Hokkaido Horse Racing Story.

Chapter 287 Twenty-Four Hours of Herding

"Hmm, it really is coming?"

In the quiet lounge, Zep suddenly blurted out this sentence.

"Is it Anna who kissed me?!"

Rachel Ho, who had been yawning repeatedly, suddenly became excited.

"I meant 24-hour herding."

One day in mid-November, after the Daoying memorial service ended.

"Ah... Ooh... Anna, my dear—"

A mournful sigh, like that of a bound spirit.

"But it's certainly time, for both things."

As he spoke, Kitano lowered his head again.

The pen moved across the paper, making a clicking sound.

A hierarchy will naturally form within a herd of horses.

At Mr. Xuhe's suggestion, it was decided to start implementing 24-hour grazing in November, a little earlier than last year.

At this point, the one-year-old horses need a long time to build relationships within the group and learn to coexist with other members.

During the 24-hour grazing period, the ranch staff's contact with the one-year-old horses is basically limited to feeding and training periods.

The ranch thus gradually transformed from a nursery into a preparatory school for students entering higher education.

Like many social animals, a one-year-old horse will gradually exhibit various changes within a herd.

Personality development begins during weaning, and the temperament of breeding mares, as well as their attitudes toward people and horses, will have a certain influence on the foals that are bred based on this.

Generally speaking, the offspring of mares with calm temperaments are not easily bullied even when they join a herd. Some horses are docile towards humans but act aggressively towards their own kind.

However, the situation is exactly the opposite for Sister Duobo, who plays the role of the teacher of the one-year-old horses at the ranch.

For a moment, I felt a little worried about the future of the one-year-old horses that Teacher Dober had been teaching by example.

Although, so far, apart from Teruhama who has always been the same, the other children are still the kind of people who are quite approachable.

"Hey! Is Anna finally coming?"

Miss Earthbound Spirit immediately returned to her normal tone.

"Yes, Flyt Express will be able to deliver feedback to New Chitose before evening."

"Great! Please make sure you assign me the task of transporting and handing over the goods—"

After saying that, Rachel Ho looked over with a very expectant gaze.

"Nobody's going to take this from you."

He smiled and shook his head, then turned his attention back to the weekly grazing report.

Regarding the movements of one-year-old horses.

If left unchecked, a leader will naturally emerge from the herd.

Ranches usually refer to the best newborn horse of the year as the "lead horse," and this type of horse is often the one that runs rampant in the herd.

Take Pegasus as an example; soon after realizing he was being treated differently, he completely revealed his true nature.

For managed ranches, it is never a good thing to let only one or two specific horses grow up in the herd.

In the old days, it was common for the lead horse to steal feed from the last horse on pastures.

Even if a free-range grazing model is adopted, if only the best horses grow up while the others are underdeveloped, it cannot be considered a qualified breeding management.

but--

The new generation at Mejiro Ranch is a slightly special case.

Neither Hikari, which showed its talent early in the training process, nor Hikari Maru and Hikari Tsuki, which had obvious advantages in physique compared to horses of the same age, actually had a dominant temperament that favored the lead horse.

Sakuya, who returned to the ranch to recuperate, was completely uninterested in worldly affairs, except when it came to food.

For the time being, this role was once again taken over by Sister Dober, the eldest among the horses. "She's still worried, isn't she—"

This state of mind persisted until the time of collective pastoralism.

"It's time to go back—"

Before the pasture, now shrouded in a layer of silver, Qianshan called out to the distant herd of horses grazing at night.

The first thing that appeared before my eyes was a patch of black that shimmered in the sunlight.

With its exceptional speed, Huixiang quickly left its peers far behind.

The figure running towards them, bathed in the morning sun, instantly gave one the illusion that "it really is that horse."

Dober, who had returned to the grazing area early, would occasionally lower his head to drink water, watching the ponies playing in the grazing area with gentle eyes.

If the pony stops, it will make a urging sound from its throat to encourage it.

"Well done, Sister Duobo."

While offering compliments in his usual tone, Asayama's expression quickly fell.

"It's gotten all dirty again, just like before—"

At the very back of the herd of horses, two round, plump outlines of deer mane walked one after the other.

Seemingly having come to the conclusion that "the ranch is a place where you can eat and drink to your heart's content," Sakuya entered gluttony mode as soon as she returned to the ranch.

When Rachel Ho was feeding the other horses in the stable, she would even use her charm to get extra food for herself beyond her allotted portion.

As for Terumaru, who is still a one-year-old horse, in a sense, he is a further step up from Sakuya.

After all, even experienced horse breeders like Mr. Ogawa and Mr. Kimura had never seen anything like the stuff that required applying bittering agents to the stables.

"Come back soon, Teruhime."

Looking at the smaller kiwi fruit that had secretly stopped again, I couldn't help but sigh.

The next moment, as if startled by something, the deer-haired pony suddenly jumped backward.

It's as if a resilient spring is hidden inside its body, making it hard to imagine that such a small horse could perform these movements.

"As expected of a child who seems poised for victory!"

A gentle smile unconsciously appeared on her face as Asayama magically produced a mint from her sleeve.

So, the two late-arriving deer-haired horses finally joined the procession returning to the stables.

"The same as always, Sister Duobo."

The moment the gate to the grazing area was opened, Dober, who had already stretched out his neck, eagerly lunged forward to bite.

Easily dodging the first round of bites, Huibang then tried to imitate them.

"You don't need to do this as well as Sister Duobo."

Even though he says that, the child will probably do it again next time.

The Radiant Moon and Radiant Star in the queue flicked their tails, but did not stop because of this little incident.

The black-haired pony stared wide-eyed, looking around as if hesitating whether to imitate the behavior.

Then, urged on by Dober's nasal voice, he hurriedly started walking.

Back in the stable, Rachel Ho had already prepared the morning feed for the herd of horses.

Sakuya, who had been looking like she was about to collapse while on her way to her stable, suddenly perked up and walked towards it with her tongue lolling out.

While checking the legs of the night herd, Asahi and Lavid were wiping Dober's body with towels.

Even though there were several stables in between, you could still tell that it was quite a commotion.

"They really are a handful—"

As he said this, Hui Xing nodded as if in agreement.

You think so too, right?

(End of this chapter)