 The start of early modern warfare about the 16th century had infantry armed with firearms, prompting cavalry to do the same, even though reloading muzzle loading firearms while moving mounted was highly impractical.Some cavalry, such as the German Reiters, added one or more pistols, while other cavalry, such as harquebusiers, tried various shorter, lightened versions of the infantry arquebus weapons – the first carbines.But these weapons were still difficult to reload while mounted, and the saber often remained main weapon of such cavalry.