Mounted infantry were
infantry who rode
horses instead of
marching, but, as infantry does in general, fought on foot (in the modern era with
muskets or
rifles, but before that with swords, spears, bows, or crossbows). In contrast,
cavalry fought on horseback. The original
dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911
Encyclopædia Britannica, "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially mobile infantry." Today, with motor vehicles having replaced horses for military transport, the
motorized infantry are in some respects successors to mounted infantry.