ABSTRACT
For the most part, these non-military uses of horses served purposes of prestige and ceremonial, rather than strictly utilitarian ends. The reasons for the non-adoption of the plough and the wheel in West Africa are by no means certain, but fortunately this problem lies largely outside the scope of the present work. There is less evidence for the use of horses for pack work in the western areas of West Africa, but one account does report the use of horses as well as of donkeys as pack-animals by the Malinke of the Konyan area at the end of the nineteenth century. In the Muslim areas of West Africa, equestrian displays occurred especially after the communal prayers at the end of the Ramadan fast and at the festival of sacrifices following the season of the Pilgrimage, as well as at the installation of emirs and important officials, the reception of foreign embassies, and similar political occasions.
