Mejiro's New Year's Eve

On the last day of December.

The expectant mothers returned home from turnout in high spirits as well.

Normally, newly retired first-time mothers had a different air from the veteran mothers, chattering away like high school girls as they walked.

At Mejiro Farm, however, it was the exact opposite.

Sakuya, one of the new mothers, exuded an almost dignified calm just from her bearing—her weight was much the same, though.

Meanwhile, Xuan-chan and Star, both of whom had given birth before, still bounced about like foals every time they went out to pasture or came back in.

The pasture reserved for the mothers had several windbreaks. Once the weather turned cold, M-chan and Star often came charging back from there in one burst, so bringing the herd in had been a hectic affair almost every time lately.

Of course—

No matter how eager they were to return to the stables, the order of entering and leaving the pasture was still determined by status within the herd. The mothers who did not want to get caught up in it would cross past the water trough first and slip away through the gate.

Among the retired horses, Dober and her devoted fan Atalanta were usually among the last to come back.

So at times like this, they would often speed up and dart past the mothers.

Won't they get caught?

Just as that thought arose, they neatly avoided the herd's path and nimbly slipped through a gap.

"See? This is the experience I've built up over a long time in the herd."

"But even if you beg me, I won't teach you."

Whenever this happened, Dober wore that sort of smug expression.

Because she knew her own place so well, she understood how to maneuver cleverly within the herd.

That really was