The Gayoe, also known as the kuda-Gayo, is a

pony A pony is a type of small horse ('' Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared ...

from the island of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, found near

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

.FAO Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS)
accessed December 8, 2007 The name is derived from the Gayoe hills in the north of the island. The Gayoe is one of eight

breeds A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slight ...

native to Indonesia; the others are the Batak Pony,

Deli pony The Batak pony, also called the Deli pony, is a pony breed from Indonesia. Originating in Central Sumatra, it is thought to have descended from Mongolian Horse and Arabian blood, and has continually been infused with additional Arabian blood t ...

, Bali Pony,

Java Pony The Java pony is a breed of pony developed on the island of Java in Indonesia. It is thought to have descended from wild forebears of Mongolian Wild Horse ancestry. It is larger and stronger than the Timor pony, with more Arabian breed in ...

, Sumba and Sumbawa Pony (and closely related Sandalwood Pony) and

Timor Pony The Timor Pony was developed on Timor Island, likely from Indian breeds of horses and ponies that were imported to the island. The Timor Pony is thought to be closely related to the Flores Pony, which was developed on nearby Flores Island ...

Characteristics and uses

Gayoe ponies are generally solid-colored, usually a dark

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

shade commonly called "brown". Adults are approximately 12.2

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

(114 cm) tall at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...

, and small-bodied. They are primarily used for transportation on Sumatra, and the 1997 FAO Breed Survey indicated that the breed has a stable population of about 7500 animals, thus it is not

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

Origin

Horses were introduced to Nusantara archipelago in unknown date, they are descended from Tibetan or Mongol-type horses. It is possible that ancient stocks were brought to Indonesia by the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

in the 7th century, recorded as being given to Dja-va (

Kalingga kingdom Kalingga ( jv, Karajan Kalingga; 訶陵 ''Hēlíng'' or 闍婆 ''She-pó / She-bó'' in Chinese sources) was a 6th-century Indianized kingdom on the north coast of Central Java, Indonesia. It was the earliest Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in Central ...

), Dva-ha-la, and Dva-pa-tan (Bali). Mongolian horses are probably captured during the

Mongol invasion of Java The Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan attempted in 1292 to invade Java, an island in modern Indonesia, with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. This was intended as a punitive expedition against Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to t ...

(1293). If this true, the Nusantaran ponies would owe much of its roots to the Mongolian horse as well as horses obtained from other areas of western Asia like India and Turkmenistan.Groeneveldt, Willem Pieter (1876).
Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources
. Batavia: W. Bruining.

References

Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Indonesia {{Horse-breed-stub

Characteristics and uses

Origin

See also

References