Australian
Stock Horse or Waler
Breed Characteristics
Stock Horse Type
Head:
Alert, intelligent head - broad forehead full eye-wide nostril
Neck: Good length of rein -
well set into shoulders
Shoulders: Sloping shoulder
- well defined wither slightly higher than croup
Chest: Deep - not to wide in
proportion
Ribs: Well-sprung
ribs and strong back of medium length in proportion
Legs: Forearms well-developed
- cannon bone slightly flat - pasterns not to long and slightly sloping.
Quarters: Strong powerful quarters
- well-muscled and nicely rounded. Wide and deep in thigh and gaskin. Clean flat bone and clean joints - not meaty and soft.
Hind legs well under when standing. Hoofs hard and straight. The whole to be in balance according to size of the horse
History
and Origin of the Breed
The Australian Stock Horse evolved through selective breeding
in response to the demands of the environment.The history of the breed began with the arrival of the First 
Fleet which, brought the first horses to Australia in 1788. These were of English
Thoroughbred and Spanish stock. Later importations included more Thoroughbreds, Arabs and Timor and Welsh Mountain ponies.
All horses sent to the colony needed strength and stamina - not only to survive the long sea journey (which took between nine
and twelve months), but also to work in the foreign, untamed environment that had become their home.
After the crossing of the Blue Mountains as settlers ventured inland, strong
and reliable horses became a necessity. Explorers, stockmen, settlers, bushrangers and
troopers all relied on horses that could travel long distances, day after day.
Weak horses were culled but the stronger types were used to breed sturdy saddle horses which were essential for the colony's
development. Despite the mixed origins of these horses, they developed into a strong and handsome type that was eventually
called the Waler after the colony of New South Wales.
J. C. Byrne in his Twelve Year Wandering the British Colonies (1848)
wrote,
"… the race of horse at present in use in Australia is not to be surpassed
in the world for symmetry and endurance. It is hard to say exactly how they are bred for there have been large importations
of mares from Chile and Peru, stallions of the pure Arab breed from India, also from England and the Cape of Good Hope. Much
pains have been bestowed on the breeding of these animals and the results have rightly rewarded the exertion."
Exploits of the explorers and stockmen and their reliable horses in the Australian
bush became folklore, and stories such 
as The Man from Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow depict the
character of these pioneers and their horses.
The hardiness of the Waler made him a natural mount for the cavalry and when
the British found themselves under-mounted at the time of the Indian Mutiny, the Waler came to the rescue. The earliest shipment
to India was in 1857 when 29 horses were sent from Sydney to Calcutta. They proved superior to the local breeds and the remount
officers were quickly commissioned to buy more. They initially chose 250 - a small number compared with later purchases -
during 1958, 2500 were sent to India. In the Boer War, the Waler was exported in even greater numbers and from 1899 to 1902
nearly 16,000 horses served in such regiments as the Lancers, Commonwealth Horse, Mounted Rifles and Bushmens Troop.
Later in the Middle East during the First World War, the British generals
called again for Australian Light Horse regiments and their stock horse remounts. About 160,000 Australian horses served in
World War I with generals and cavalryman from 20 nations, from both sides, accepting that these horses were more reliable
than other breeds. The English cavalryman, Lt. Col. R. M. P. Preston, D. S. O., in his book, The Desert Mounted Corps,
described the stamina and spirit of the Australian Light Horse,
"… Cavalry Division had covered nearly 170 miles…and their horses
had been watered on an average of once in every 36 hours…. The heat, too, had been intense and the short rations, 91
1/2 lb. of grain per day without bulk food, had weakened them considerably. Indeed, the hardship endured by some horses was
almost incredible. One of the batteries of the Australian Mounted Division had only been able to water its horses three times
in the last nine days - the actual intervals being 68, 72 and 76 hours respectively, yet this battery on its arrival had lost
only eight horses from exhaustion…. The majority of horses in the Corps were Walers and there is no doubt that these
hardy Australian horses make the finest cavalry mounts in the world…."
Although many good breeding stock left Australia never to return, the huge
shipments did not seem to affect the horse population at home. In 1906 Australia had 1,765,186 horses and in 1918 when the
human census was 5,030,479 there were 2,527,149 horses
