Where does roshar get it's horses

[High prince of geeks]

In exception to the Ryshandium the horses in rasher seam normal, but Roshar is no place for horses without human looking after them. What with the highstorms and grass that actively hides from them. The only healthy place for horses would be Shinovar but I feel like that would have been mention in the trading scene in Wok. I think that horses are not originally from Roshare but brought from another world by a world hopper. Another reason I believe in this is that Cultivation seams to dislike making unoriginal plants and animals, if she is responsible for any horses on Roshar I thik that would only be the Ryshandium horses due to their unnatural intelligence and loyalty. Also in words of raidience the horse tamer (Can't remember her name) states that breading and taming hours is seen as neither a male or female job. The Essay separating male from female traits was very thorough even going into different kinds of foods, but doesn't mention anything to do with horses. My view on this was that either horses were rare or nonexistent at the point the easy (Which is hinted at being ancient) and they slowly became part of the world so there is no books or scrolls talking about the mysterious animals that just appeared out of nowhere.

[Awesomeness Summoned]

There is a good deal of speculation that humanity was not originally from Roshar. Try out This Thread. A post I made on there (I think the second one) also links to two more earlier threads that discuss the topic.

 

It is theorized that if humanity migrated to Roshar from another world, they likely brought some non native domesticated animals with them such as horses and chickens which are present on Roshar but do not fit with the rest of the flora and fauna. 

[WeiryWriter]

It is said in the text that horses come from and are bred in Shinovar.  It is also said the normal horses were exceedingly rare in the past, even Kings had a hard time getting them, even in the present they are obnoxiously expensive.

[Lightsworn Panda]

i was also going to say Shinovar. The land their is more... normal compared to our world (Grass do't shrink away, for one). Read Rysn's interlude in WoK.

 

Wonder if pandas live in Shinovar...

[Terisen]

I've wondered about why the horses can't be bred outside of Shinovar.  Or, at least, why it's so difficult.  The horses can be brought inside to a sheltered area during highstorms (which is what they'd have to do with the horses they have anyway).  Then you could have them brought out to Rosharan pastures in between storms.  You wouldn't need to have herds of wild horses.  Just the tamed ones.  

 

Wouldn't it be far more cost effective for the highprinces to breed horses instead of trying to buy them from Shinovar?

[RShara]

Unless they're all mares and geldings.

[Delightful]

Maybe if they try breed horses the Stone Shamanate come to kill them. XD. 

 

Or maybe there just aren't enough horses to breed, by the time they're stopped working they're too old or something?

[Sphinx]

I've wondered about why the horses can't be bred outside of Shinovar.  Or, at least, why it's so difficult.  The horses can be brought inside to a sheltered area during highstorms (which is what they'd have to do with the horses they have anyway).  Then you could have them brought out to Rosharan pastures in between storms.  You wouldn't need to have herds of wild horses.  Just the tamed ones.  

 

Wouldn't it be far more cost effective for the highprinces to breed horses instead of trying to buy them from Shinovar?

 

Space is probably partly an issue, as is food and manpower. Any pregnant horse is a horse you are having to feed, house, and care for, and you can't use it for the horse's primary purpose, warfare. Rosharan pastures don't really exist, most horses are probably fed primarily on soulcast grain.

 

So in addition to the number of horses that you use for battle, you have to have significant numbers of breeding horses to maintain a viable diversity and continuous supply of new horses. Without the infrastructure for this in place it probably is more cost effective to buy them from Shinovar, as expensive as that is.

[Curiosity]

I've wondered about why the horses can't be bred outside of Shinovar.  Or, at least, why it's so difficult.  The horses can be brought inside to a sheltered area during highstorms (which is what they'd have to do with the horses they have anyway).  Then you could have them brought out to Rosharan pastures in between storms.  You wouldn't need to have herds of wild horses.  Just the tamed ones.  

 

Wouldn't it be far more cost effective for the highprinces to breed horses instead of trying to buy them from Shinovar?

 

Perhaps Cultivation is/was more active in Sinovar...

Just guessing!

[Terisen]

I actually don't think grazing is a problem. 

 

 

 

Q:  How does a world that is racked by storms supply food for(can't make this out).
A:  The thing to keep in mind is, it's not a barren planet.  There are lots of plants on this planet.  It's no more barren than a coral reef that deals with the tide rushing in and rushing out.  Now, life has to adapt to it but this is a really lush planet.  Just look at the Shattered Plains, there's grass everywhere and plants going all over the place.  It's just before a storm it becomes barren and then it becomes lush again.

 

The grass just grows in rockbuds and such that protect it from highstorms.  There's a scene in WoR where we see how the horses actually using a method to graze on this type of grass.  Space isn't that big of an issue either, I would think as you would soulcast a shelter for highstorms for the horses, much like is done with barracks for soldiers.  I would think it would still be far more cost effective than buying from Shinovar.

 

I think that RShara has the right of it.  It's highly possible that the Shin aren't selling horses that would be able to breed (be they all mares or geldings).  They'd corner the market and guarantee repeat business.