"A question of Horse colors for French light cav. (Hussars)" Topic

Hello everyone, I am painted several Hussar units for C n C Naps. Here is my question…early in the nap. wars, apparently the French had horses of similar colors within units…for the light cav., lighter browns, dapple greys and bays…do you do this or should I have a variety of horse colors within the same unit? Keep in mind I am painted 3mm Hussars…so, would you match horse colors or give the unit a variety of colors…thoughts?

You can find details of the regulations for horse colours here: link

However, this was an ideal for peacetime establishments and in the field it would not have been possible to keep to this. In 3mm I would personally paint all my horses the same shade of brown.

I tend to agree with you SJDonovan…in small scales…all one color for a unit looks somehow better…is that just me?

My 3mm have a mix of horse colours in all units – like Razuse I do it for the look not the regulations, we just disagree on what looks best.

In practice I don't know how well the theory held up. French cavalry were notorious for losing horses faster than almost any other country so I have some doubt that each company with a different coloured horse would stay that way long into a campaign. In 1812 some units lost their horses to the artillery even before the Russian border was reached so that gives some idea of how tough a campaign could be on the equine conscripts.