On 1 October 1953 the "New Horsed Cavalry Regiment" was established at Gwalior, with Lieutenant Colonel Phulel Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces as its first Commandant.

While armed police detachments manned border outposts to mark sovereignty, 61st Cavalry carried out intensive night patrols on horseback.

During this time, when the Indian Army was being pruned, it was suggested that the unit's future depended on having a strong, energetic successor.

[9] In a strategic move it was decided to invite the then-Army Chief, General Sam Manekshaw, to be the next colonel of the 61st Cavalry.

The 61st Cavalry presented the first guard of honour to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his release from a Pakistani prison in January 1972.

[7][11] In 1974, the Krishna Rao Committee, in its report on the Army's reorganisation, recommended a cutdown in the 61st Cavalry's strength.

[13] The 61st Cavalry has 39 battle honours passed on from its predecessors, including "China, 1900", "Cambrai, 1917", "Waziristan, 1917", "France and Flanders 1914-1918", "Suez Canal – Egypt, 1917-1918", "Gaza", "Megiddo", "Sharon", "Damascus and Palestine, 1917-1918", "Afghanistan, 1919", and "Haifa-Aleppo, 1919".

[14] The Teen Murti Memorial is a cenotaph memorializing soldiers from the 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, from the princely states of Jodhpur, Hyderabad, and Mysore, who fought and died under British command while taking part in the Battle of Haifa on 23 September 1918, during World War I.