The early uniform worn by Gardner’s Horse is well illustrated by this painting of a native officer of Colonel Gardner’s Horse. The basic pattern of the long bottle-green alkalak agrees with the one worn by Lieutenant-Colonel Hearsey in 1839, with the baggy open cuffs and open front. It had silver decoration and the tulwar was slung from a broad decorated shoulder-belt. This man has a heavy sash around his waist which appears to have a pistol tucked in it. On his head is a black tapered cap with a diagonal line which may be a metal chin strap tied up. Some accounts of the early uniform refer to the Persian kizil-bash which was a red cap, and later a red lunghi. The horse has an elaborately decorated bridle and neck collar and a strange array of crimson objects on the crupper behind the charjama which was used instead of a saddle.
