what was the function of the Roman cavalry?

[xrubio]

For instance in the 17th century, John Cruso in his "Militarie Instructions for the Cavallerie", the standard manual used for cavalry in the English Civil War, wrote how to train a horse "to ride him against a compleat armour, so set upon a steak, that he may overthrow it, and trample it under his feet: that so (and by such other means) your horse (finding that he receiveth no harm) may become bold to approach any object"
In that period there are plenty of battles in which infantry was charged and routed by cavalry.

I think that 17th century is a clear example about the fact that horses can't charge against disciplined infantry. The standard way cavalry attacked at this century was the "caracole", where each row of cavalrymen fired its pistol at a close distance of infantry and retreated, without any physical contact. By the way they didn't gallop, moving horses at a fast pace without expecting any clash against steady infantry.

IMHO only medieval armored knights were trained to charge infantry from the first stages of a battle, but it can be explained thinking about the tactics of the era, and the fact that they in general were poorly trained and, following the concept that cavalry is a psychological weapon, could be broken easier than spanish tercios or napoleonic squares. When infantry tactics became more professional (english archers, dutch militiaman, swiss pikemen) the cavalry charge evolved to the tactics of 17th century.

Xavi