The Stock Horse was first brought to Australia in 1788 by settlers. It was the pasture land of South Wales that was the biggest attraction for them; it became a land of breeding. They were brought from all over from places such as Europe, Africa, and Asia. As the years went by, both Arabian and Thoroughbred blood was introduced. As a result, they developed a look that gave appearance very similar to that of the Anglo-Arabian.
During the 1850s and 1860s, these horses became neglected by the farmers that had fled to California in search of wealth during the Gold Rush. It was slowly but surely brought back and soon its potential was recognized and it gained fame by being a cavalry horse. Later Quarter horse and Percheron blood were introduced increasing its size.
During the First World War, the Australian Stock Horse gained much recognition as a superb cavalry horse. Specifically, the breed garnered an extraordinary reputation during the Allenby campaign against the Turks. Somewhere around 160,000 Australian horses were used in World War I, ranging from generals to cavalry men from 20 nations of both sides. Because of its ability to carry such heavy loads and display a great stamina that it ended up being shipped as a cavalry horse all over the world. Upon their return to Australia, however, they were quarantined and eventually under order by the government were destroyed in the desert; later a memorial was set up to honor the sturdy horses in Sydney.
They were especially bred for dealing with the roughest of climatic conditions which is why they have such endurance and strength. There was a tribute to the Australian Stock Horse at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony when a horse reared and another 120 stock horses were ridden into the stadium and performed a number of different tricks.
The Australian Stock Horse has a few ideal horses that have been used as sires to refine the breed further including "Saladin (1875 to 1890ish), "Celcil" (1899 to approx. 1920), and his son "Radius" (1918 to 1947). For a number of years, Quarter Horse crossbreeding was used but it was simply unacceptable to purists who prefer to stay true to the established Thoroughbred lines.
The Stock horse excels at a couple unique Australian sports; it has been known to do rather well in polo crosse and camp drafting. It also performs exceptionally in polo.
The Australian Stock Horse is far from being in any sort of danger from extinction, even though many of the stock sent away to war (because they were accepted as the most reliable horse in battle) and what not were never seen again at one point the count of horses in Australia was well over 2,000,000. It was pretty close to half the humans in all of Australia.
When the Australian Stock Horse served as a cavalry horse, the entire Cavalry Division covered somewhere around 170 miles and the horses were only being watered once about every 36 hours.
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