I think would be smart to buff cav by just giving it actual perk options.
Like
@NIN3 said, they need to be reworked.
For example, on decent level of gameplay you would always take a shield on the light cav, while its so stupid to build perks around the fact that "you can get stonger (by taking lance or longer spear) but you need shield drop from the archer". And this is not consistent - why does battanian cav get a shield and the other dont?
Aserai horse is garbage choice, much lower hp, slow, unlike camel cant just bounce from the walls.
Khuzait light cav - why would you need a bow perk? Why not just take a horse archer?
Another mention - differences in horse choices quality reletive to picking armor for the rider. While it could be OK choice to take armor for empire and vlandia light cav its absolutly NOT worth taking it for sturgia, khuzait and battania because you horse turns into garbage compared to perk option.