Actually Jerry, if I can just take this discussion back a little bit.
Regarding the Landsknechts and their dopplehander swords (zweihander is the modern name, dopplehander is the historical name for these blades), to the best of my knowledge they were mainly used to cut through pike and halberd staves, rather than unhorse mounted soldiers.
The most common weapon carried by footsoldiers during the time of the landsknechts was the pike, in large formations. You have to get past the pikes before you can get to the people holding them . The dopplehander/zweihander swords were capable of cutting through a pikestave, leaving the pikeman holding a big stick (although many pikes and halberds had metal reinforcment for several feet behind the head). From the limited information I've seen, the sword would be held with both hands behind the guard for better leverage when cutting at pikes and halberds, and once the weilder was close enough to engage the men, he could put one hand on the ricasso in front of the hilt guard for more precise blade control. That's when those two small spikes (lugs) on the sides of a zweihander blade become useful. They act as a guard for the hand in front of the main hilt guard.
I'm not saying the swords couldn't cut a horse out from under it's rider, but that wasn't it's main use. There was a particular battle at Padua in Italy, although I forget the date, between the Germans and the French where the landsknechts successfully repulsed a French cavalry charge that threatened to force them out of the defensive position they were holding, but the cavalry would have been facing a combination of pikemen, halberdiers, either crossbowmen or arqebusiers (a very early form of matchlock rifle) as well as the dopplesoldners (the soldiers with the zweihanders, who were also entitled to double the standard rate of pay, which is where their name of dopplesoldner came from, not from the swords they used).
Regarding the Landsknechts and their dopplehander swords (zweihander is the modern name, dopplehander is the historical name for these blades), to the best of my knowledge they were mainly used to cut through pike and halberd staves, rather than unhorse mounted soldiers.
The most common weapon carried by footsoldiers during the time of the landsknechts was the pike, in large formations. You have to get past the pikes before you can get to the people holding them . The dopplehander/zweihander swords were capable of cutting through a pikestave, leaving the pikeman holding a big stick (although many pikes and halberds had metal reinforcment for several feet behind the head). From the limited information I've seen, the sword would be held with both hands behind the guard for better leverage when cutting at pikes and halberds, and once the weilder was close enough to engage the men, he could put one hand on the ricasso in front of the hilt guard for more precise blade control. That's when those two small spikes (lugs) on the sides of a zweihander blade become useful. They act as a guard for the hand in front of the main hilt guard.
I'm not saying the swords couldn't cut a horse out from under it's rider, but that wasn't it's main use. There was a particular battle at Padua in Italy, although I forget the date, between the Germans and the French where the landsknechts successfully repulsed a French cavalry charge that threatened to force them out of the defensive position they were holding, but the cavalry would have been facing a combination of pikemen, halberdiers, either crossbowmen or arqebusiers (a very early form of matchlock rifle) as well as the dopplesoldners (the soldiers with the zweihanders, who were also entitled to double the standard rate of pay, which is where their name of dopplesoldner came from, not from the swords they used).