TD 007 – Waler Horse Traditional Cache

This is a series of 7 caches, the theme - Horse Breeds Originating in Australia.
They have been placed along a quite road, near horse country.

A pleasant drive, just to get you out and about, with the bonus of finding a cache.

As we started geocaching when we lived in Mandurah, we decided to place our first cache near by.

The Waler Horse
is an Australian breed of riding horses, that developed from the horses that were brought to the Australian colonies in the 19th century. The name comes from their early breeding origins in New South Wales, they were originally known as New South Walers.

The Waler combined a variety of breeds; particularly the Thoroughbred, Arab, the Cape horse, Timor Pony and perhaps a little 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’s horse and prized as a military remount. Walers were also used by bushrangers, troopers and exploration expeditions that traversed inland Australia.

The preferred Walers for cavalry duties were 15 to 16 hands high (152 to 163 cm). Those over 16 hands were rejected for use in the South Australian Bushmen Corps. Unbroken horses, as well as those with grey and broken (spotted) coat colours were also rejected. The selected horses had to be of a good type that could carry 102 to 108 kg, day after day.

Happy hunting.

OOH YEH has kindly offered to maintan these caches for us.