I was always taught to revere the gallant Winged Hussars back in school. But for some reason, besides the daring charges, I wasn't told about what else caused their success.
I found some previous posts on the matter:
They were very well equipped, with superb horses and good armour - while they could not take close range shots, long range musket balls could bounce off.
One of the most important part is that they remained offensive when other cavalry reduced themselves to skirmishing or the caracoll (where they rode around in cirkles firing their pistols at the enemy frontline to try to make a hole in the pike hedgehog). They charged straight in with lances and sabres when most of the cavalry of Europe did not. This offensive spirit, combined with good horses gave them a superb punch on the battlefield, especially when they faced less well organised infantry and cavalry, such as the Ottomans or Russians (before 1700, at least).
They crushed the Swedes at Kirkholm 1605, and the Swedes learned the lesson and formed both an offensive cavalry arm of their own (used heavily with great success in the Thirty Years' War) and a superb pike formation, which, together with artillery and good, offensive cavalry, defeated the Polish Hussars at Warsaw 1656.
Hope this helps!