When the victory cheer went up this officer found himself still mounted, with his horse pressed broadside against Cleburne's log parapet in a tangled group of infantrymen.

He unhitched his horse, walked it away, mounted, and spurred it on.

This gave the horse protection and enhanced the visual impression of a mounted knight.

" Fortunately Marlborough ’ s newly appointed aide-de-camp, Richard Molesworth, galloped to the rescue, mounted the Duke on his horse and made good their escape, before Murray ’ s disciplined ranks threw back the pursuing French troopers.

cheval ' horse ') or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback.

Another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent.

But the introduction of the wraparound saddle during the Middle Ages provided greater efficiency in mounted shock combat and the important invention of the stirrup enabled a broader array of attacks to be delivered from the back of a horse.

Once the front lines stabilised, a combination of barbed wire, machine guns and rapid fire rifles proved deadly to horse mounted troops.

By the final stages of the war only the Soviet Union was still fielding mounted units in substantial numbers, some in combined mechanized and horse units.

Other factors favouring the retention of mounted forces included the high quality of Russian Cossacks and other horse cavalry ; and the relative lack of roads suitable for wheeled vehicles in many parts of the Eastern Front.

The U. S. Army's last horse cavalry actions were fought during World War II: a ) by the 26th Cavalry Regiment ( PS ) in World War II — a small mounted regiment of Philippine Scouts which fought the Japanese during the retreat down the Bataan peninsula, until it was effectively destroyed by January 1942 ; and b ) on captured German horses by the mounted reconnaissance section of the U. S. 10th Mountain Division in a spearhead pursuit of the German Army across the Po Valley in Italy in April 1945.

The Soviet Army retained horse cavalry divisions until 1955, and even at the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was an independent horse mounted cavalry squadron in Kyrgyzstan.

The IDF has never included horse cavalry since its establishment in 1922 ( other than a small mounted escort drawn from the Artillery Corps when required for ceremonial occasions ).

The Portuguese Army used horse mounted cavalry with some success in the wars of independence in Angola and Mozambique in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1978 to present Afghan Civil War period there have been several instances of horse mounted combat.

The Mexican Army included a number of horse mounted cavalry regiments as late as the mid 1990s and the Chilean Army had five such regiments in 1983 as mounted mountain troops ( see Jane's " Armed Forces of Latin America " by Adrian J. English ).

The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills.

A horse equipped with a saddle for mounted police.

< center > Khosrau II dressed as a mounted Persian knight riding on his favourite horse, Shabdiz. The oldest known relief of a heavily armoured cavalryman, from the Sassanid empire, Taq-i Bostan, Iran ( 4th century ).</ center >

A statue of Christ on the donkey or the officiating priest mounted on horse process around or towards the local church, surrounded by palm-bearing churchgoers.

The horse was afforded protection from lances and infantry weapons by steel plate barding.

This line would then form and cover the passage of the horse, leaving gaps in the line of infantry large enough for the cavalry to pass through and take their position in front.

On their left, on the broad plain between Taviers and Ramillies – and where Marlborough thought the decisive encounter must take place – Overkirk drew the 69 squadrons of the Dutch and Danish horse, supported by 19 battalions of Dutch infantry and two artillery pieces.

As the French ranks wavered, the leading squadrons of Württemberg ’ s Danish horse – now unhampered by enemy fire from either village – were also sent into the attack and fell upon the exposed flank of the Franco-Swiss infantry and dragoons.

The disparity of numbers – exacerbated by Villeroi stripping their ranks of infantry to reinforce his left flank – enabled Overkirk's cavalry to throw the first line of French horse back in some disorder towards their second-line squadrons.

The establishment of dragoons evolved from the practice of sometimes transporting infantry by horse when speed of movement was needed.

Hannibal drew up his least reliable infantry in a semicircle in the center with the wings composed of the Gallic and Numidian horse.

Thus they display in battle the speed of horse, with the firmness of infantry ; and by daily practice and exercise attain to such expertness that they are accustomed, even on a declining and steep place, to check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest celerity to their chariots again.

More and more an investigation conducted towards 1790 by the British Army showed that horse-mounted troops were less infected by smallpox than infantry, and this due to a major exposure to the similar horse pox virus ( Variola equina ).

The army units were generally separated along ethnic lines, thus the Berbers were usually the light cavalry / foot skirmishers, while the Turks would be the horse archers or heavy cavalry ( known as Mamluks ), and the black Africans, Syrians, and Arabs generally acted as the heavy infantry and foot archers.

The army of the Han Dynasty is also an example, fielding melee infantry, crossbowmen, and cavalry ( ranging from horse archers to heavy lancers ).

Perhaps the most notable example is the use of light cavalry, light infantry and light horse artillery in advance detachments by France's La Grande Armée during the Napoleonic Wars.

The word stems from the Afrikaans word Kommando, which translates roughly to " mobile ( originally by horse ) infantry regiment ".

The Romans had 29, 000 men, of which 24, 500 were infantry, including two legions ( approximate strength 15, 000 foot and horse ).

The centre was organised as three infantry tertias ( brigades ) commanded by Lord Astley, with a regiment of horse under Colonel Howard in support.

Pulaski's Legion, along with three companies of light infantry, three troops of light horse, and one artillery detachment, came too late to be of great use against Ferguson's operations.

He was so absorbed in the infantry attack that he left his horse regiments idle in the rear until the time for useful action had passed.

The Spanish horse was put to flight, leaving the Spanish infantry to carry on the fight.

Davout also sent a part of his cavalry to open the way for the infantry attack but the Austrian cavalry under Nostitz promptly repulsed the French horse.

Masséna's cavalry, under Lasalle and Marulaz promptly stepped in to protect the retreating infantry, driving off the Austrian horse and then charging the artillery that the Austrians were preparing to deploy in front of Aderklaa.

The combined forces of the two consuls totaled 80, 000 infantry, 2, 400 Roman cavalry and 4, 000 allied horse ( involved in the actual battle ) and, in the two fortified camps, 2, 600 heavily armed men, 7, 400 lightly armed men ( a total of 10, 000 ), so that the total strength the Romans brought to the field amounted to approximately 86, 400 men.

Hannibal intended that his cavalry, comprising mainly medium Hispanic cavalry and Numidian light horse, and positioned on the flanks, would defeat the weaker Roman cavalry and swing around to attack the Roman infantry from the rear as it pressed upon Hannibal's weakened center.