1st Michigan Cavalry Dismounted

I recently finished painting up a unit of dismounted Union American Civil War cavalry to represent the 1st Michigan. You can see the mounted version of the unit here. The figures are 10mm GHQ Federal Dismounted Cavalry. The miniatures are very nice, perfectly proportioned, and well detailed like all of the 10mm GHQ miniatures I have. But their carbine barrels are so thin that they get bent at the slightest touch. So it seems like it is just a matter of time before many of the barrels break off from being bent back into position over and over.

I personally think the bases look a bit crowded for guys meant to be in a skirmish formation, so in the future I think I'll mount my dismounted cavalry 5 to a base instead of 6. The bases are 1" square. Let me know what you think about how they look.

I tried something new with the bases. After painting them green I applied some watered down glue as usual, but then I randomly sprinkled on a little sand and ballast before covering the base with green flock. I think the result makes the bases more interesting and makes them stand out more. It also makes it look like they are on some worn down and rocky ground, with some dirt showing through the grass, as likely it would if the ground had been trodden upon by a cavalry regiment. But I'll probably keep experimenting with basing and flocking styles.

I'm also torn on whether or not I should include a base of horseholders with my dismounted cavalry units. GHQ doesn't make any, so they'd have to be from another manufacturer, and I'm not sure if the figures from another company will look similar enough to be right next to the GHQ figures in the same unit. It seems unnecessary to show the horseholders, but it might add to the look and make it more obvious that they are dismounted cavalry rather than other skirmishers. But if it was part of the unit, the horseholder base would be next to the others in a line, which might look strange. I could make them extra bases and just put them behind the unit just for show, but then it's just more bases of miniatures I have to make for the same number of units. So, as you can see, I go back and forth on the subject of having horseholder bases in the dismounted cavalry units. If you have an opinion on the matter, please let me know.