AN OLD, well-loved Australian horse breed has enjoyed a renaissance. LAURA WAKELY reports

The waler horse is the Aussie battler of the equine world.

First developed by early Australian settlers in the 1800s - who combined such breeds as the Cape horse, Arab, Thoroughbred and Timor pony - the waler became renowned for its endurance and hardiness. It was used for stock work, droving and in battle during World War I.

But when, in the mid-1900s, mechanisation came in, the breed went into rapid decline.

A century of breeding and history would have been lost if it weren't for the efforts of a group of dedicated breeders.

Vice-president of the Waler Horse Owners and Breeders Association of Australia, Peter Fischer, has been breeding walers at his Castlemaine property for 22 years.

"I had a (waler) horse back in 1986 that I got because no one else wanted him. I joined a Light Horsemen re-enactment group and one year we went to Old Gippstown at Moe," Peter says.

"There was a group of ex-servicemen there who seemed to gravitate to my horse.

"They explained to me that they hadn't seen a waler for years. Some even had a tear in their eye, reminded of their old horses."

Not long after, Peter read a Weekly Times article on two women trying to preserve the waler breed. He decided to become involved.

"Through liaising with a bloke in Darwin, we discovered some stations that were getting rid of all these horses, because of the NT Government's Tuberculosis Brucellosis Eradication Scheme," Peter says.

"They claimed the horses were breaking fences between dirty cattle and clean cattle and spreading infection.

"So we had to try and rescue some of these horses between the stations and the meatworks."

But how did they make the distinction between walers and other horses?

Richard Crispin, who breeds walers on his stud at Bungarby on the Snowy River, says the waler is broader, stockier, and has a thicker neck than other breeds.

"The waler is more of a doer than a show horse," Richard says.

"They're also generally shorter in the back and are fine-boned, but strong."

He continues to use walers to muster his cattle, but his wife, Lorna, uses her waler mare for three-day show events.

"We had one, Brigadier, who was a middleweight endurance champion over 80,000km," Richard says.

"He even went one race unshod; they have very strong, hard hooves."

Peter agrees with Richard that the waler isn't the prettiest horse around.

"But beauty is no indication of usefulness," Peter says.

He says easy temperament is another of the waler's traits, making the breed perfect for the trail rides he and his wife, Pat, used to run for schools and holiday camps.

Now, their focus is on breeding, and they've received many calls from outback stations who want to use walers again.

"Also, people who'd almost given up riding because of bad experiences have come back to it," says Peter.

"They've found walers so stable and reliable. Their temperament is such an important attribute."

Along with the other members of WHOBAA, Peter is always on the look-out for new walers to enhance the gene pool.

"Some waler genes have been polluted through stations introducing new breeds, like quarter horses," Peter says.

"But we've found some in Western Australia, near the Gibson Desert, that have been isolated from new blood."

WHOBAA relies on word-of-mouth, old archives and newspapers to classify horses as walers.

"We look at each horse, as well as the group," says Peter.

"We're pretty strict. Out of around a dozen groups in the last five years, only one was defined as walers."

In some ways, the isolation of walers has been an advantage: natural selection means weak horses won't breed.

Although conditions aren't as rough as the 1880s, Richard still tries to leave it to nature.

"We bush our horses to make sure they keep toughness and strength," he says.

"We get 40 degree heat, as well as snow, and we don't rug them unless it's excessively cold and they're near home."

Both Richard and Peter know stories of walers surviving days without food or water.

It's obvious why they were a favourite of armies around the world.

"We've established an identity of Australians over 200 years as survivors," Peter says. "We've developed a history, where we survived where others couldn't.

"Walers really are the equine equivalent of the Australian pioneer. They've descended from animals that have been through tough times."

"And they've survived."