Waler Horse

Origin: Australia.

Height: Varies. About 16hh is preferred.

Color: All colors.

Character: Brave, sensible and enduring.

Physique: Varies considerably. The best have an alert head with straightface, wide nostrils, longish ears; neck well set on strong shoulders; gooddepth of girth, strong back and hindquarters; clean legs with plenty of boneand strong hocks.
Horses are not indigenous to Australia. The earliest forerunners of theWaler one stallion, three mares, a colt and two fillies of predominantlySpanish blood — were brought from the Cape of Good Hope with the FirstFleet of settlers in 1798. During the next few years other, better qualityimports were brought from England into the early settled territories thencollectively known as New South Wales, from which the name "Waler"derives.

The extensive rich pastureland and warm, dry climate of Australia was andis favorable to horse breeding, and the small numbers of early stock wereeasy to multiply. In 1810 Australia had 1,134 horses; in 1821 there were4,564. Massive improvement with top quality Arab and Thoroughbredimports produced a horse which, during the first half of the 19th century,came close to being an Anglo-Arab in all but name. It was highly regardedas a saddle horse and was much in demand as a cavalry remount by theBritish Army in India.

The gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s was responsible for a rapid deterioration of the Waler. Farming was neglected and horses were allowedto roam fairly freely and often to breed as they chose, and in addition ademand for small draught horses to pack the gold encouraged manybreeders to disregard the true saddle horse type. Not until the 1880s, whenaccumulated gold began to burn the pockets of the newly rich, did interestturn to luxury hobbies such as the breeding of quality horses, andthen it was that the Waler was regenerated.

As quality saddle stock, the Waler had its heyday early in the 20thcentury. Subsequent mechanization has led to a decline both in numbers andin consistency of quality, so that the Waler of today is more of a type than abreed. It had its finest hour during World War I, when more than 120,000were exported for the Allied armies in India, Africa, Palestine and Europe.When the war was finished Australian quarantine laws made the repatriationof these horses impossible, and many were destroyed in the desert by anAustralian government order. A bronze memorial in Sydney stands inmemory of them today, erected by members of the Desert Mounted Corps and friends, to the gallanthorses who carried them over the Sinai desert into Palestine, 1915 to 1919. They suffered wounds, thirst, hunger, and weariness almost beyond endurance, but never failed. They did not come home.