Editing Waler

{{Short description|Breed of horse}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2012}}
{{Infobox horse
|name=  Waler horse
|status = 
|image=Light horse walers.jpg
|image_caption= Australian Light Horse Walers
|altname= 
|country= [[Australia]]
|group1= 
|std1= 
|features = 
}}

The '''Waler''' is an Australian breed of [[horse]] that was developed from horses that were brought to the Australian colonies in the 19th century.  The name comes from their breeding origins in [[New South Wales]]; they were originally known as "New South Walers".

==Origins and characteristics==
The Waler combined a variety of [[list of horse breeds|breeds]]; particularly the [[Thoroughbred]], [[Arabian horse|Arab]], the [[Cape horse]] (from the [[Cape of Good Hope]]), [[Timor Pony]] and perhaps a little [[Clydesdale (breed)|Clydesdale]] or [[Percheron]]. It was originally considered only a "type" of horse and not a distinct breed. However, as a [[landrace]] bred under the extreme climate and challenging working conditions of Australia, the Waler developed into a hardy horse with great endurance even when under extreme stress from lack of food and water.  It was used as a [[Stockman (Australia)|stockman]]'s horse and prized as a military [[remount]].<ref>[[Henry Gullett|Gullett, H. S.]], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27497433 "The Waler at War: Our Horses in Palestine: Triumph of the Thoroughbred", ''The West Australian'', (Friday, 29 November 1918), p.8.]</ref> Walers were also used by [[bushranger]]s, troopers and exploration expeditions that traversed inland Australia.<ref name="Mather">Mather, Jill, ''Forgotten Heroes – The Australian Waler Horse'', Bookbound Publishing, Ourimbah, NSW, {{ISBN|978-0-9803527-0-2}}</ref>

The preferred Walers for [[cavalry|mounted infantry as distinct from cavalry]] duties and were 15 to 16 [[hand (length)|hands]] high ({{convert|60|to|64|in|cm|0}}). Those over 16 hands were rejected for use in the [[South Australian Citizen Bushmen|South Australian Bushmen Corps]]. Unbroken horses, as well as those with [[gray (horse)|grey]] and broken (spotted)<!--?Hope that's what you meant?--> coat colours were also rejected. The selected horses had to be of a good type that could carry sixteen or seventeen [[Stone (Imperial mass)|stone]] (102 to 108&nbsp;kg (224 to 238&nbsp;lbs)) day after day.

The Walers carried the rider, saddle, saddle cloth, bridle, head collar, lead rope, a horseshoe case with one front and one hind shoe, nails, rations for the horse and rider, a bedroll, change of clothing, a rifle and about 90 rounds of .303 rifle ammunition.<ref name="Mather"/>

The [[horse gait|gaits]] of the Waler were considered ideal for a mounted infantry as they were a comfortable riding horse; it could maintain a fast walk and could progress directly to a steady, level [[canter]] without resorting to a [[trot (horse gait)|trot]] which was noisy, liable to dislodge gear and resulted in soreness in the horse's back.<ref name="Barrie"/> The waler horse required docility, courage, speed and athletic ability, as it carried the rider to battle it was not selected to ride into battle ie cavalry but were famously was used in a cavalry style attack sat Bersheba. The infantryman's horse was used as a means of transport from one point to another, for example, from camp to a battle ground, where the horses were kept back from the fighting.<ref name="Mather"/> Heavier animals were selected and used for [[draft horse|draught]] and [[packhorse]] duties.<ref name="Barrie">Barrie, Douglas M., ''The Australian Bloodhorse'', Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1956</ref>

Most of the early Walers carried a fair percentage of Thoroughbred blood, with some recorded as race winners and a few being registered in the [[Australian Stud Book]]. While in warfare service in North Africa, some Walers proved successful in races against local Egyptian horses and assorted Thoroughbreds. In 1919, horses from the [[ANZAC Mounted Division]] won five of the six events at Heliopolis, near [[Cairo]].<ref name="Barrie"/>

===Memorial statue===
[[File:Waler.JPG|thumb|Memorial to the Australian Light Horse, Tamworth, NSW]]
[[File:Waler (2).JPG|thumb|A plaque on the Waler horse memorial, Tamworth, NSW.]]
A memorial statue to the Waler Light Horse<!--this is a military designation, hence a title--> was erected at [[Tamworth, New South Wales]] as a tribute to the men of the ANZAC Corps who served in the Boer, Sudan and First World Wars. This memorial was constructed at a cost of $150,000, funded by grants from Federal and State Governments, the [[Tamworth Regional Council]], Joblink Plus and donations from business houses, property owners, RSL Members and the community. It was designed and created by sculptor Tanya Bartlett from [[Newcastle, New South Wales]]. The military equipment is identical to that used in the First World War. Forty-seven light horse re-enactment riders and the [[12th/16th Hunter River Lancers]] took part in the unveiling by Major General [[William James (Australian general)|William B. "Digger" James]] AC MBE MC (Retd) on 29 October 2005.<ref>The Waler Light Horse Statue, Tourism, Tamworth</ref>

==History==
Australian horses were sent overseas from the 1830s; between the 1840s and 1940s, there was a steady trade in Walers to the [[British Indian Army]].<ref name="Stratton">''M is for Mates – Animals in Wartime from Ajax to Zep'', Department of Veterans Affairs, Woden, ACT, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-877007-39-2}}</ref>

In Australia's two wars of the early 20th century—the [[Second Boer War]] and [[World War I]]—the Waler was the backbone of the [[Australian Light Horse]] mounted forces.  It was especially suited to working in the harsh climate of the [[Sinai Peninsula]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], where it proved superior to the [[camel]] as a means of transporting large bodies of troops.

===Boer War===
During the [[Boer War]], Australia dispatched 16,314 horses overseas for use by the Australian Infantry Forces.

===World War I===
In the First World War, 121,324 Walers were sent overseas to the allied armies in Africa, Europe, India and Palestine.<ref>''Australian Encyclopedia,'' Vol. 4, Grolier Society, Sydney</ref> Of these, 39,348 served with the [[First Australian Imperial Force]], mainly in the [[Middle East]], while 81,976 were sent to India.<ref name="Barrie"/> Due to the costs said to be incurred for "returning horses home" with their mounts and perhaps to a lesser extent, [[quarantine]] restrictions, only one Waler is known to have been returned to Australia; "Sandy", the mount of Major-General [[William Throsby Bridges|W. T. Bridges]], an officer who died at [[Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]] in May 1915.<ref name="Barrie"/>

The English [[cavalry]] officer, Lt. Col. R. M. P. Preston DSO, summed up the Australian Light Horses' performance in his book, ''The Desert Mounted Corps:''<ref name="ASHS">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashs.com.au/horses/default.asp#Statistics|title=Australian Stock Horse Society|first=Australian Stock Horse|last=Society|website=Ashs.com.au|access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref> <blockquote>
"… (November 16th, 1917) The operations had now continued for 17 days practically without cessation, and a rest was absolutely necessary especially for the horses. 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, 9½ lb of grain per day without bulk food, had weakened them greatly. 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, not counting those killed in action or evacuated wounded.
<br/>
… 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…. They (the Australians) have got types of compact, well-built, saddle and harness horses that no other part of the world can show. Rather on the light side according to our ideas, but hard as nails and with beautiful clean legs and feet. Their records in this war place them far above the Cavalry horse of any other nation. The Australians themselves can never understand our partiality for the half-bred weight-carrying hunter, which looks to them like a cart horse. Their contention has always been that good blood will carry more weight than big bone, and the experience of this war has converted the writer, for one, entirely to their point of view. It must be remembered that the Australian countrymen are bigger, heavier men than their English brothers. They formed just half the Corps and it probable that they averaged not far off 12 stone each stripped. To this weight must be added another 9-1/2 stone for saddle, ammunition, sword, rifle, clothes and accoutrements, so that each horse carried a weight of 21 stone, all day for every day for 17 days, - on less than half the normal ration of forage and with only one drink in every 36 hours!
<br/>
The weight-carrying English Hunter had to be nursed back to fitness after these operations and for a long period, while the little Australian horses without any special care, other than good food and plenty of water were soon fit to go through another campaign as arduous as the last one!…."
</blockquote>

One well-known Waler was [[Major Michael Shanahan]]'s mount, "Bill the Bastard", who [[bucking|bucked]] when asked to [[horse gait|gallop]]. Yet, during [[World War I]], when the major (or captain) found four Australians outflanked by the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], "Bill the Bastard" took all five men – three on his back and one on each stirrup – {{convert|.75|mi|km}} through soft sand at a lumbering gallop, without first bucking.<ref name="Barrie"/>

====Not to return to Australia====
[[File:Hogue-(The Horses Stay Behind)-(1919).jpg|thumb|210px|''The Horses Stay Behind (Poem)'',<br>[[Oliver Hogue#"Trooper Bluegum"|"Trooper Bluegum"]] (1919).<ref>Gullett & Barrett (1919), p.78.</ref>]]
::"Owing to the cost and difficulties of transportation, the military authorities had decided to kill all Light Horse horses over 12 years and dispose of the remainder locally – that would be in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, or wherever a Light Horse unit happened to be stationed." -- [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130595519 ''The World's News'', 1 February 1919].
At the end of the war, 11,000 surplus horses in the Middle East were sold to the British Army as remounts for [[Egypt]] and [[India]]. Others, categorised as being unfit, were destroyed.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179843875 Criminal Waste: Horses Being Shot, ''The (Brisbane) Daily Standard'', (Thursday, 19 December 1919), p.5.]</ref> 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 fate of all the war horses. Parting with their Walers was one of the hardest events the light horsemen had to endure.<ref>[[Henry Gullett|H.S.G.]], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164126782 "Grief's Tribute: The Horses Stay Behind", ''The (Adelaide) Observer'', (Saturday, 15 March 1919), p.29]: reprinted from ''The Kia Ora Coo-ee: The Magazine for the Anzacs in the Middle East'', 15 November 1918.</ref><ref>Good-Bye, Old Pal: A Trooper in the Australian Light Horse Farewelling His Steed, ''The World's News'', (Saturday, 1 February 1919). pp.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130595519 1], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page14735357 2].</ref>

A poem by [[Oliver Hogue#"Trooper Bluegum"|Major Oliver Hogue, 14th Australian Light Horse Regiment ("Trooper Bluegum")]] sums up the men's sentiment:
::''I don't think I could stand the thought of my old fancy hack''
::''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just crawling round old Cairo with a 'Gyppo on his back.''
::''Perhaps some English tourist out in Palestine may find''
::''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My broken-hearted Waler with a wooden plough behind.''

::''No: I think I'd better shoot him and tell a little lie:--''
::''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"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''
::''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To go back to Australia and leave my horse behind.''
:::From ''Australia in Palestine'', 1919

===World War II===
During World War II, 360 Australian Walers were assigned to the Texas National Guard [[112th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|112th Cavalry]] in [[New Caledonia]].  The horses were eventually deemed unfit for jungle warfare.<ref name="texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org">{{cite web|title=WWII Summary History: 112th Cavalry Regiment |url=http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/112th.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504053304/http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/112th.htm|archive-date=2006-05-04|access-date=2009-03-28|url-status=live}}</ref> They were sent to India where they served with the Chinese Army before being assigned to the unit known as [[Merrill's Marauders]].<ref>p.66 Ogburn Jr, Charlton ''The Marauders'' 1959 Harper 1982 edition</ref>

==Post-war==
As demand for remounts declined in the 1940s, the Waler trade declined.<ref name=ashs/> 

From 1959 until it was sold to [[Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union|Birds Australia]] to be converted into a wildlife sanctuary in 2000, Alex Coppock and his wife bred Walers on [[Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary|Newhaven Station]] in the [[Northern Territory]].<ref name=waler>{{cite web | title=Newhaven Station | website=Waler Database | date=10 February 2023 | url=https://walerdatabase.online/horse-locations/newhaven/ | access-date=18 August 2023}}</ref><ref name=hist>{{cite web | last=Lane | first=Janet | title=Newhaven Station | website=Waler Database | date=9 September 2022 | url=https://walerdatabase.online/newhaven-station/ | access-date=18 August 2023}}</ref><ref name=adams2000>{{cite web |first=Prue| last=Adams| title=29/10/00: New wildlife haven in Australia's centre | website=[[Landline]]| publisher= [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] | url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/stories/s203432.htm | access-date=18 August 2023}}</ref> The horses were mostly rehomed elsewhere,<ref name=waler/> although the original plan had been to deprive them of water and let them die.<ref name=hist/> 

When the Australian Stock Horse Society was formed in 1971,<ref name=ashs>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashs.com.au/horses/default.asp#|title=Australian Stock Horse Society|first=Australian Stock Horse|last=Society|website=Ashs.com.au|access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref> the majority of horses accepted into its studbook were Waler horses. The ASHS also accepted horses of other breeds, notably [[American Quarter Horse|Quarter horses]], which has always been controversial. While many stock horses do have Quarter horse genetics in their breeding, not all do, as there are still many breeders who only breed horses of the old heritage bloodlines. These heritage stock horses have extensive pedigrees, often back to the 19th century, and are direct descendants of Walers with no Quarter Horse or other modern breeds.
<ref>Carruthers, Fiona. ''The Horse in Australia''. Random House Australia, 2008, ch. 12.</ref>

===Reestablishment of the breed===
In the 1980s efforts began to reestablish the breed using [[feral horse|feral]] Walers descended from horses that had been set loose in rural regions after the commercial trade ceased. The Waler horse now has two breed associations interested in preserving it, the Waler Horse Owners and Breeders Association Australia Inc. (WHOBAA)<!--say, "founded in (year)--> and the Waler Horse Society of Australia Inc (WHSA)<!--founded in (year)-->. Only horses and their progeny derived from the old bloodlines, with no imported genetics since 1945, can be registered as Walers with the WHOBAA.<ref>"Saving a nation builder", p. 17, ''Outback Magazine'', Feb/Mar 2010, R. M. Williams Publishing</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://Walerhorses.org|title=Home - Waler Horse Association|website=Home - Waler Horse Association|access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref>

Today's Waler is a functional Australian horse, bred from bloodlines that came to Australia before 1945, that is free of imported genetics since that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.walerhorse.com/whsa/|title=WHSA AGM|date=26 April 2017|website=Walerhorse.com|access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref>

==Threats to the breed==
In May 2013, up to 10,000 Walers were [[cull]]ed at [[Tempe Downs Station]] near [[Kings Canyon (Northern Territory)|Kings Canyon]], about {{convert|300|km|abbr=on}} south-west of [[Alice Springs]], Northern Territory, owing to concerns about water sustainability.  Ian Conway, owner of neighbouring [[Kings Creek Station]], said that it would be more cost-effective to train [[Aboriginal Australian| Aboriginal]] men to manage the horses than to cull them.<ref>{{cite web | title=Horse cull spurs calls to preserve heritage breed|first=Gail| last=Liston | website=ABC News | date=9 May 2013 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-09/waler-horses-central-australia-cull-reaction/4679264 | access-date=18 August 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Australian Light Horse]]
*[[Australian Stock Horse]]
*[[Battle of Beersheba (1917)|Battle of Beersheba]]
*[[Brumby]]
*[[List of horse breeds]]
*[[Project Waler]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Henry Gullett|Gullett, H. S.]], and [[Charles Leslie Barrett|Barrett, C.]] (eds.), [https://archive.org/details/australiainpales00gull ''Australia in Palestine'', Angus & Robertson Ltd., (Sydney), 1919.]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Waler horse}}
*[http://www.walerdatabase.online Waler Database - Waler horse lists, history, breed, genetics, tales]
*[http://www.walerhorses.org Waler Horse Owners & Breeders Association Australia Inc.]
*[https://anzac.co.il/ The Beersheba ANZAC Memoriaal Center]
*[http://www.rbta.org/waler.htm Rare Breeds Trust of Australia]
*[http://www.walerhorse.com Waler Horse Society of Australia]
*[http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/horses/index.asp Walers]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20011103094110/http://www.yarramalong.net/ Waler Horse Information, breeds, genetics and more.]}}
*[http://www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages/20888.htm Waler Memorial]
*[http://www.lighthorse.org.au/resources/military-stories-misc/the-waler...-a-breed-of-horses-legend-or-fact/?searchterm=walers "The Waler"]
*[https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/the-waler--australias-great-war-horses-2014/32473/ The Waler: Australia's Great War Horses] (2014 documentary)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waler Horse}}
[[Category:Horse breeds originating in Australia]]
[[Category:Horse breeds]]
[[Category:World War I military equipment of Australia]]