
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