Australian light horse walers

The Waler is an Australian working horse breed that originated from the horse stock that was brought to the Australian colonies in the 1800s. The name comes from the fact that they were first bred in New South Wales and so were originally known as New South Walers. The waler combined a variety of breeds; notably the Cape horse (from the Cape of Good Hope), English breeds (such as the Thoroughbred, Clydesdale, Percheron and Arab) and the Timor Pony. It was originally considered only a "type" of horse, and not a distinct breed. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1325, 288 KB) Australian light horsemen riding waler horses. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1325, 288 KB) Australian light horsemen riding waler horses. ... This page is just a list. ... Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ... Emblems: Floral - Waratah (Telopea Speciosissima); Bird - Kookaburra (Dacelo Gigas); Animal - Platypus (Ornithorhynchus Anatinus); Fish - Blue Groper (Achoerodus Viridis) Motto: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) Slogan or Nickname: First State, Premier State Other Australian states and territories Capital Sydney Government Const. ... The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point. ... The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed in 18th century England when English mares were bred with imported Arabian stallions to create a distance racer. ... Clydesdale (Dail Chluaidh in Scottish Gaelic) was formerly (1975-96) a local government district in the Strathclyde Region of Scotland. ... A pair of very typical dapple grey Percheron Horses Percheron draft horse at the Maryland State Fair The Percheron is one of the most famous draft horses from France. ... Zobeyni, Arabian stallion, foaled 1844 The Arabian horse is a breed of horse with a reputation for intelligence, high spirit, and outstanding stamina. ... The Timor Pony was developed on the Indonesian island of Timor, likely from Indian breeds that were imported to the island. ...

Bred in the Australian outback, the waler was a hardy animal with great endurance even when wasted from lack of food and water. It was used as a stockman's horse and prized as a military remount. Between the 1840s and 1940s there was a steady trade in walers to the British Indian Army. Walers were also used by exploration expeditions that traversed inland Australia. A tourism sign post Yalgoo, Western Australia The outback is the remote and usually semi-arid interior of Australia, although the term colloquially can cover any lands outside of the main urban areas. ... Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame ( a museum in Longreach, Queensland, Australia ) A stockman is the name given to a person who looks after the livestock on a station. ... // Events and Trends Technology First use of general anesthesia in an operation, by Crawford Long The first electrical telegraph sent by Samuel Morse on May 24, 1844 from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.. War, peace and politics First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... The Indian Army in the time of the British Raj (1857–1947) // Administrative Name The Indian Army is the name for the Indian Armed forces of that country; the meaning of that name changed over time: History The Indian Army was formed after the Indian Mutiny in 1857 by the...

In Australia's two wars of the early 20th century—the Second Boer War and the First World War—the waler was the backbone of the light horse mounted forces. It was especially suited to working in the harsh climate of the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine where it proved superior to the camel as a means of transporting large bodies of troops. The gait of the waler was considered ideal for a cavalry mount. It could maintain a fast walk and could progress directly to a steady, level canter without resorting to a trot which was noisy, liable to dislodge gear and resulted in soreness in the horse's back. Combatants British Empire Orange Free State, South African Republic Commanders Frederick Roberts later Lord Kitchener Christiaan Rudolf de Wet and Paul Kruger Casualties Military dead:22,000 Civilian dead:N/A Total dead:22,000 Military dead:6,500 Civilian dead:24,000 Total dead:30,500 The Second Boer... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire French Empire Italy Russian Empire Kingdom of Serbia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria German Empire Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nikolay II Nikolay Yudenich Radomir Putnik Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar... The Australian Light Horse in Palestine during World War I The Australian Light Horse soldiers were mounted infantry who served during the Second Boer War and World War I. The Light Horse differed from cavalry in that they usually fought dismounted, using their horses as transport to the battlefield and... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation). ... Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Species Camelus bactrianus Camelus dromedarius A camel is either of the two species of Camelid living in the serengeti. ... Horse gaits are the different methods by which a horse, either naturally or through human training, moves itself. ... Kircholm, a 1925 painting by Wojciech Kossak. ...

During the First World War, 121,324 walers were sent overseas from Australia. Of these, 39,348 served with the First Australian Imperial Force, mainly in the Middle East, while 81,976 were sent to India. Due to quarantine restrictions, only one waler is known to have been returned to Australia; "Sandy", the mount of Major-General W.T. Bridges, who died at Gallipoli in May, 1915. At the end of the war most surplus horses in the Middle East were sold to the British Army as remounts for Egypt and India. Some horses that were categorised as being unfit were destroyed. Also, some light horsemen chose to destroy their horses rather than part with them, but this was an exception, despite the popular myth that portrays it as the ultimate fate of all the horses. Still, parting with their walers was one of the hardest events the light horsemen had to endure. A poem by "Trooper Bluegum" sums up the men's sentiment: The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from August 15, 1914, following Britains declaration of war on Germany. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Quarantine, a medical term (from Italian: quaranta giorni, forty days) is the act of keeping people or animals separated for a period of time before, for instance, allowing them to enter another country. ... Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges (February 18, 1861-May 18, 1915) served with Australian forces during World War I, and was the first Australian to reach the rank of General. ... Combatants United Kingdom France India Australia New Zealand Newfoundland Ottoman Empire Commanders Sir Ian Hamilton Otto Liman von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Strength 5 divisions (initial) 14 divisions (final) 6 divisions (initial) 14 divisions (final) Casualties 252,000 (205,000 British, 47,000 French) 253,000 The Battle of Gallipoli took... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

I don't think I could stand the thought of my old fancy hack
   Just crawling round old Cairo with a 'Gyppo on his back.
Perhaps some English tourist out in Palestine may find
   My broken-hearted waler with a wooden plough behind.

No: I think I'd better shoot him and tell a little lie:--
   "He floundered in a wombat hole and then lay down to die."
May be I'll get court-martialled; but I'm damned if I'm inclined
   To go back to Australia and leave my horse behind.

From Australia in Palestine, 1919

As demand for stockhorses and remounts declined in the 1940s, the waler trade ended and in a few decades the breed had almost completely disappeared. In the 1980s efforts began to reestablish the breed using wild walers descended from horses that had been set loose in the outback when the commercial trade ceased. The Australian Stock Horse (or Stockhorse), has been especially bred for Australian climatic conditions. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive, informally sometimes including the years 1979, 1990 and 1991. ...

See also

• Australian Stock Horse
• List of horse breeds

Whilst some Waler horses made the Australian Stock Horse register in the early days of it's establishment, many other breeds, notably Arab, Quarterhorse, and Thoroughbred have been added. A number of Stock Horses thus are decended from Walers, but in genetic terms the blood percentages are tiny. Walers are a distinct and seperate breed and are at this time recognised by two breed societies, the Waler Horse Owner and Breeders Association of Australia, and the Waler Horse Society of Australia. The Australian Stock Horse (or Stockhorse), has been especially bred for Australian climatic conditions. ... This page is a list of horse and pony breeds. ...

Walers are not currently available outside of Australia, either as live animals or genetic material.

External links

• The Waler Horse Society of Australia
• Australian Stock Horse or Waler
• Australian Stock Horse or Waler - at the British Horse Society
• Australian Stock Horse Australian Stock Horse Society
• History of the Australian Stock Horse Society at the OzPets website