Quote Originally Posted by Watchman
Then again outside cataphracts and similar cumbersome superheavy shock specialists, and dedicated shock lancers, most period cavalry fully expected to fight (heavy infantry at least) primarily with hit-and-run tactics; hit them fast and hard, if they don't fold break contact and dress ranks for another go; repeat as long as necessary (ie. until the cumulative unnerving effect, ranged weapons etc. start doing bad things to the enemy formation).
I doubt that such tactics, involving combat contact, really were used to at least a little effect. The simple reason is that the horses won't do. How many charges they can make depends very much of their quality and the weight of the rider and his armour, but I would guess it can't be more than two or three. The other thing is, that is about impossible to get a unit that is involved in a melee out of the fight in good order.

So, when we find such describtion in books or sources we can either suppose that the author is using his imagination or that the fighting was done with ranged weapons (javelins, bows) and did not include melee combat.