Cavalry charge?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I have been charged by Police horses (in training I add), it's very intimidating indeed, a 2 tonne animal moving at 20-30 km/hr straitght at you is a tad worrying.

[chrishanley]

In the mid-seventies I was a junior draughtsman in a drawing office which was very efficiently run by Mr Anthony Hards, ex Regimental Sergeant-Major of the Blues and Royals. As you could imagine, one of the most senior non-commissioned officers in the British Army, who after twenty-four years' service, (which included action in The Western Desert, The Italian Campaign and Normandy) had one or two wonderful stories to tell.

One of which involved the Colonel of The Regiment wanting to conduct a "Cavalry Charge". I'm guessing this was sometime in the fifties, defiantly post war. Anyway, a trench was dug long enough for half the regiment to take position, while the other half mounted up and from about five or six hundred yards away, charge the trench.

The idea was for the troopers in the trench to shoot volleys of blank rounds at the charging horses, ducking down at the last moment, as the horses jumped over the trench. However, it did not quite go according to the plan. Tony was one of the unfortunates in the trench and could not remember if they fired a single round, because he said, it was the most terrifying experience of his life... Apparently everyone took one look at this pounding, thundering, unstoppable avalanche and immediately found themselves groveling in the bottom of the trench thinking their last moment had come.

A wonderful man, sadly long passed away, but I wish I had had the opportunity to pour him a large whisky and sit with a tape-recorder while he was in full-flow.   

[FierceKitty]

Not so defiant, then?

[Heedless Horseman]

Loads of very sensible comments.
Techno...spot on about horse intelligence. One Holiday horse , ( I liked him!), had 'Great Heart'. My directions were to go AROUND the Big, Muddy Puddle but for some reason, he just 'Ploughed' straight through...(Bless him!?  ), but maybe it was deeper than HE thought! As the girl said, "We gave you a white horse...why have you got a Zebra?"  . Same horse Knew where there had been a 'Black Bag', or 'noisy tractor ' Last Year, and would look for it! Point is, If SOME horses WANT to  go through a 'problem'...they Will, however stupid it is to do so.
As for cavalry melees...in very open order, riders WOULD 'fence' once in contact...hence the wounds to the fore-arm...'Dis-arm' your opponent, (in whatever manner!), and continue.
As for massed 'Charges'...and to keep cohesion, that would probably have been at The Trot or even The Walk...until the very last seconds... Well, I was not there. However, MY thoughts are that the intention was to 'break' the opponent by sheer MASS before contact. A lot would depend on the time, weaponry and opposition, but as has been mentioned, cavalry can be very frightening to foot...and COWS can trample you in the wrong circumstances. If possible, get out of their way!   
In novels, ala Cornwell, etc. a single man CAN bring down a charging horse by a 'swing of a sword/axe/musket butt'...POSSIBLE, and probably DID happen...but I suspect that the 'hero' would have ended up UNDER a whole lot of crazed, dying Horse. On the other hand,..there were the Landschnects, with 'Horse Killer' swords...(VERY HIGH PAY!)? 
With massed cavalry...'Boot to Boot', the mass is enormous....both to the opponent, and to the horses involved. I SUSPECT (!), that, to a horse in a mass,  just as with a Naoleonic infantry Column, or 'Push of Pike', there is No Place To Go except forwards, however it may wish to baulk. Maybe I'm wrong.
Then, there are SPURS! NOT the modern ones...but, the truly Evil examples from the medieval and renaissance. Now, they 'could' have been a show of 'macho' but some have been found on battlefields. Some poor, bloody horse, in a block, with his flanks getting ripped by points or rowels, WILL go CRAZY...whatever spikes are in the way, it will not care, it MUST escape what is happening to it at that second...and, in a block, the ONLY way to go crazy is forward...   
Of course, a warhorse WAS a very expensive item, but to a Knight or Man At Arms, HIS life and PRESTIGE may have justified the sacrifice, in a battle which could 'set him up' for life.
Maybe the rule where you CANNOT charge formed infantry are right..(.unless you thow D6!)..but...
Poor, Bloody, Horses!   
Just opinions.