Another non expert on the issue of cavalry swords. Generally at this point and upto the end of the 19th C and I believe into the early part of the 20th. Heavy cavalry regts carried a straight bladed thrusting sword, where as light regts, Hussars, Lancers and the like carried a curved slashing sabre. This is true of the British Army and was much the same certainly in the Napoleonic era for other European armies to do the same. This is a generalisation and I dare say there are exceptions but on the whole this holds true.
Cheers Simon