A nice game.
So yeah, pretty nice and addictive game, with nice graphics and sound. However, when you grasp the game-play mechanics the game ceases to be challenging, and if you go for the horse medal - the grinding becomes boring, as there is no real difficulty so it eventually becomes a test of patience/lack of better things to do with your time.
Here are some tips to ease the grinding process:
1. Polearms aren't important; neither are the mounts, so don't waste money on them - I just beaten the champ with the basic pole, so trust me on this one.
2. Invest your money in armor instead, and even then - there are only a few items you are aspiring to get if you try to get the horse medal - the Tin Flex helmet, the Medallion shield and the Cross Contempt armor. DO NOT BUY ANY HELMETS OR SHIELDS UNTIL YOU CAN AFFORD THESE! It's a waste of money. As for armor - I'll leave it to your discretion - if you want to beat the boss quickly and don't care for the medals - buy yourself a transitional armor (Gloomy Indigo would do fine). If you do - wait till you can afford the Cross, then buy it (there's no chance you'd beat the second boss with your basic armor on though).
3. Oh, yeah - it's perfectly possible to beat the boss during the second generation already, but you need to be precise and consistent - as all his armor is equally powerful, choose one and stick to it - personally I find the head easier to hit, but you need to hit this bit of armor continuously with every run. Don't miss, don't hit the shield or the horse. The AI distributes its damage over you quite widely, so you can expect that he wouldn't hit you at the same spot more than twice in a row - that fact should be enough for you to prevail.
4. Here's the most effective way to grind money that I've found - locate the weakest bit of armor, then hit it till it's one hit away from collapsing. Then switch the other part until your own armor drops to a critical low, then it's time for you to deliver the killing blow, lest you perish.
