Horses in Australia

Australia has the largest population of feral horses of any single nation in the world, so as a species they adapt well to the climate. Now, we know that its likely that the dingo was introduced to Australia by Asian seafarers. A horse is a whole other matter, however. But imagine if someone had introduced the horse to Australia, for whatever reason, prior to European discovery.

Who would be likely to do so? It may be farfetched that the Asian seafarers would have brought horses with them in their small boats, and they weren't even domesticated yet at any rate. Perhaps Arabs? It would be a contrived situation, something like a shipfull of Arabian mares and studs bound for the East Indies (for some reason) going off course and crashing into the Australian coastline, and the horses escaping and forming a large enough breeding population. Really unlikely, but I'm happy as long as it's not ASB. The earlier the better, in order for the horses to have maximum effect over time.

Now, what effect would horses have on the Aborigines. Would they just hunt them to extinction? That wouldn't be the most interesting result, but perhaps the most likely. On the other hand, if a group of Aborigines did manage to figure out how to ride (or just herd) them they might have an advantage over other groups. The horses, already domesticated, would be relatively easy to handle. The Native Americans were able to figure it out quickly enough, so perhaps the Aborigines could as well (though they would be at a slight technology advantage.)

Any thoughts?
 
I don't know about this one... to bring the horse to Australia, one has to have a motive for exploring the interior. I suppose traders might look around for gold.
 
I don't know about this one... to bring the horse to Australia, one has to have a motive for exploring the interior. I suppose traders might look around for gold.
You are also got to ship them there in the first place being in mind that maritime explorers don't normally carry creatures for riding.
 
Yeah, I know. The PoD would have to be something shifty as all hell to pull it off, but I'm more interested in the results if such an unlikely turn of events had happened.
 
The Mongols probably brought horses with them when they invaded Java. The Ming treasure fleet carried horses as well.

The thing is, you have to teach the Aboriginies to ride, to break them in, to care for them and ideally, make the proper horse tact. Otherwise it might take thousands of years before they'll figure it out. Humans have lived with wild horses for a very long time before anyone tried to use them.
 
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