Trooper was my first Waler. When we first met, I had just turned 17 and was learning to break in young horses with my neighbour, and wanted to have my own youngster to break in and keep for myself. Through a bit of he-said-she-said, we heard about a lady selling three young "Waler Horses"... Well, we knew nothing about them, but a horse is a horse, so off we went to check them out!

There were two youngsters left available at Snowy Waler Stud to choose from, one immaculately behaved, and one a little bit on the cheeky side! Of course, it was the cheeky one I felt drawn to, and the more I handled him, the more I knew he was the one for me. His name was Snowy Idriess, named after Ion Idriess, Lighthorseman and author of, "The Desert Column".

We went home and did some Googling about the Waler breed, and might have scoffed a little at the descriptions of Walers... Sure-footed, hard feet, powerful movement, strong, bold, wonderful temperaments, one-person horses... It all seemed a little fanciful, but within weeks of Trooper arriving home, we admitted we were wrong and the descriptions true after all!

Trooper was incredibly easy to break in, and our neighbour described him as "the perfect first horse to break in yourself". The third day I was on his back, we were riding out in the hill paddocks, helping to cut out a boxed herd of cattle! Over the years, we have dabbled in almost every discipline possible, trail riding, mustering, lead horse for breaking, feedlot work, team penning, sporting, ARC, showing, dressage, low level jumping... He gives anything a try!

Over the years, I've had many offers to buy Trooper from me (which just isn't an option!), which sparked a bit of a dream... What if I were to breed a few more quality young Waler horses like him, and train them up so they are ready for somebody like I used to be, to take on and bond with, like Trooper and I did?

Amazingly, nine years later, my dream has come true, and I now own a small Waler stud in Nethercote, NSW, breeding, handling, training and competing, small numbers of top quality old-bloodline Waler youngsters, so they are ready to find new homes and bond with their special person.

Our mares are chosen for their fantastic temperaments first and foremost, also taking into consideration their conformation, movement and hardiness. We want our future foals to have the very best temperaments, along with the toughness to tackle high performance disciplines from being a handy work horse, to endurance, or even eventing, and the looks and quality to show with in the breed and hunter rings.

Our stallion, NP Fonzarelli, is closely related to Trooper, and shares many of his traits! Fonzi has incredible presence and wonderful conformation, and is an absolute pleasure to handle. We will also utilise outside stallions in the future to help keep secure old, rare Waler bloodlines and to keep our gene-pool as wide as possible.

We are members of the Waler Horse Owners and Breeders Association Australia (WHOBAA), and all of our Walers are registered as such, and will also be registered with any applicable colour registries as required.