Nigeria

    Tsetse fly prohibits horses altogether in parts of Nigeria, but elsewhere they are mostly of Barb type.  Before the devastating civil war of 1968, the heads of districts and villages used to ride to the capital of the Emirate to celebrate the Mohammedan Festival of Id-el-Fitr.  They dressed their horses with decorated saddlery or quilted armor, those of Katsina and Bornu even wearing chain-mail, a relic of the Crusaders, and greeted their Emir with a spear-brandishing charge, their horses pulled up on their haunches at the last possible moment.
    A growing occupation with racing by the Kano traders during the 1930's brought interest in a heavier, stockier type of horse than the local Barbs.  Roman-nosed Bahr-el-gazel, with powerful quarters and well set-on tails, arrived along the trade routes from the Sudan, past Lake Chad to Bornu, and proved good racers and heavy-type polo ponies.  (I am guessing that "Bornu" is the same as the "Borno" state I found when I looked up present-day Nigeria.)
    Another, even less common type of horse is occasionally encountered in the Bornu district.  It is a rangy, long-legged creature with a lengthy neck and back, poor quarters and a most pronounced Roman nose.  It is known as the Bornu horse, or Dongola.
    In Nigeria, oxen are often employed for plowing and carting, with camels and donkeys used as pack animals.  Horses are for riding only, following on a slack rein behind a man on foot or another horse, or along the contours of the twisting track.  Their heavy saddles, with high cantle and pommel, have flat wooden frames that make no concession for the curve of a horse's back and cause frequent sores, but fortunately the use of the severe old Arab bit has almost died out.
    Fulani tribesmen, following the grazing trails with their flocks along the borders of Nigeria and the Cameroons, ride small, tough, and hardy animals, which they also use for toting their belongings.  These Fulani horses are of Oriental type but obviously have very mixed origins.  Their ability to stand up to the rigors of their nomadic life is of considerably greater importance to their Fulani owners than the manner in which they are bred.

Equine Empire * Search - Breeds * Search - Locations * Search - Terms