Let's say I like to adventure with one housecarl. And let's say I gave her a pretty nice set of orcish amor. If I have to send her home or a quest forces it on her, she goes back into wearing the same old iron armor with the same old shield, even though they're not even in the trade screen.

Is there any way to force her not to reset to the old gear. Followup question, if I marry her I'll still have this problem right? Everytime I'm back home she'll be wearing her old gear.

Generally if you take 1 item from her and give it back, she re-equips her superior armor.

A very annoying glitch, but easy to fix.

also after a couple of fast travels or going into places they reset themselves.