Lead Horse and Training

"It's time to go out to pasture, Pegasus—"

Early in the morning, Ogawa Masaru entered the stable carrying a lead rope.

When he opened the stall gate, he was greeted by Mejiro Tenma's dusty gray rump.

Even with a gray horse whose condition was not easy to read, one could vaguely sense the growing tension of the muscles beneath its body.

"It's already time to go out to pasture!"

Standing outside the stall, Ogawa Masaru urged him softly.

When he was in his stall, Mejiro Tenma would occasionally enter a state like this.

If someone rashly approached and disturbed him while he was in that state, even if it was Ogawa Masaru, the person closest to him, he would fly into a rage.

After a while, Mejiro Tenma finally flicked his ears and slowly turned around.

As Ogawa Masaru took out the lead rope, the gray horse cooperatively raised his head.

"All right, let's go!"

While Ogawa Masaru turned back to close the gate, Mejiro Tenma let out a low growl toward the stall directly opposite.

Ocean Fleet2024, who had been leisurely eating, immediately lowered his head and clamped his tail tightly between his legs.

Mejiro Tenma snorted smugly through his nostrils.

"Pegasus!"

Ogawa Masaru looked helplessly at the scene before him.

Although he had no advantage in size, Mejiro Tenma had unexpectedly become the farm's lead horse not long ago.

Aside from having to be put first during turnout and feeding, this had also created quite a few headaches.

After becoming the lead horse, Mejiro Tenma had added scaring the other horses to his many hobbies.

Ocean Fleet2024, especially, in the stall opposite him, seemed to be intimidated by him several times nearly every day.

In response to Ocean Fleet2024's submissive posture, Mejiro Tenma held his head high.

Then, as though inspecting his own army, he stepped out of the stable in a prancing gait with his chest thrust forward.

To those without much experience or who did not know Mejiro Tenma well enough, it might have looked like the gray horse was sending a positive signal before turnout.

But as the staff member who had spent the longest time with him, Ogawa Masaru knew the fellow was simply showing off.

Still, aside from that, he had not behaved too outrageously.

He was also capable of carrying out the responsibilities of a lead horse quite well.

As they approached the pasture, Ogawa Masaru finally let out a sigh of relief.

Things had been a little bumpy, but at least Mejiro Tenma had not caused any more trouble along the way.

Just as he was thinking that, the gray horse suddenly stopped.

Under Ogawa Masaru's uneasy gaze, Mejiro Tenma quivered his lips and yawned.

Then he continued following the lead rope toward the pasture.

It was really a relief that nothing bad had happened.

And so, man and horse arrived at the pasture.

The moment the lead rope was undone, Mejiro Tenma shot off like an overexcited husky.

"Be careful!"

After closing the pasture gate, Ogawa Masaru did not forget to remind him.

Though Mejiro Tenma would not listen to him anyway.

On the other side, Ogawa Joe had also begun training the yearlings.

Although he had studied at a stable in the United States in his early years, he did not, like traditional American trainers, seek to have racehorses begin training as early as possible.

In that regard, he was more like European trainers who favored "natural pasture rearing."

Besides necessary basic handling and acclimation training, he also emphasized developing a racehorse's social skills and ability to function within a group.

Ogawa Joe considered himself fairly experienced when it came to training yearlings.

Since the farm had opened, most of the yearlings trained by his hand had successfully reached the standard of qualified racehorses.

But today, the work had gone poorly from the very beginning.

"Let's clean up the surroundings first, eldest daughter."

He rubbed his throbbing head and spoke to Ogawa Kanna, who was serving as his assistant.

The stall was a complete mess, and plenty of the wood shavings used as bedding had even drifted onto Ogawa Joe's white hair.

Since earlier, Ocean Fleet2024 had been pressed tightly against the wall, constantly letting out constrained snorts with every breath.

Ocean Fleet2024, who was already in the latter half of his yearling stage, should theoretically have received most basic training by now. He should have overcome his fear, learned to wear equipment and follow simple commands, and begun working toward building stamina reserves and adapting to the track.

Yet the chestnut horse before them had not even managed the most basic desensitization to people.

As for more advanced training, there was simply no way to begin.

Ogawa Joe's method was to use an electric toy as a substitute, first giving Ocean Fleet2024 the most basic desensitization training.

As a result, the chestnut horse had been reduced to his current state by an electric crab.

"This is really troublesome—"

Deeply discouraged, Ogawa Joe plopped down onto a pile of wood shavings.

When he had first taken the horse on, he had been furious with Murata Farm, the breeder, and had even thought they knew absolutely nothing about Training.

But after actually taking him in, Ogawa Joe had come to understand the breeder's difficulties to some extent.

With Ocean Fleet2024's overly timid temperament, advancing any training program would become exceedingly difficult.

"How about trying to establish a reward system, Dad?"

As she cleaned the stall, Ogawa Kanna made a suggestion.

"A reward system? That might be worth trying."

Ogawa Joe nodded, and a shower of wood shavings immediately drifted down from the top of his head.

"A-Sheng—"

After a while, A-Sheng, who had been busy cleaning the stable, poked his head out.

When he saw Ogawa Joe's somewhat bedraggled appearance, he forcibly held back his laughter.

"What is it, Dad?"

He asked in a somewhat odd tone.

"Speak properly!"

Ogawa Joe first glared at him before asking, "Does this kid usually have anything he likes to eat?"

He pointed at Ocean Fleet2024, who was secretly peeking at them from the corner.

"Probably not. He's one of the rare good kids at our farm who isn't picky about food!"

A-Sheng answered with a proud expression.

Although he did not eat much, Ocean Fleet2024 would basically accept any feed offered to him.

"Then this is going to be difficult."

It seemed that using food as an incentive to establish a reward system would not work.

"Hey, Kanna, how did Dad end up looking like this?"

A-Sheng lowered his voice and asked curiously.

Though they had encountered difficult temperaments before, this was the first time he had seen his dad look so disheveled over Training, the thing he was best at.

"Add 'Sister' after Kanna when you address her properly!"

Ogawa Kanna sharply smacked her younger brother on the head.

Still, she quickly explained what had happened.

Not that she expected this idiot to come up with any solution.

"I see..."

A-Sheng bared his teeth as he rubbed his still faintly aching forehead.

"How about... trying to have Mejiro Tenma help with his training?"

He cautiously raised his hand and made the suggestion.