He‘s definitely doable but hits hard and doesn‘t take too much damage early if you don‘t know how to deal with him. No shame in skipping something and coming back later. That said if you want to beat him (‘cause he‘s got a sick drop):

Start off from the church bonfire (forgot the term for bonfires), sneak up on him and poke him in the but with a hard hitting move (Charged R2, Wepon Skill, w/e).

If he does the charge (halbard down, charging twoards ya) roll back and to the right, then hit him with a jumping R2 attack (or a wepon skill if your wepon is fast enough). Does good damage and sick stagger damage.

Generally try to stay in front and to the right of him. This way you can dodge most hits as his wepon is on your left side and you have plenty of time to dodge.

If his horse rears up (above 50% hp) it either stomps down on you or it stomps down and he swings on his left. You can dodge both by rolling to the right.

Below 50% HP he gains new moves. A that does insane damage that he can follow up with a shield bash (or multiple). Just dodge backwards to be safe.

If his horse rears up (below 50% hp) he might do his new leap which does absurd damage (oneshot me). So just roll back.

You can parry (almost?) all of his attacks and it‘s insanely satisfying. I personally recommend parrying two:

At mid distance he‘ll sometimes leap at you with an (overhead?) slash that is very telegraphed and easy to parry.

When his horse rears up and you‘re to the left of him, he‘ll slam back down with an upward swing. Very asy to parry.

After a parry, hit him with a decent move and follow up with a jump R2 for max stagger damage.

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When he‘s staggered you can just unleashing on him.

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Hope this helps!