I think the issue both Cam and I are making is not that there should never be Cavalry on table at the start, but that in standard generic AB list game EVERY Division has lots of cavalry and barring 2 Nations it's on table from the start.
Another part of the problem is that Cavalry can basically try to ride over solid/undisrupted squares (and succeed far too often) with impunity. There is no incentive not to charge... So having cavalry present at the start of the game (a) when your opponent does not unbalances it; and (b) slows the game up in general. And the solution to (a) is not simply to have everyone have cav on table at the start...
I think I've mentioned it previously here, but personally I don't think Infantry Squares should be broken unless the Cav decisively beat them _AND_ they are down to their last DISR (or alternately beaten decisively isn't an auto-kill, the square instead takes 2 DISR and is only eliminated if it reached it's 4 or 6 DISR total as normal). It's ludicrous having Light Cavalry riding down completely undamaged (or lightly damaged 1 DISR) Infantry units that had formed square the turn before specifically to prevent themselves being ridden down - I did twice to Cam in our last game which is crazy!
And it's further exacerbated by the victory conditions which cause a flurry of such ludicrous charges near the game end once one side has passed it's break mark.
Also since square's aren't allowed to fire in Lasalle - and couldn't anyway with the existing game mechanics (what could 1 die do?) - there needs to be some other disincentive for them (i.e. cavalry) to think twice about frivolously charging every unit in sight, by default all cavalry in Lasalle is Impetuous around Infantry because there is no down side to charging (...Infantry - especially if in Square)! This is the point Mike has tried to make a couple of times, and as he has suggested cavalry that get decisively beaten by a square should perhaps suffer 2 DISR instead of just 1, partially to represent the Infantry's lack of opportunity to shoot, and partially to have them have to risk something by charging...
If you add these last 2 points to the basic fact that (standard generic AB list) Lasalle Games are disproportionately flooded with cavalry EVERY game it highlights that while the games may play okay from a game perspective, and everything seems to work how you'd expect in a Napoleonic Battle, the results simply aren't quite right from an historical Napoleonic aspect...
...and that I believe undermines their performance for Tournaments, even friendly ones, because it's just a Cavalry arms race...
:-)