WHOBAA COMMUNITY MESSAGE FORUM - By digitalcreations

Thanks OM - I never looked at him from the point of view that he is a "War Horse"!!!

3 of my great uncles were light horsemen and boy would they be proud of what we set out to achieve with these magnificent beats!

I have a 2yo waler that I only recently broke in (he's my first waler) and I could already trust him with my life. He can go fast or slow, he's quiet, sensible, intelligent and has a sense of humour better than most people I know! Now I've had a waler, there will be no other option when it comes to choosing another horse... It will have to be a waler!

Speaking of waler stock horses, did anybody else see the heritage horses on horsedeals? I have their website here, http://wirrawaypark.homestead.com/ . Apparently they are from the Guy Fawkes national park, and they were talking about how their forebears served in WW! and WW!!, and that they were genetically similar to walers... Does this mean that they are walers that have bred with brumbies over the years to produce a "New, yet old breed"...

Howdy BBR and welcome to our lovely mess (as they say in the army ha ha),
Yes the Guy Fawkes are nice types and they also vary a bit, a good thing possibly! Good colour range which can be from old genes - or new (who knows??!!).
Like the Smowy Mountain brumbies, they were never deliberately bred for market; and people "bushed" horses among them to "improve" them. ( or get rid of their lovely, unmanageable horse!!) Usually the sort of person who bushes a horse, bushes a shit horse, typically an entire or mare - Arab or TB or QH - they can't manage.
Saying that, many good horses such as retired stockhorses may have been bushed too. Plus survival tends to sort out the weeds from the good sorts. Thye have always had a good reputation as reliable tough little horses, so something good was going on somewhere.....where was I
... over the years these brumbies, being from their origion just wild horses - not managed, purposely bred horses like Walers later to be neglected as far as we know - got added to, and added to. And added to.......who knows what genes, what temperament, what congential probs, or what good things went in...
no doubt, like any unmanaged animal, the numbers would have built up.
We love brumbies, but we are sensible in that they also need to survive as with the plants and other animals in their domain.
But total eradication is stupid, as there becomes a balance with other life forms, let alone controlling weeds etc... oh well.
So yes, they might have some old blood but the mix over the intervening years would be too great to be bred to a Waler other than a Part bred.
This by no means detracts from the horses, they are tough and good from what I have seen.
There is a big sympathy vote for them after the appalling arial shooting debacle (arial shooting is banned in most countries as it is cruel - the best marksman in the world cannot accurately hit a moving target from a moving platform - and inefficient). Govt stupidity at its best!
So I hope and pray both the Guy Fawkes and the Snowies (under threat from Conservationalists) have their own support groups to keep them going, managed, saleable and maybe even a studbook or registar. And to keep their environment safe - one can be a horse lover and a conservationalist as we know. Common sense.
Sadly we cannot recognise these as Walers, yet we fully love them as horses and support all those saving and keeping them.
DNA patterns will be of huge interest - if these are done through an interest group, and we get some matching pattern then who knows, some of these may fit into our genetic code. That would be of benefit to us, and them. We are all rare!
meanwhile, to us not a Waler, but still a jolly good horse, and long may they live and all those who love them,
cheers, hope your Chrissy was good and New Year even better!!!!