An exciting contest showcasing the mounted military skills of old such as tent pegging, skill-at-arms and stand-to-horse will get spectators’ blood racing when the 8th Light Horse Indi Upper Murray hosts the Lt Col Leslie Maygar Memorial Trophy at Walwa on Sunday, April 6th.
As well as the equestrian competitors, members of the 9th/14th Prince of Wales Regiment will be in attendance and the 8th Light Horse Indi VMR will have a static display at the event.
There will also be a Bush Market on the tennis courts adjacent to the oval.
The day starts at 9am and entry is a gold coin donation (BYO seating). refreshments will be available at the Walwa Store and the Walwa Hotel.
The competition is named in honour of Lt Col Leslie Maygar VC, DSO, VD who served with the Victorian Mounted Rifles in the South African War Victorian Mounted Rifles.
It was during this conflict that Maygar was awarded the Victoria Cross for the rescue of a fellow soldier under heavy fire.
When WWI started he once again volunteered for military service, enlisting with the Australian Imperial Force as part of the 4th Light Horse Regiment.
While serving on Gallipoli in 1915 Maygar was promoted to the rank of major and in October that year was appointed to command the 8th Light Horse Regiment. He was in command of the last party to withdraw from the trenches at Anzac Cove and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The Light Horse troopers will stay on in the district after the Maygar Trophy to participate in events at the Man from Snowy River Bush Festival three days later, commencing with a commemorative wreath laying at the Anzac Park cenotaph at 5pm on Wednesday, April 9th.
Members of the Australian Light Horse Association (ALHA), who have been attending the festival since 2011, will also be on show at the re-enactment, in the main arena and at the street parade.
Members of the ALHA attend Anzac Day and other commemorations throughout Australia at their own cost, taking pride in presenting themselves and their horses in a manner that would have made the original Light Horse proud.
The following excerpts from the Anzac Portal of the Department of Veterans Affairs describe the activities of the Light Horse:-
“………The advantage of mounted military units in early conflicts was that they were more mobile than infantry and could travel faster over long distances.
The Light Horse in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) mostly contained recruits who served in the regiments of the Citizen Forces.
Many young men from rural areas of Australia volunteered for the Light Horse regiments but they had to pass a riding test to join. The test was easier for men from the bush because horses were still the main method of transport on farms and in country towns.
The army did not officially accept First Australians into the AIF until May 1917, when enlistment standards were relaxed to include ‘mixed heritage’ with a parent of European origin. Indigenous soldiers served as valuable members of the Light Horse.
Many possessed excellent horse-handling skills and specialist tracking knowledge.
Australia shipped more than 120,000 horses overseas during WWI. Only about 29,000 served with Australians and other Allied troops in Egypt and the Middle East. Most were sold to the Indian Army.
During the war, Commonwealth purchasing officers bought many horses from breeders and graziers. The army preferred station horses, referred to as ‘Walers’, because they were well suited to the desert conditions in Egypt and Palestine. Walers had been used by stockmen and mounted units in Australia for many years. They had also been exported from Australia and sold to the British Indian Army as mounts.
Occasionally, Light Horse recruits brought along their own horses and the government would purchase them. All AIF horses received the government hide brand.
Light horsemen camped in bell tents close to their horses. Each tent would fit eight men with their feet towards the centre like the spokes of a wheel.
Light horsemen mostly fought dismounted. They were considered to be ‘mounted infantry’ instead of ‘cavalry’. The soldiers rode horses to a battlefield where they engaged with the enemy on foot and then left quickly on horseback when disengaging. The use of horses made the force more mobile and faster than infantry units and horse-drawn artillery.
During combat, they rode in sections of four light horsemen. One soldier held the reins of all four horses. The other three men in his section dismounted and went forward to fight on foot. The horse handler had a dangerous job because enemy aircraft could target him.
Sometimes the light horsemen fought from horseback, like cavalry. In the Battle of Beersheba, the light horsemen rode in with their bayonets. Their rifles were slung over their backs.
In 1918, some regiments were issued with sabres so they acted like cavalry but mostly they dismounted to fight. Each regiment contained 25 officers and 400 men, of whom around 100 performed horse-holding duties during combat. The regiment was organised into three squadrons (A, B, C), each with four troops that had 10 four-person sections.
Veterans of the Australian Light Horse felt proud of their service and connected to each other with many of them riding on horseback in Anzac Day parades for many years after the war.”
For more information visit https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au.
This article appeared in Corryong Courier, 27 March 2025.
