Talk:Waler horse

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[edit] Returned Waler

The book Light Horse by Laurence McCrea, 1986, gives an account from his father describing the history of the sole returned waler. According to this book:

• this horse was called "Samson" and last ridden into battle by a Pte Andrew (Andy) McTavish of the Light Horse
• Andy McTavish and Samson lead an ANZAC day march in Sydney after the war

The book is presented as a truthful although 2nd hand account. I could find no record of Andrew McTavish in the war records, so the book may not be entirely correct. On the other hand it does seems a little suspicious that the only returning waler would just happen to be that of a General.

As the book's account is different from the article's, could anyone provide sources for either claims:

• the "Sandy" mount of Major-General W.T. Bridges
• the "Samson" mount of Pte McTavish

--Zarni02 05:39, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Sandy definitely came home and after his death was apparently stuffed and was on display at the War Memorial for a while. He gets discussed a bit at lighthorse.org.au, one such thread is here. There is some dispute was to whether Sandy, being a thoroughbred, qualified as a Waler. As far as being suspicious, I think quite the opposite -- the only sort of person that could get a horse returned through Australia's quarantine would have to have some clout. Given the strict process that went into the disposal of horses, I would be interested to know how a private could get his horse home. As far as I know, no soldier "owned" their horse -- they were all property of the army. Even those who supplied their own horse when enlisting were paid for it and then had it issued back as a remount. That said, if there's a source claiming another returned Waler, that is worth mentioning in the article. Geoff/Gsl 09:09, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the link. The waler in the book was returned to Australia in 1929, so I now think this story is unrelated to the "Sandy" of General Bridges. The General Bridges "Sandy" has lots of references, so am sure this story is factual.

I put a post on the lighthorse forum and will await replies before posting anything here. This book seems unreferenced elsewere, and is either forgotten or some of the book may be a bit of a yarn.

--Zarni02 00:54, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)