Morning Training

Before dawn had fully broken, the day's work began.

Ogawa Joe and Ogawa Masaru entered the stable one after the other.

Ogawa Joe left the relatively easier Training of the yearlings to his son while handling the training of the boarded racehorse himself.

Calling it a boarded horse was a bit of a stretch. So far, there was only Mejiro Tenma.

But for a breeding farm like Nishiken Farm, simply taking proper care of Mejiro Tenma during racing season was already no easy task.

Before Ogawa Masaru could even open the iron gate, the early-rising Mejiro Tenma let out an impatient urging sound.

"Okay, okay, I'm letting you out now."

The moment the securing chain was loosened, the gray horse impatiently shoved the gate open with its muzzle.

As it left the stable, it pinned its ears back at the group of foals walking ahead of it.

"Quite the temper you have, Pegasus."

Ogawa Joe's somewhat rough palm slid over the black mane.

Since returning yesterday, Mejiro Tenma had achieved the impressive record of kicking apart one partition, overturning two water buckets, and tearing up a shirt Ogawa Masaru had bought not long ago.

It had been mischievous before, but Ogawa Masaru had never seen it this hot-tempered.

The gray horse flicked its tail, its beady black eyes fixed on the herd ahead.

Only after Ogawa Masaru had led the yearlings away did Ogawa Joe mount up.

Rather than starting the training immediately, he first rode Mejiro Tenma in a circle around the stable.

Though seemingly meaningless, this was an important warm-up before the official training began.

Besides allowing the horse to gradually shift from a relaxed resting state into training mode, it also let him check the horse's condition under saddle.

"As expected, it's really full of fighting spirit."

After the circling exercise known as "riding work," Ogawa Joe could not help patting Mejiro Tenma's neck.

Compared with ordinary training sessions, Mejiro Tenma was unusually excited, even somewhat restless.

It was as though it could not wait to throw itself into training.

"Then let's begin!"

He rode the eager gray horse toward the round pen.

It could not compare to the professional facilities of a large training center, but Nishiken Farm did have an area that could barely be called a round pen.

Of course, it was really just a stretch of sand, leveled as much as possible and enclosed by rails. There was still quite a gap between it and a proper round pen.

Most of the time, round-pen training was used on newly stabled horses in the early stages of breaking or on problem horses with difficult temperaments.

Mejiro Tenma was neither.

What Ogawa Joe wanted was to use this training to loosen Mejiro Tenma's muscles, which had become slightly tense after the race.

Moreover, working in such a narrow circle was beneficial for improving the horse's balance and the agility of its footing.

It was not especially stiff, but he still hoped Mejiro Tenma's body would become more supple.

Before the training began, Mejiro Tenma stood still and lowered its head to inspect the ground beneath its hooves as if examining it.

Then it raised its head and gave a loud snort.

There was no problem.

Ogawa Joe knew that was the signal conveyed by Mejiro Tenma's snort.

This process was repeated before every training session.

When it approved of the training, Mejiro Tenma would throw itself into it wholeheartedly, giving it everything even without anyone urging it on.

But when it was dissatisfied, even if it reluctantly completed the training objective, its perfunctory attitude was obvious.

In such cases, the training results were often less than ideal.

Fortunately, today was not one of those cases.

From the very start, Mejiro Tenma was especially fired up, to the point that Ogawa Joe had to tug the reins repeatedly to signal it to slow down.

In a round pen smaller than standard size, excessive speed was dangerous for both horse and rider.

"Time to stop, Pegasus."

Once they had completed the planned number of laps, he gave the command to end the training.

However, Mejiro Tenma showed no intention of stopping.

"Stop, Pegasus!"

Ogawa Joe's tone became somewhat stern.

Only then did the gray horse halt, albeit reluctantly.

"You can't overdo it all at once, either!"

He said this as he patted the horse's back.

A faint sheen of sweat had already appeared on Mejiro Tenma's back.

For post-race recovery training, this was enough.

If it got too carried away, it would place even greater strain on Mejiro Tenma's already somewhat fatigued hooves.

Before leaving the round pen, Mejiro Tenma suddenly bucked.

Even though Ogawa Joe clamped down immediately, he nearly got thrown to the ground.

When he looked over with a helpless expression, Mejiro Tenma merely blinked its beady black eyes as though nothing had happened.

"You really are wilful. If you were at an outside stable, who knows how much hair the trainer would lose."

Ogawa Joe shook his head and smiled as he patted the gray horse's head.

Still, he could somewhat understand that faintly sulky feeling.

"I'll leave it to you, A-Sheng."

Dismounting, he handed the reins to Ogawa Masaru with some fatigue.

"Leave it to me, Dad!"

Ogawa Masaru nodded and clipped the lead rope onto the bit.

"Thanks for the effort, Pegasus."

Mejiro Tenma rubbed the back of his hand with its muzzle.

Back in the stable, Mejiro Tenma did not rush to drink. Instead, it rolled around on the ground first.

Only after its whole body was covered in hay did it slowly stroll over to the water bucket and lower its head.

"Honestly, I only turned away for a moment."

Ogawa Masaru sighed helplessly.

It took him quite a while to finally brush all the hay off, and throughout the process, he had to keep freeing up one hand now and then to deal with the gray horse's lips poking about everywhere.

After wiping the moisture from his palms, he patted Mejiro Tenma's hoof.

Mejiro Tenma immediately understood and began stretching with Ogawa Masaru's assistance.

After completing several stretches, he bent down and gently massaged Mejiro Tenma's leg muscles.

This was something he had learned from stablehand Kobayashi. It was said to help promote blood circulation in the hooves.

Though he did not know exactly how effective it was, Ogawa Masaru still diligently massaged from the roots of the thighs all the way down to the hooves.

By the time he had finished massaging all four legs, he was so tired he could barely straighten his back.

Mejiro Tenma, on the other hand, was still energetically swishing its tail.

"Get some good rest, Pegasus."

With that, Ogawa Masaru gathered up the tools and walked out through the iron gate.

For a horse, its legs were the continuation of its life.

As long as there was even the slightest improvement, he would be delighted.