Quote Originally Posted by Jaywalker-Jack
One of the most successful battlefield tactics in history. Just ask the Mongols.
Make that any and all steppe nomads (even the charge-crazy ones still had horse-archers up the wazoo), and not a few others besides. (Late Bronze Age Middle Eastern chariot tactics were heavy on mobile archery for example.) 'Course, asking any of the sedentary realms with the bad luck to have their lands next to the steppes would net you a masterclass lecture on how you fight such foes... the usual recipe appears to have involved a lot of foot missile troops backed up with spearmen and quality horse of your own, although some apparently did pretty well dispensing with the formalities and being so much better mounted they could simply run down (and through) the nomads.
For all their many good qualities, those little steppe horses were actually kinda short on carrying capacity and battlefield stamina after all.