The Waler horse : a unique Australian

The first horses, Cape Colony Barbs, arrived on the continent of Australia with the first fleet in 1788. These were to be the foundation stock from which the Australian horse, the Waler, would develop. Australians called these horses 'stock horses'. When the remount trade began, supplying horses to the British army in India, the name 'waler' was coined to describe these tough, durable horses from the colony of New South Wales. Even after horse breeding for export began in earnest in other parts of Australia, the name 'waler' remained.