The date of this photo is not known but it is certainly before 1873 when the wide-brimmed hat was replaced by a helmet. It is uncertain whether this photo shows officers or other ranks as they all carried rifles. The cuff ornament on the mounted man looks as if it has circled braid which would indicate officer status. It is difficult to see if he has rank badges on his collar. The method of carrying the rifle was unusual and probably the first time that a leather ‘bucket’ was fixed to the saddle for that purpose.
Captain Bower was a keen huntsman and would have chosen good quality horses for his men. A newspaper article of 23 April 1862 reported on a Field Day at Brighton which was attended by the 1st Hants Light Horse, as they were then called. They took three days to get from Droxford to Brighton, doing 36 miles on the last day, ’...yet the horses appeared in capital condition.’ They were wearing a ‘neat, yet sober, greyish uniform’ with a hat ‘commonly called a Garabaldi, with a spreading feather at the side.’
