Brumby
The Brumby is Australia's feral horse, descended from animals that escaped or were released from colonial settlements from the early nineteenth century onward.
It is not a breed in the registry sense but a free-living population, and there are large herds in the Australian Alps, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Height and type vary widely with the founding stock of each region, typically 14 to 15 hands, hardy and surefooted. Brumbies are the subject of a long-running and genuinely bitter public argument in Australia: they are valued as heritage animals and as a cultural symbol, and they also damage alpine bog and stream habitat that supports threatened native species. Both of those things are true at once.
- Origin
- Australia; feral descendants of colonial horses
- Height
- Typically 14–15 hands; variable by region
- Lifespan
- 20–25 years
- Build
- Hardy and surefooted; type varies with founding stock
- Status
- Free-living, not a registered breed
- Note
- Management is politically contested in Australia
3 brumby photos, newest first
Living with a brumby
A gentled Brumby is a project, not a first horse. Horses removed from the wild come with no handling history, and most rehoming programmes place them with experienced people and a trainer. Given that, they are frequently excellent — surefooted, sensible and very hardy.
They have grown up on poor forage and are extremely efficient feeders. Turned onto good pasture they founder easily, and laminitis is the single biggest health risk in a rehomed Brumby.
Feet are usually excellent and often stay unshod.
Expect the settling-in period to take months rather than weeks, and expect gaps — a Brumby may load into a trailer well and have never seen a hosepipe.
Rehoming organisations exist in most Australian states and are the sensible route for anyone interested.
General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual horses vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.
Worth reading alongside this
More horses by breed
Every horse breed somebody has posted a photo of.