Somali horses - some questions?

[Lion104]

How many horses did Somalis have in the pre-colonial period in comparison to other livestock like camels, sheep, goats and cattle? Obviously horses were purely for military uses, so Somalis didn’t need them anymore after the colonial period. How much did they cost?

I asked my awoowe and he didn’t seem have to have that much knowledge on the subject, other than the fact that they were very prevalent across all Somali regions before the 20th century.

[X.Playa]

Why ask such technical question? Naturally horse numbers were lower then all of type other livestock.

The last horse generations were the people who were adult in the 1920s. Your grandfather is way too young for horse generation.

[AlpArsalan]

Jibriil Abokor had not only the best breed of horses in the North but were the best riders.

The rest of the Somalis besides the Dhulos couldn't compete with us in terms of horsemanship but the dhulobproblem was that their horses are technically ponies just like majority of the Somalis from Hargeisa to Garissa

[Lion104]

Jibriil Abokor had not only the best breed of horses in the North but were the best riders.

The rest of the Somalis besides the Dhulos couldn't compete with us in terms of horsemanship but the dhulobproblem was that their horses are technically ponies just like majority of the Somalis from Hargeisa to Garissa

The horses from eastern Somaliland had better endurance, were more hardier(due to the harsh condition they lived in), and required less water and food or maitainence to get by. Having large big horses that required constant feeding and watering when you’re a nomad living in a semi-arid region is counterproductive. The Mongol horse aka the pony is what allowed them to conquer the largest contiguous land empire.



The only difference is that your horses aren’t even faster than eastern ones, which means you have a maintain a larger horse for no advantage.

[Lion104]

Why ask such technical question? Naturally horse numbers were lower then all of type other livestock.

The last horse generations were the people who were adult in the 1920s. Your grandfather is way too young for horse generation.

But would all nomads have a horse? Or was it a luxury? I would have thought that each household would have had 4-5 horses. How can you defend your livestock from raids when you’re on foot?

[AlpArsalan]

Jibriil Abokor had not only the best breed of horses in the North but were the best riders.

The rest of the Somalis besides the Dhulos couldn't compete with us in terms of horsemanship but the dhulobproblem was that their horses are technically ponies just like majority of the Somalis from Hargeisa to Garissa

The horses from eastern Somaliland had better endurance, were more hardier(due to the harsh condition they lived in), and required less water and food or maitainence to get by. Having large big horses that required constant feeding and watering when you’re a nomad living in a semi-arid region is counterproductive. The Mongol horse aka the pony is what allowed them to conquer the largest contiguous land empire.



The only difference is that your horses aren’t even faster than eastern ones, which means you have a maintain a larger horse for no advantage.

My land is green with valleys that are filled with water.So maintaining our bigger horses wasn't a problem and also the fact that we are settled made us far better horsemen than other Somalis since they couldn't afford to practise with the horses.They lacked the means to feed it.

This is why Somalis when raiding would walk with their horses and would only mount their horses once their near the place they intend on raiding.

You geeljire use to also feed your animals with camel milk diluted with water so that's also another thing.

All in all bigger horses are far better in battle unless you are an horse archer like the Mongols/Turks

[AlpArsalan]

The horses of Gabiley are similar to the horses found in
Oromia which are of a much better stock than the malnourished pony that you geeljire posessed (except Cisse Waraabe they were only infantry)





Geeljire useless pony

[theologain]

Arabian horses the best

[Dhuloxking]

the mijertein horse is the best. check it out it exists.

[Lion104]

This useless imbecile ruined my thread with his FKD, “we have green land” BS.

Go and create a thread for that if you want.

[AlpArsalan]

You're question was quite childish in th beginning anyways and X.Playa answered it.This thread now belongs to me you useless geeljire

[gurey25]

Jibriil Abokor had not only the best breed of horses in the North but were the best riders.

The rest of the Somalis besides the Dhulos couldn't compete with us in terms of horsemanship but the dhulobproblem was that their horses are technically ponies just like majority of the Somalis from Hargeisa to Garissa

Having bigger horses is not much of an advantage if you don't use them well.
The only advantage of bigger horses is wearing armour.
No Somali wore any armour or used heavy cavalry with lances, everyone fought the same as light cavalry using spears and swords.

So having a large number of hardy ponies is a much better option.
Somalis used camels for transport and carrying supplies with each rider having at least 2 ponies tied together with ropes following the camels.
They only rode them during battle with the herd of camels being a base of operations to retreat to.

Surprisingly this is identical to how the armies of the Khalifa Al rashidun fought early on in yarmouk for example.

[gurey25]

I'm surprised that Somalis didn't innovate enough, faced with a huge light cavalry army like the eastern clans someone should have attempted heavy infantry with a shield wall to hold against the light cavalry and a small force of heavy armoured cavalry with lances to charge into the enemy and break them. You will still need allot of light cavalry on your flanks and as outriders recon and chasing after the enemy.
Nothing technologically challenging, the armour could just be boiled leather and maybe a shield to deflect spears.

[Basra-]

The Somali horses resemble their masters. (Somalis) They are small framed, short, and weakly! A very opposite definition of what a stallion is. At least, compared to the majesty of the western horses.

[brboss]

The Somali horses resemble their masters. (Somalis) They are small framed, short, and weakly! A very opposite definition of what a stallion is. At least, compared to the majesty of the western horses.

somalis on pony's future super power