[2] The gaits of the Waler were considered ideal for a cavalry mount; it could maintain a fast walk and could progress directly to a steady, level canter without resorting to a trot which was noisy, liable to dislodge gear and resulted in soreness in the horse's back.

[3] Most of the early Walers carried a fair percentage of Thoroughbred blood, with some recorded as race winners and a few being registered in the Australian Stud Book.

While in warfare service in North Africa, some Walers proved successful in races against local Egyptian horses and assorted Thoroughbreds.

[3] A memorial statue to the Waler Light Horse was erected at Tamworth, New South Wales as a tribute to the men of the ANZAC Corps who served in the Boer, Sudan and First World Wars.

This memorial was constructed at a cost of $150,000, funded by grants from Federal and State Governments, the Tamworth Regional Council, Joblink Plus and donations from business houses, property owners, RSL Members and the community.

Forty-seven light horse re-enactment riders and the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers took part in the unveiling by Major General William B.

It was especially suited to working in the harsh climate of the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine, where it proved superior to the camel as a means of transporting large bodies of troops.

Their contention has always been that good blood will carry more weight than big bone, and the experience of this war has converted the writer, for one, entirely to their point of view.

Yet, during World War I, when the major (or captain) found four Australians outflanked by the Turks, "Bill the Bastard" took all five men – three on his back and one on each stirrup – .75 miles (1.21 km) through soft sand at a lumbering gallop, without first bucking.

[14] From 1959 until it was sold to Birds Australia to be converted into a wildlife sanctuary in 2000, Alex Coppock and his wife bred Walers on Newhaven Station in the Northern Territory.

[18] In the 1980s efforts began to reestablish the breed using feral Walers descended from horses that had been set loose in rural regions after the commercial trade ceased.

[19][20] Today's Waler is a functional Australian horse, bred from bloodlines that came to Australia before 1945, that is free of imported genetics since that time.

[21] In May 2013, up to 10,000 Walers were culled at Tempe Downs Station near Kings Canyon, about 300 km (190 mi) south-west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, owing to concerns about water sustainability.

Ian Conway, owner of neighbouring Kings Creek Station, said that it would be more cost-effective to train Aboriginal men to manage the horses than to cull them.