Yeah, it might feel a bit forced and "gamey", but if you could give your heroes all the weapons/mounts/armor/items you research the game would be less fun. You have to invest time and money into your champions to make them powerful, and this is as it should be. And you actually have to choose what equipment to spend money on and what you can do without.
And when it comes to mounts, you want all champions mounted up as soon as possible if they're out fighting, if they idle in a city then they never need a mount...
