my first thought was , that the cavalry units commander was shading his map and face to get his bearing, with the saddles "thingy" (not familiar with euro saddles). the rifle was a mauser and the horse looked like it was a wagon puller but there was a lot of troops on all sides with that stuff just who it was to me, basicly a guy with a horse and a rifle with a mission. cheap and effective, the original cavalry.
