"Painting Horses Opinions needed." Topic

I'm painting up a unit that will represent the 10th U.S. Calvary. Should I paint the horses all the same color or mix it up. Historically some companies were mounted on matched horses and others were mixed. What do you think would give the best look? I'm using Little Britons figures and going for the shiny toy look.

If you are going for toy soldier look I would go all the same colour.

What Mishima said.

Parade ground look – all the same.
Campaign look – mix it up.

If you arwe gaming with them, and ant to distinguis between different companies, then different horse colour is a good idea. Otherwise – whatever looks best to you.

See my ACW cavalry (Confederate) here:

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For what it's worth, these illustrations of 10th US Cav. would appear to indicate same/similar coloured horses.

As different artists are producing the images in a similar manner, I'm thinking there must be some historical background for this.

Horse color was by troop. Originally the breakdown was as follows when the unit was organized in 1867:
Bay: Troops A-E, G, I, K
Gray: Troop F
Black: Troop H
Sorrel: Troop l
Mixed: Troop M

I doubt this was maintained in the field, but there you go.

I would mix them. Regulations look good in Washington but can you imagine someone sending a telegraph to Sheridan saying that he had to leave half his troop behind because he didn't have enough gray horses? Also remember that the usual Post might have two or three troops at the most , an entire regiment concentrated on campaign was a rarity. It's the difference ( that continues to this day) between the real Army and the desk Army.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'll go with all bays as that seems to be the most common. Although they aren't all the same.
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My blog about this project is here
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