I liked Two Worlds very much mainly because of its excellent horse combat. Today I just remembered about the release of TW2 a year ago (not on GOG though). Can someone, who played the second instalment share his experience with the horse mechanics there? Has it been simplified or made more elaborate (=more fun)?

I haven't played it and not yet sure whether to buy it or not, but I can refer you to another thread here with some general discussion. I posted 2 links there I found especially useful, comparing the two aspect by aspect:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/two_worlds/two_worlds_ii_vs_the_original/post4

Among everything else, there's a comparison of horse mechanics there as well. I recommend you check it out unless horse was the only thing enjoyable in TW1 ;-)

For your convenience though.. :-) "You can't fight from horseback". Regarding mechanics in general there's more to it however... stamina bar, jumping over obstacles, you can fall of the horse if you "don't respect it"...

Edit: A patent-pending* ;) link leading directly to the section about horses on the page

http://twoworldsvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Editorials.Detail&id=72#horses