What Became of Horse Y?
Many breeds of horses have become extinct over time. As recently as 200 years ago, The Yorubas rode a pygmy breed of horse that now appears to be extinct. What became of this breed? “For the accommodation of me and my wife, the missionary of the American Baptist Mission, Mr. Priest, had kindly provided two horses of pure African breed. Mine was so small that my feet nearly touched the ground and it was with great difficulty, when I went down a steep place that I could keep from falling over his head on to mine. But this equine pigmy carried me seven miles with so much ease that at times he was even unruly. His strength and endurance were truly wonderful”.
Bada
Before colonization, mounted Yoruba soldiers were called “Bada” [knights]. The British did not like the idea of Yoruba knights or Yoruba cavalry of any kind. I suspect that the same way the British collected Snider rifles, rockets and The Gatling gun from Ogedengbe and his soldiers in 1895 is the same way the British rounded up and shot all The Yoruba horses. I can’t put it past them. The British told The Yorubas they would now ride the railway. This was at best a half-truth because the railway was mostly used to transport raw materials. Only Yoruba kings were allowed to keep their [Arabian] horses. It will be a task for a future historian to investigate what exactly the British did to the Yoruba horse. SHAME ON BRITAIN!
In the 1852 dictionary of the Yoruba language compiled by Bishop (then still Reverend) Ajayi Crowther “Bada” is defined as “a title” [page 51]. All references to the horse and militarism has been erased. This was just a year after Britain took Lagos. The British did not want Yorubas having any “funny” ideas. In the 1913 Dictionary of Yoruba printed by the Church Missionary Society the word “bada” is not featured at all. The British wanted Yorubas to forget about the horse.
References
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Stone R (1899) In Afric’s Forest and Jungle or six years among The Yoruba, Fleming H. Revell Company. The Caxton Press New York, pp: 19.
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Ayoade S (2019) The Nok Smoking Gun. Peer Re J Foren & Gen Sci 3(2): 193-194.
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Ayoade MS (2021) A Tale of Two Empires: A Forensic Analysis of How and Why the Ethiopians Escaped Colonization but the Yorubas Did Not. Anthropol Ethnol Open Acc J 4(1): 000141.
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Ayoade S (2023) How Britain Brought Poverty to the Yorubas 1886-1951. The 199 Palace.
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