Cavalry was the prestige arm for most of the nineteenth century, so it got the wealthiest officers - but where did they get the troopers they commanded? In "Gentleman Rankers" Kipling implies that an upper-class cavalryman with no commission was unusual ("a trooper of the forces - who has run his own six horses"); is this correct, or was Kipling going for drama over accuracy? Were recruits expected to be able to ride, or were they trained on the job? ("It makes you cock-a-hoop / to be 'Rider' to your troop...") How was it decided whether a recruit would go to the cavalry, infantry, or I suppose artillery?
The Army Enlistment Act (1870) and the Childers Reforms of 1881 brought the old (and often variable) method of regimental-based recruitment (where regiments were solely responsible for their own recruitment and training) into a more organised and uniform system.
These acts and reforms largely focused on the infantry, however there was a degree of standardisation applied to the cavalry units of the regular army. Unlike the infantry, the yeomanry militia cavalry units were not tied to regular line cavalry with these reforms, but it did codify that the regular cavalry had to be more organised.
From 1872, the Localisation Scheme gave every cavalry a fixed depot within a specific recruiting area. Here was from where the regiment could draw recruits, and where they would be trained. The depot, rather than the old system of a second-line training battalion or troop or squadron, was where to recruits would be equipped, drilled, and trained before being sent out in periodic drafts of reinforcements to their cavalry regiments. Part of these reforms was also to shorten the length of regular enlistments (to eight years for the cavalry, with another four to six years on the reserve) with a view to building and expanding a large reserve of trained and experienced manpower. (Few of the reforms succeeded in their aims) During the period it was held that it took much longer to train a cavalry trooper then it did a line infantrymen, with the belief that it could take up to a full year or more to train cavalry troopers and much of this time would have involved the basic riding skills and care for horses essential in a trooper's duties, before he could be trained in the manoeuvres and drill of the regiment. This disparity explains the longer length of service for cavalry before moving into the reserved - eight to the infantryman's six.
The Victorian army's continual problem, which the various reforms attempted to address, was the continual shortage of suitable recruits - soldier's were always underpaid in comparison to their civilian counterparts, and only the youngest and often least skilled in society who had to other options would be attracted to the daily three meals and plentiful beer army life offered. in 1881, fully half of the recruits to the British Army were under 19. As such, cavalry recruits would in general be young, poor, and subsequently the majority would be unlikely to have had much skill or extensive experience in riding, particularly townsmen. Thus, the regimental recruiting depot also functioned as a riding school for cavalry troopers as well. This training was performed by the officer with the rank of 'Riding Master' who was often an officer commissioned from the ranks after many years service (similarly so was the role of quartermaster). An 1851 survey showed that two-thirds of cavalry recruits came from cities, rather than the countryside and rural towns, further emphasising the need for 'in-house' training in riding horses.^(1) Unlike the infantry reforms, where regiments were tied to local militia units (to aid in training the militia units with regular soldiers, as well as recruitment and transfers from militia to regulars) , cavalry line regiments in the Victorian period remained separate from the cavalry militia (called yeomanry units). The yeomanry, even the troopers, were 'tolerably well-off volunteers' who brought their own horses - usually small farmers, owners of livery stables, coach proprietors, etc., and thus completely different to the urban poor the line regiments recruited as troopers.^(2) Very few individuals, from a wealthy enough background to have been experienced and skilled horsemen would have had to enlist as a common trooper, and if they did it was likely to escape something in civilian life.
Further reading
Blanco, R.L. 'Army Recruiting Reforms—1861—1867' Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 46 (1968) pp. 217-224
Bond, B. 'Recruiting the Victorian Army 1870-92' Victorian Studies (1962), pp. 331-338