The minor presence of horses in Togo comes out of a few breedings and practices of equestrianism represented, at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, in the region of Mango and in the north of the current country. Horses were introduced at that time thanks to the Tem, who were the founders of a small kingdom that focused on the use of rifles and cavalry. The distribution of horses in the south is much more recent, as breeding was very limited due to the presence of the tsetse fly. After sporadic imports of horses by German and French colonial troops, a diplomatic gift from Niger in the 1980s allowed the creation of the first Togolese honorary cavalry regiment. The use of the horse-drawn vehicle has always been unknown in Togo.
With an equine herd of about 2,000 horses, Togolese equestrian practices are exclusively for parades. This tradition takes place during the Adossa festival, an annual customary ceremony that attracts around 200 riders to the town of Sokodé. Horses are also used in Togolese fetish practices.
History
Togo is not a country with an equestrian tradition, being one of the West African countries that have neglected horse breeding.
Pre-colonial period
Robin Law's reference work, The Horse in West African History, published in 1980 and republished with additions in 2018 (in French: Le cheval dans l'histoire d'Afrique de l'Ouest), does not mention the presence of horses on the Togolese coast during the pre-colonial period and the situation inland remains unknown until the 19th century, due to the absence of sources. Another difficulty is the absence of a large African kingdom in Togo, which could have been written about by travelers.
In his Histoire des Togolais, Nicoué Ladjou Gayibor (assistant professor at the University of Benin) mentions the practice of equestrianism by the nomadic Koto-Koli (or Tem) who settled near the present-day town of Sotouboua, near the Mono River, in the late 19th century. He also mentions the success of the Chakosi people led by Na Biema, who created a small kingdom around Mango at the same time, after having subdued the natives. Nicoué attributes this success to the introduction of rifles and the use of horses, which they may have learned from a neighboring tribe: the Gondja or Mamproussi. In fact, according to Siriki Ouattara's thesis, the Chakosi people of present-day Ivory Coast never knew the use of horses.
Zarma riders and mercenaries, the Semassi, are known for having operated on Togolese territory on behalf of slave traders between 1883 and 1887. After having been co-opted by the Tem, they kidnap children on the roads at the level of Fazao mountains, or further south, and place up to two or three of them on the same horse before fleeing.
Observations of Hugo Zöller in 1884
The German explorer and journalist Hugo Zöller, who visited Togo in 1884, noted the absence of the use of pack horses (contrary to what he had observed in North Africa), which is why the goods were essentially carried by men. In the localities under the German protectorate that he visited, he pointed out that "One finds neither cattle nor horses. Our domestic animals are just pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and, from time to time, skinny dogs".
By contrast, Europeans and colonial troops did use horses. Consul Randad (Togo's consul in 1884) rode a horse for his travels, especially to a Hausa camp. According to Hugo Zöller, the city of Lomé (located on the Togolese coast) had only two horses in 1884, and that of Baguida had none. These were ponies adapted to the local climate, purchased for 200 or 300 marks each, and exported from the market of Salaga, then located ten days inland, via Keta (both located in present-day Ghana). These two horses are fed on maize and abundant local vegetation, growing within fifteen minutes of their stables. Each of these horses has a personal groom, the first had a Krou young man and the second had a Hausa young man.
The Togolese terrain is unfavorable for traveling by horse, and it is considered dangerous because for the most part, it consists of man-sized paths, sand, muddy silt, or very tall, sharp grass. However, the Savanna region offers abundant equine food.
Finally, Zöller reports the interest of the inhabitants, especially the women, in his and the consul's passage, without being able to determine whether this interest is due to the unusual presence of horses in this region, or to that of white men. In Agoè, he writes that "the appearance of our horses caused almost more sensation than our own presence. They were constantly assailed by a group of women and girls who kept shouting 'enongto' which means “Oh, how pretty".
From World War I to the end of the colonial period
The proliferation of firearms, as well as the disappearance of African kingdoms and small chiefdoms that once lived off the slave trade, led to an overall decline in the number of horses in West Africa. That is the reason why this animal, once a military asset, became the prerogative of chiefs or merchants who made it a symbol of their power or wealth.
During World War I, Duranthon entered Togoland from the north with 50 lightly armed cavalry goumiers and managed to recruit others on the spot to chase the Germans, bringing the total number of cavalrymen to 170, most of whom were armed with spears, and about 30 armed with rifles.
In 1926, the French colonial administration described a practice of horse breeding in northern French Togoland, where a small, very resistant, and hardy horse was raised in "good conditions". The colonial administration does not count any horses in Sokodé, but reports the presence of 676 horses in Mango, a figure that is probably underestimated because the inhabitants tend to hide their animals. Jean Eugène Pierre Maroix described the presence in 1938 of a "small but very resistant Togolese horse [that] was only found in the north". This observation was shared by various French settlers in Togo during the 1930s, one of whom wrote that the Mossi people of northern Togo knew how to ride, while the ethnic groups of the south were unaware of horses. Taxes were applied to horses entering or leaving the country's borders.
In 1937, the annual census of African livestock reported only four horses in all of French Togoland. In 1943, L'Encyclopédie coloniale et maritime described a "small horse well adapted to the environment, reminiscent of the poney du Logone" under the name of Kotokoli, which was 1.10 to 1.20 meters long.
From independence to the present day
Among the Bassari of northern Togo, according to Robert Cornevin (1962), "horses are frequently of little appearance but are resistant and therefore sufficient. The people appear to be good horsemen, well-trained in the use of weapons". The ladjo (Muslim customary chief) traditionally receives a horse at his investiture, which takes place at his home; his horse is slaughtered at the time of his death. This custom of using the horse as a symbol of chiefdom is particularly prevalent among the Kabye ethnic group. Only a person with an important public function, or a power "invested by the ancestors to preside over the destiny of a clan or tribe," could own a horse.
In the 1980s, most people in Lomé had never seen a horse in their lives. The establishment of horses in the Togolese capital came in part from a diplomatic gift of a dozen small animals from Nigeria's President Seyni Kountché to Gnassingbé Eyadéma. According to the French rider and editor Jean-Louis Gouraud, this gave rise to the Togolese cavalry regiment in the 1980s. Horse breeding declined during the second half of the 20th century, with a reduction of one-third of the estimated herd between 1977 (3,000) and 1989 (2,000). Some historical horse-breeding regions gave up the use of this animal altogether, for various reasons. In Mango and Dapaong, livestock breeding motivated entirely by hunting is losing interest with the creation of protected areas and national parks in which hunting is prohibited, prompting their owners to sell their hunting horses to Benin and Ghana.
Tikpi Atchadam, a political opponent of the ruling Gnassingbé family, created the Pan-African National Party in 2014, with the color red and a horse rearing, a Tem warrior emblem, as symbols, a choice he justifies by "its strength, courtesy, and elegance". In this context of political opposition, in 2018, the equestrian statue of a mounted warrior, in Kparatao, was riddled with bullets during a night clash. In April 2019, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé received a white horse and a boubou from executives of the Cinkassé Prefecture in Timbu, so that he would win a "clean and total victory" in the 2020 presidential elections.
Customs
Only male horses are traditionally ridden, the females being reserved for breeding. The use of horses in Togo focuses essentially on prestige and parades. The most famous festive event around the horse is the Adossa festival, or Cutlery festival, organized every year in Sokodé. The largest gathering of horses in Togo attracts about 200 richly caparisoned riders, sometimes coming from very distant regions. It is also the occasion for horse races and dances.
Personalities can be honored by the presence of a horse, as the horse is seen as an animal of prestige. Shéyi Emmanuel Adébayor, a Togolese soccer striker, was carried on a horse in Sokodé.
The horse is not perceived as a transport animal, a sport animal, or a draught animal, although there has been a recent awareness of its physical capacities. It can be ridden for routine travel between villages and to visit family members or parties. It is also used for transporting water or foodstuffs. In the Savanna region, it is used to transport crops, people, or various goods and materials.
Horse-drawn vehicles have never been developed in Togo, despite the existence of this practice in neighboring countries. In the absence of a culture of transmission of the training and use of draft animals, local farmers prefer to use motorized vehicles. Horse meat is consumed by the local population, these animals being, when old, often reformed by selling them at low prices for this purpose.
In 1989, Jean-Louis Gouraud proposes a circuit of equestrian tourism in Togo, following a north–south axis between Lomé and Fazao. Some horse riding activities on the Togolese beach are possible; in 1968, there were horse rides in a coconut grove. The equestrian facility "Hymane épique club" in Lomé offers various equestrian sports and organized a horse-ball discovery on 15 September 2019. Every 13 January, the Togolese national holiday, is the occasion of the parade of a regiment mounted with 200 horses. This regiment also takes part in other military parades. It has a dissuasive function, allowing among other things to disperse demonstrations.
A part of the use of horses in Togo focuses on the production of antivenom, antibodies being collected in the animal's blood after it has been injected with a small dose of snake venom.
Breeding
Horse breeding has never been a priority in Togo's policies. In modern Togo (1980), it was limited to the extreme north of the country; in 1991, it was practiced by private breeders as well as by the State, in a poorly organized manner, without any promotional structure. The Togolese ethnic groups that traditionally breed horses are the Koto-Koli (or Tem) and the Moba. In the Muslim town of Bassar, the Bassari people justify their refusal to raise horses by the fact that their ancestors were defeated by horses ridden by an invading tribe from the West.