France, Jan. 26 -- A strange sight appears on the streets of Mogadishu: a figure dressed all in black, including a cowboy hat, riding a horse through the beeping traffic of tuk-tuks and motorbikes.

Stranger still in conservative Somalia, the rider is a woman.

Shukri Osman Muse said she is "delighted to be the first female equestrian in the country- it was a dream of mine for many years".

The 25-year-old spoke to AFP after galloping on her chestnut horse through Somalia's capital wearing a black cowboy hat with matching full-length abaya robe that covered all but her pink sunglasses.

She only rode a horse for the first time last year, but now aspires to join Somalia's equestrian federation to represent her country in front of the world...