Also called Bobodi and Boboli, the Bobo is a light pony or small horse found in Burkina Faso. Like many of the West African breeds, they are generally of Barb or Dongola ancestry. Although these horses can have a natural resistance to trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), which is found in other native equines of the area.
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Also called Yagha and Burkinabe, this breed horse is named for the Mossi kingdom in what is now Burkina Faso. The Mossi people have been associated with masterful horsemanship for centuries. Their horses are a type among the West African Dongola horse, found in many countries on that part of the continent.
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Also know as the Hausa Horse, Sulebawa horses are raised by the Hausa tribe, which seems to be responsible for a large percentage of the known horse breeding in Nigeria today. The Sulebawa Horse is also known as the Hausa Horse, but as they raise the majority of the horseflesh in the country, several of the breeds are attributed to them.
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Also called Ibarka Plateau ponies, the Piti Pony is named for the Piti-Abisi people in Nigeria where they are found. The word for horse in the Piti language is Ibarka and these small horses are also known by that moniker.
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Named for the Chamba people found in northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon, the Chamba Pony is more mysterious than the other Nigerian breeds. Traditionally they live in grassland areas so their ponies were probably used for light agriculture and transportation.
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Ridden and celebrated by the Kanuri people whose tribal lands included parts of Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon, the Bornu Horse (sometimes called Kanuri Horse) is still a bit of a mystery. Although they are one of the four breeds that have been unofficially identified in the country.
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The Arewa breed is named for a Hausa word which means ‘The North’, so it’s fairly safe to assume this breed is found in the north of Nigeria and bred by the Hausa people. Not the only breed associated with the Hausa, the Arewa may be a type of Sulebawa horse.
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The Selale or Oromo horse is found in central Ethiopia and are particularly known as good riding mounts. They have an interesting past, deeply connected to the history of the country itself. The Selale name comes from the area where they are found and Oromo are the people who keep them.
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The Somali or Wilwal horse are from the Somali lowlands of eastern Ethiopia, previously called Ogaden. Their Wilwal name is thought to have come from a Somali warlord and local governor, Wilwal Farah Hersi, who used them to fight early British colonists.
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Kundido feral horses are named for the Ethiopian mountain on which they are found and one of the few known feral horses of the African continent. This hardy mountain animal has been said to have roamed the mountain plateau for centuries.
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