Whatever the problems concerning their conditions of service, the Frontier Mounted Rifles created a favourable impression in Cape Colony, as recorded by Creswicke:
'First-rate work has been done by the Frontier Mounted Rifles, a well trained and excellently equipped body of men, all in the prime of life, and drawn from the eastern border towns of the Cape Colony. They held a position of continual danger, being encamped nearest the enemy. Being born and bred amongst the kopjes which afforded the Boers such easy hiding places, they were acquainted with every nook and corner, and could find their way about them both in daylight and dark. This force, with the Cape Police, helped to keep General Gatacre informed regarding the seething mass of disloyalty that surrounded him.'