"Pass through" for Light horses ?

[Athos1660]

Couldn’t Light horses pass though a friendly unit as Light Foot actually do, even it was at the walk in order not to disturb the order of the friendly unit ?

As I don't know (almost) anything about History of warfare, this is a genuine question from a historical perspective and gameplaywise

In game, Light foot passing though costs the same amount of Points of Action as when they move without obstacle (4 points per square forward and 6 diagonally).

Light horse (whose total PA=20) passing though would cost 6 points per square when moving forward and 10 when moving diagonally, to mimic horses at the walk ?

[pompeytheflatulent]

I think the issue is that a man on a horse takes up something like 2.5 times the frontage compared to a man on foot. So a formation would have to open up their ranks a lot more for horsemen to fit through than people on foot.

[Latro]

Even though they are called ‘light’, they are still horses. You can let a human through by opening ranks but a horse needs twice the space and is skittish. It would totally disrupt any formation if a group of horses would try to pass through.
Imho.

[TheGrayMouser]

I think the issue is that a man on a horse takes up something like 2.5 times the frontage compared to a man on foot. So a formation would have to open up their ranks a lot more for horsemen to fit through than people on foot.

In Napoleonic times perhaps 22” for an infantryman , 36” for a horseman. That would of course be in close order, “elbow to elbow” and “stirrup to stirrup” respectively.

Heavy infantry could be trained to open files to allow enemy elephants/ chariots to pass thru, but this seems like specific training for a specific battle, and not normal. So I suppose an army could train its light horse and heavy infantry in such a manner, but why when the horse are on the flanks?

[pompeytheflatulent]

I guess if 2 out of every 3 rows gets behind the 3rd row,you could conceivably temporarily triple the depth of the formation and open up lanes wide enough to squeeze horses through. Whether it's doable in a timely manner is another matter.

[Athos1660]

btw checkerboard formations (employed by the Roman for example) were used (and can be used in game), among other reasons, to let any cavalry pass between infantry units, weren't they ?