I was poking around reading Halflings of Golarion and came up with an idea that some people may be interested in. This is based on using a Halfling as the base class, but it would work just as well (well, better) if you took the Adopted (Helpful) trait.
Basically, you help out your allies as many times as possible. This uses some confusion over RAW, so it's liable to be broken by errata. Specifically, how the "you are your own ally" thing interacts with Gang Up. And to a minor extent, how the Helpful trait interacts with the Aid Allies ability, but the intent seems clear there, meaning it should go to +5 at level 2.
Traits: Heirloom Weapon (take the +2 to Trips, and a Heavy Flail), Helpful.
Stats (assuming 20 Pt Buy):
Str: 14
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 13
Wis: 12
Cha: 10
Decidedly middling stats, I know. I hate dump stats though. Before you rage about how low the strength is for a melee character, this guy isn't meant to be doing damage, but to help out his friends.
Level 1: Fighter (Combat Expertise, Improved Trip)
Level 2: Fighter (Power Attack)
Level 3: Cavalier (Order of the Dragon, pick up Outflank as your teamwork feat, Boon Companion)
Level 4: Cavalier (You get Aid Allies now!)
Level 5: Fighter (Gang Up, Boon Companion)
Level 6: Fighter (Greater Trip
Level 7: Fighter (Team Up, Swift Aid)
From then on, whatever you want. The basic idea is to constantly help your allies out in melee, working as a team. Keep on taking Boon Companion when your mount is about to lose effectiveness. Don't ride him, but use him as a flanker. First stat bump should go into Int, so he can get teamwork feats without you having to use Tactician.
Remember, you count as your own ally.
Typical combat will look something like this: Get up to position after your mount and ally are in flanking position, give Outflank and Aid-Another your ally as a move action (for +5 to-hit!), and swift-action Aid-Another him to give him +1 to AC. Next round, Aid-another your buddy twice for another +5 to-hit / +1 AC, and then trip the enemy, provoking an AoO from you, your mount, and your buddy.
If you can get your ally to take Outflank and Paired Opportunists, that's great! P.O. will cause some chains of AoOs when you Greater Trip them, but you'll all need combat reflexes for that.
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If you're going to abandon cavalier, Boon Companion is a total waste. As a MAD-stat halfling with mediocre attack bonuses, you're not going to be tripping much of anything -- imagine small halfling versus large multi-legged monster at 6th -- so the Trip chain is an exercise in dreaming, and you have three feats dependent upon a tertiary stat (INT) which will "shut off" if you're ever subject to an INT-lowering effect, however temporary. Lack of massive strength and Furious Focus means Power Attack will be constantly costing you hits.
Halflings shouldn't be STR-based fighters who ignore their DEX and CHA -- it's completely playing the race against its bonuses.
-- What you have now is a "gimp build".
I share some of the same reservations that Mike has raised, that said why not play a couple of sessions with the above build and come back to us Cheapy; some things that look great on paper are garbage at the table, and vice versa.
Wow, I completely forgot about this post. Now that UC is out, I can do this better. I'll fix it up... The Halfling part was for flavor really.
Just a note, this isn't a build I made to play soon, just something I thought I'd throw out to maybe inspire other people to make a character that's all about helping others. I've been on a huge kick lately of support characters, and this came to mind :) UC helped this particular dude a *ton* due to feats and archetypes that mesh perfectly.
I don't think the argument about the low int is too valid, or at least isn't a specific problem with my build. A lot of maneuver fighters will have this problem I find. However, I'll deal with that later.
Ok, Half-Elf with the Adopted (Helpful) trait. And a story about how you were a half-elf raised in a halfling (elfling?) area. +2 to Strength.
Grab Ancestral Weapon to get a Meteor Hammer, and make sure to always have it in reach mode, so you get Reach and Trip, as well as +1 shield bonus.
The way the build goes is mostly the same, except instead of Boon Companion, we take Horse Master. This means we use our Character Level instead of our class level for figuring out the strength of the Mount.
I'm not sure any archetypes for Cavalier are good for this. We need Expert Training, so that rules out Strategist as well as Beast Rider. Perusing them, the only one that could even work is Luring Cavalier, and you don't get much from that.
Instead of the second Boon Companion, take Felling Smash.
The Fighter should be a Tactician archetype. This will let us use the better progression of Tactician given by Cavalier, and also let our levels stack for how often it's used. Awesome.
At least one stat upgrade should go into Intelligence, so that the Battle Insight ability of the Tactician fighter can be used on two allies.
I'll post a full build (up to level 10 maybe) tomorrow, but for now, my latenight ramblings should give you a decent idea of what I'm going for.
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Wow, I completely forgot about this post. Now that UC is out, I can do this better. I'll fix it up... The Halfling part was for flavor really.
There are ways to make a halfling cavalier not only not suck, but be incredibly effective.
(The trick is to multiclass and ruthlessly prune unnecessary feats: E.g., Mounted combat is necessary to keep your mount alive and you mobile, whereas Power Attack and Spirited Charge are just extra damage - nice to have, but not crucial.)