Yeah, horses are so girly. 
Come on.
99% of the time people roleplay their nobles on horses? Really? I think that statistic is 87.5% completely made-up.
I don't know how you're defining "real gain" here. What's the real gain of having a captain with a name and everything? That captain is so girly an idea too, I mean he has a name, what's next, a barbie playhouse? 
If 99% of the time characters have horses, wouldn't that be a good reason to introduce them to the game, instead of a reason not to? Horses are kind of important in the Battlemaster type universe. Most of us play knights, after all. Knights have horses. It's arguably what makes nobles nobles; they can afford horses, and sitting up high on their horse they tower over the common people. But yeah. Girly.
You mean the Captains that improve our units and earn experience over time, yeah no idea what the real gain might be. Like most the people I RP with, yes we do assume we already have horses, several in fact since I don't like to wear out my powerful war horses while marching to the front, and marching on foot is for peasants.
