Oyo adopts cavalry under Alafin Orompoto; repulses Bariba invasion at Ilayi

Under Alafin Orompoto, reigning from Igboho, a Bariba army invaded the kingdom but was repulsed at Ilayi. The earliest recorded use of cavalry in Oyo tradition is attributed to Orompoto's reign. Law argues the Oyo adopted cavalry during the sixteenth century, an innovation that reversed the military balance against the Nupe and Bariba and laid the basis for later imperial expansion.