So I tried out some mounted combat with the official patch and it looks extremely cool but it seems to not damage my target when Im right next it while swinging my sword. Im not going to say it never recognizes my sword swings but Its not consistent enough. Maybe its just my game, you guys let me know.

I'll have to check this out but mine didn't seem too bad at detecting hits.

Maybe but it was done for free in a patch and I think they have a limit to how much they can jam in a patch.and hell maybe they'll clean it up a bit with the dlc we'll have to wait and see.

Sometimes you hit your target and it just pushes them into the air and does no damage. It happens a lot for me. Hopefully they can fix that.

its just you.

I never really had this problem and I did alot of horse combat. I think when your doing a u turn around an enemy and trying to hit them may result in difficulty getting the attack right.

I keep on having to go around in circle in order to hit the buggers. With one blow from a dragon my horse died and I wasted 1000 septims. We need horse armour.

Do note that some mods interfere with the hit detection (meaning you can only hit things almost directly in front of you, rather than covering your whole side). Not sure exactly which type it is, but it may be mods that alter the Race records.

The issue with not having something like FNVedit or Fo3edit for Skyrim is that we lack the ability to compare differences in records efficiently. Bleh.

Melee combat is okay, but archery is just plain impossible, it seems to swerve to the left a little.

I noticed it is somewhat harder to consistently hit with shorter weapons. Try using a long weapon for a bit and see if it helps.

Funny thing, I can hit pretty well after the first arrow, at all ranges. Might have something to do with screensize though IDK.

I swatted a DB assassin quite easily from horseback. I didn't exactly have a 100% hit rate, but it was better than the assassin's

I was using my trusty skyforge steel battleaxe, I seem to remember someone commenting that two-handed weapons seemed more effective from horseback...

I imagine it would be impossible for the Thumbstick controls on the 360.

Slowing down time seems like a necessity if you want to be a horseback archer.

I honestly think people are misinterpreting the intention of Mounted Combat in Skyrim. It's not supposed to be a substitute for regular combat, it seems to just make horses less irritating by allowing you to beat down weaker enemies without dismounting. A real Fight on horseback against something like a Giant or Dragon, or even a group of bandits isn't going to end well for you or the horse.

I've noticed you have to be very close to the taget in order to get a good hit.
But so far, me and Shadowmere have been having great fun. We havent bonded like this since that time I saw my first Blood Dragon. Never pushed RB so fast in my life.

I have a tendency to "drag" my enemies with me when I'm trying to hit them.

I haven't done any mounted combat but this is something that happens to me a lot when fighting in 3rd person. That may have something to do with it.

In regards to Mounted Combat and hit detection problems on PC:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1382021-attention-mod-authors-mounted-combat-and-race-records/