The ideal Napoleonic charge - especially the French heavy cavalry's version - was less a wild gallop than a carefully built crescendo. Squadrons started at a walk, moved through the trot and canter, and only went full out in the last stretch so the horses stayed fresh and the ranks stayed locked together ("boot to boot," or charge en muraille "like a wall"). That tight wall of men and mounts was meant to hit with real shock, preferably against an enemy already shaken by guns or infantry. British cavalry of this era often approached the same problem differently. They had fine horses and bold riders, and a single squadron could be formidable. Yet they had a well-known habit of prioritising speed over control - once they charged, they tended to keep going, scatter, and struggle to re-form. Wellington put it bluntly when he said he considered British cavalry inferior to the French from "want of order," adding that while one British squadron might match two French, larger formations generally favoured the French. In small numbers that dash could still win, but in larger masses the French usually held the edge because they kept better cohesion and were more reliable about holding reserves. The basic sequence of the charge was much the same on both sides. What set the French practice apart was simply greater consistency in keeping large bodies under control from start to finish.