SOLVED How do you use cavalry?

So I started playing AOE2 when DE was on sale for the lunar New Year and it's been AMAZING. One thing I'm having trouble getting my head wrapped around is how to use cavalry effectively as a cavalry civ. Conceptually I understand that they are high mobility units designed for hit and run tactics but in practice they get absolutely SHREDDED by pikemen. I know it's supposed to be a counter but pikemen are just so damn cheap and easy to mass and while I shouldn't just mash them into the enemy army, when they come marching on my town, I don't know how else to stop them as a cavalry civ. I guess my question is, do I not mass cavalry units as a cavalry civ and instead maintain an infantry core army with cavalry only as support?reverse phone lookupnba redditpcpartpicker