When, at the end of August, in 216, Rome managed to cobble together four new legions to replace the losses of Cannæ, the result was legions of smaller numbers of men. Livy indicates that these legions too, were deficient in cavalry and Galsworthy suggests that this may have been the result of severe losses in The Equestrian Order.

As, only months before, The Equestrians had been unable to provide sufficient cavalry to the legions of Caius Terentius Varro and Lucius Æmilianus Paulus. it would seem that The Equestrians were at the end of their capacities. Not only had their cavalries been wiped out at Cannæ or sent to sit out the rest of the war in Sicily, but two more legions had also been wiped out in Cisalpine Gaul. The Equites were an order far less numerous than The Plebeians of the infantry and must have suffered a disproportionate loss in the events of 216. The strain imposed upon The Equestrian Order must have been overwhelming not just in money and horses, but also in the numbers of the adult male population of The order.

After Cannæ, in the years between 216 and 211, Rome miraculously managed to raise its forces to 100,000 infantry and 7,500 cavalry. Infantry, like The Valones, composed of slaves, could be equipped by the state, but the cavalry was still supplied by The Equestrian Order. Individual Equites might be financially aided by Patricians, but they could only provide so much and you cannot get a cavalry man by putting a slave on a horse.

At Cannæ, Hannibal had 10,000 cavalry. Whatever attrition may have occurred cannot have been great and might easily have been made up by the defections in the Southern Italian Cities and and the reinforcements received from Carthage at Locri in 214. Rome, at its best never fielded more than 7,500.

From the beginning of The Second Punic War until its end, though Rome was able to raise superior infantry forces, she never was able to mount an equal force of cavalry. This could only have been due to an archaic social system by which a limited socio economic group was the sole supplier of a vital military resource.