Jim,
I strongly believe that the force that Forrest raised in N. Miss, W. Tn, etc during the last 18 months of the war were used primarily as dismounted infantry, or dragoons, if you will.

We know that at least one brigade of his new command [the Kentucky brigade] was only recently transferred and mounted after over two years of service in the infantry.

Many, if not most, of his new recruits were absentees from infantry commands.

Forrest was certainly clever enough to utilize the infantry experience of the majority of his command, and also to make use of horses primarily as a means of transporting his men to the fight where they usually then fought as infantry.

This was not Forrest's first time to fight his men as infantry. You will recall Gen D. H. Hill giving high praise to Forrest's command fighting dismounted on the first day at Chickamauga, after originally mistaking them for infantry troops. And Hill was one of the war's most vocal critics of the lack of fighting ability of cavalry.

Here are some references to Forrest and the long range rifles of his command. You will note that he wanted to arm his command from the very beginning with long range rifles.

OR Vol XXIII Pt II pp 955-56

extract from Forrest’s request to be transferred to obstruct Miss river.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION,
Kingston, Tenn., August 9, 1863.
General S. COOPER,
Adjutant-General, Richmond, Va.:
.........lay before you a proposition which, if approved, will seriously, if not entirely, obstruct the navigation of the Mississippi River, and in sixty days procure a large force now inside the enemy's lines, which without this, or a similar move, cannot be obtained. The proposition is this:
Give me the command of the forces from Vicksburg to Cairo, or, in other words, all the forces I may collect together and organize between those points, say, in Northern Mississippi, West Tennessee, and those that may join me from Arkansas, Mississippi, and Southern Kentucky. I desire to take with me only about 400 men from my present command, viz, my escort, 60; McDonald's battalion, 150; the Second Kentucky Cavalry, 250, selected entirely on account of their knowledge of the country in which I propose to operate. In all, say men and outfit, 400 men, with long-range guns (Enfield),.............
I ask also authority to organize all troops that can be obtained, and that I be promised long-range guns for them as soon as organizations are reported.
There are many half-organized regiments, battalions, and companies of men through Northern Mississippi and West Tennessee, but they are without arms and have no way of getting out, and it only requires a little time and a nucleus around which they can form to organize and put them in the field.
N. B. FORREST, Brigadier-General.

OR Vol XXXI p. 731

Extract from Colonel Richardson’s report
NOVEMBER 20, 1863.
[Inclosure No. 4.]
Ordnance report of the West Tennessee Brigade, commanded by Colonel Robert V. Richardson.
Arms:
Enfield rifles........................................ 165
Austrian rifles....................................... 65
Mississippi rifles.................................... 2
Sharps rifles......................................... 19
Colt rifle............................................ 1
Maynard rifles........................................ 3
Shotguns.............................................. 10
Springfield rifles.................................... 7
Musket................................................ 1
Bayonets.............................................. 78
Bayonet-scabbards..................................... 78
Colt navy pistols..................................... 118
Colt army pistols..................................... 33
This report only shows the arms and equipments in the hands of my Tennesseeans on this side the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. ................................

“That Devil Forrest” by Wyeth
P. 277
Sooy Smith says of his defeat by Forrest as part of the Meridian expedition: “The ground was so obstructed as to make it absolutely necessary that we should fight dismounted, and for this kind of fighting the enemy, armed with Enfield and Austria rifles, was better prepared than our force, armed mainly with carbines.

OR Vol XXXII pt I p. 252
Extract from Sooy Smith report
.......We advanced to West Point and felt of the enemy, .......... The force consisted of mounted infantry, which was dismounted and in strong position under good over, and beyond obstacles which could only be passed by defiles....