Artillery
Another major use of horses throughout the period was as draught animals for the heavy artillery. In addition to field artillery, where horse-drawn guns were attended by gunners on foot, the armies generally had horse batteries, where each of the gunners were provided with mounts. Horse artillery generally used lighter pieces, although the British had some 9-pounder (medium-weight) horse batteries; for added speed, these had a team of 8 horses to pull them, rather than 6. In addition, horse artillery ammunition wagons were harnessed with an extra pair (6 horse instead of 4). Heavy artillery pieces needed a team of 12 horses, while Congreve rockets required about 25 horses. With the horses required for officers, surgeons and other support staff, as well as those pulling guns and wagons, each British artillery battery (6 guns) required 160–200 horses.
Horse artillery was generally used to support the cavalry units, and so came under the command of cavalry divisions, but in some battles, such as at Waterloo, the horse artillery were used by the British as a rapid response force, successfully repulsing attacks from the French, and assisting the infantry recapture of La Haye Sainte from the French.
Read more about this topic: Horses In The Napoleonic Wars
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