Reply To: What’s the difference between British heavy and light cavalry

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June 22, 2018 at 11:04 am #139462
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And worse. The French 18th century use legers for heavy cavalry is a bit ….. . Just meaning that they lost the armor. Under Louis XIV just one Cuirassier Regiment!
In Napoleonic time the French Dragoon and the Cuirasier are heavy cavalry, sharing the same sword. Chasseurs and Hussars are light / medium with same sabre style. (Yes me and the iron) .
Lancers are light / medium too. And normally the Lance was inferior to the sabre in a mounted duel! But superb against infantry.

The ideal French Dragoon horse was a heavy beast, not like that of the British heavies. They came from Normandie and Flandres. But following the Russian disaster some even rode Percheron horses.

British and French regiments both branded the OR horses with unit markings and it was a widely spread art to change these on animals “found”.