Wow this is awesome, I love seeing people's reactions to my all time favorite game. Best of luck to you guys. (I'd join along if I could, but unfortunately I've scratched my copy too many times to be playable...)
Nice tips! Did you know you could also make your horse turn a full 180 by inputting the horse dash twice? Also I tend to see lots of people tap the X button to make Agro go when holding it is enough. (Agro's a girl btw! You can imagine my surprise when I found out after three years of debating she was a male...)
Never experienced the sword climbing trick either, I wonder if they changed it in the PS3 version?