The Cavalrist - Balance Concerns

With the decision that the cavalrist should have 4 skill points, I'm in a bit of a bad corner. Level 1 of the Cavalrist class is currently almost strictly better than level 1 of the fighter class. That, obviously, shouldn't be. I see a few possible ways to remidy that:

• Delay the Mounted Combat feat, and grant a different feat at first level (such as Animal Empathy or Skill Focus (Ride))
• Reduce the Hit Dice to a D8. Still in line for a fighting class.
• Change the good save to Reflex. A fighting class without Fortitude as a good save is odd, but not without precedent (waves to the knight class).

I'm not yet sure where to go with that.