10th Bengal Lancers tent-pegging competition, 1873

Watercolour by Elizabeth Southerden Thompson (later Lady Butler), 1873.

Tent-pegging involved a mounted horseman riding at a gallop and using a sword or a lance to pierce and pick up a small ground target (such as a tent peg). Popular throughout the Indian Army's cavalry regiments, tent-pegging was an excellent way of developing prowess with the sword and lance from horseback.