Emu Gully Heritage Stock horse and Waler Stud is primarily situated on 182 acres of rich and picturesque farm land at Helidon Spa near Toowoomba. We also have another large property of 2,200 acres in Northern NSW on the rugged and beautiful Pindari Dam.
The main activity we are involved in is a highly successful and respected Outdoor Education Centre called “Emu Gully Adventure Education Group”. The facility has an Anzac theme and specialises in Leadership training and teambuilding. See
www.adventureed.com.au
 Emu Gully Pindari
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 Emu Gully Helidon
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Our Bloodlines
All our horses go back to multiple,
historical horses of significance including:
Sir Hercules (1843), Saladin
(~1875), Tester (~1880's), Carbine (1885), Cyllene (1895), Moorefield (1889),
Jack (~1890's), Cecil (1899), Bruce (1900), the Arab endurance stallion Shahzada
(1913), Gainsborough (1915), Radium (1918), Rivoli (1919), Medlow (~1920),
Pantheon (1921), Gibbergunyah (1922), Silvius (1924), Haydons Starlight (1926),
The Bullseye (1932), Bobby Bruce (1934), Pantler (1935), Dimray (1938), Young
Valais (1939), Bright Flame (1943), Panzer (1945), Chan (1945), Radux (1946),
Myra Bronze (1951), Sundown (1951), Buisson Ardent (1953), Abbey (1955), Austock
Beranghi (1956), Terlings Deo Juvante, (1956), Peter (1956), Nabinabah the Gun
(1957), Never In Doubt (1957), Reality (1958), Scrumlo Firelight (1960), Bush
Fire (1961), Scrumlo Uranium (1964), Elliotts Creek Cadet (1967), Rivoli Ray
(1967), Cecil Bruce (1968), the exceptional mare Nabinabah Breezette (1973) and
her full siblings Nabinabah Zephyr (1971) and Nabinabah Gunner (1972); Warrenbri
Romeo (1975), Jaipur (1976), Lindsay (1982) and Realm of Fire (1982).
Heritage Stockhorse Walers
What is a Heritage Stockhorse? Firstly it is a horse that has proven heritage Australian breeding back to Australian born horses circa 1870 - 1930 (or earlier) - the same era as the Waler horses sent overseas as remounts for the Australian Light Horse. Secondly the horse must have NO Quarter Horse or any other modern breeds not in existence in Australia in the Waler era. Effectively this means a full pedigree of at least 50 years to rule out any Quarter Horse (first imported into Australia in 1954) as any unknowns
may possibly be Quarter Horse.
The Heritage Stockhorse traces back to those horses that helped establish our country in the early days of Australia's colonisation - the explorers, the farmers, the stockmen moving cattle for thousands of miles - an era when horses were essential for work, transport and pleasure. While these heritage horses owe a lot to the Thoroughbred, they may also have pony, Arab or sometimes a little of the heavier breeds such as Suffolk Punch, Cleveland Bay etc and generally go back on the dam line to "station mares".
What is the connection between Heritage Stockhorses and Walers? A.T. Yarwood in his book Walers, Australian Horses Abroad, 1989, said "In essence, the Waler was an Australian horse abroad, working chiefly in the countries washed by the Indian Ocean, though also in the Middle East and Asia. Initially, it was a horse bred in New South Wales and imported to India for military, sporting or domestic purposes, and the term remained current there for nearly a century, applying soon to all Australian horses." (Yarwood page 16). However in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, the term Waler was not used for horses in Australia; instead here they were called "remounts" or stockhorses. Originally, being a Waler only meant the horse came from Australia, so there were many types of Walers, depending on what they were used for. Yarwood stated that, “like the Man From Snowy River’s horse, a Waler was typically “three parts thoroughbred at least’, with the origin of the fourth element depending on its intended field of service.” (Yarwood p.17). Of course there were some very heavy horses used as artillery horses, but Yarwood is describing the typical horse used by our mounted infantry in the Boer War and WWI - it is this "remount" type most of us immediately think of when the word Waler is mentioned. These horses that are an integral part of our proud ANZAC history, essentially were the original Australian stockhorse.
Today the term Waler refers to those horses that are descended from the same horses as those sent overseas as “Walers”, with no new breeds introduced since that time - and clearly heritage stockhorses fit this criteria - hence our stud name, "Emu Gully Heritage Stockhorse Waler Stud".
Our horses are all registered Australian Stockhorses as we believe this society (ASHS) has preserved and recorded the Waler bloodlines from the past. There are still families living on properties that have been in the same family since the 1800’s, breeding the same type of horses as their great grandparents did, that have maintained detailed stud records, and many of our horses go back to such stations like Bloomfield, Scrumlo, Thornthwaite etc. While not all ASHS horses are "heritage" due to the inclusion of Quarter Horse bloodlines; because our horses have known pedigrees, we can determine exactly what bloodlines are, and more importantly are not, in our horses. With these detailed pedigrees, links to known remount sires such as Tester, Gibbergunyah, Saladin, Jack and Bruce can be traced (See our History page for more information on these horses).
Our Horses
The combination of the Anzac theme of Emu Gully's Adventure Education,
together with the family’s involvement in the Australian Light Horse (a WWI
military re-enactment group) and love for horses was the basis for deciding the
best secondary use for the properties was the development of a Heritage Horse
Waler stud.
The family is passionately committed to keeping our Anzac Heritage alive, and
the Australian Heritage Stockhorse Waler fits perfectly into the picture.
Currently in August 2009, we have 46 horses including 16 brood mares,
with plans to increase the number of brood mares over the next 5 years. (See our
Stallion, Brood mare and Foal pages for photos of our horses).
Our horses are all "Stock Horse Walers" and are from carefully researched old
bloodlines with full breeding records for at least the last 50 years and have
proven links back to the horses that went to war. Our horses have very old
Arabian, Welsh, Cleveland Bay, Suffolk Punch, pony and Thoroughbred bloodlines
from early last century and have been sourced from the Eastern states ie the
area that was called New South Wales before Victoria and Qld became states in
their own right. (91% of all Walers exported between 1860 and 1931 were from the
Eastern states - our bloodlines go back to these horses. Yarwood, 1989, "Walers:
Australian Horses Abroad")
Note: Emu Gully Heritage Stockhorse Waler Stud is not affiliated with either the
WHSA or WHOBAA as both these breed societies now only register "Outback Walers"
(horses rescued from outback stations in WA, SA and NT and descendants of these
horses), and neither group will now register domestically bred registered
Australian Stock Horses. Therefore our horses and their progeny are no longer
eligible for registration with either Waler group (5 mares and one stallion were
registered with the WHSA before they changed their criteria).
