Hokkaido Horse Racing Story.

Chapter 8 Debut Plan
Time quickly came to mid-May.

Representative Ogawa, Trainer Tanaka, and Rider Ochiai were gathered together to discuss Mudai Hakuba's debut schedule.

"This bloodline has a lot of experience in dirt racing, and with Pegasus's relatively wide hooves, it shouldn't be a problem tackling other tracks."

As the actual trainer of Mudaiba, Ogawa Jō spoke first.

"How's the horse's growth?"

Tanaka asked.

"Compared to last week, there's no noticeable change in weight."

Ogawa Jō answered hesitantly.

Medaima is a type that is quite picky about food. Apart from apples cut into small pieces, he is not interested in fresh grass, let alone compound feed.

This is exactly what Xuhe Zhang is worried about.

"Xunta, what do you think?"

Without rushing to express his opinion, Tanaka put down the schedule in his hand and turned to ask Ochiai a question.

"The movements are very smooth. Although the flexibility is not too outstanding, there is no extra energy wasted when running."

Ochiai, who had already had several experiences of working with Medairo Baima, quickly gave his own evaluation.

"How's it feeling mentally?"

Tanaka continued to ask.

"He's a somewhat unpredictable type."

After a slight pause, Ochiai continued, "But he's very quick to receive and learn instructions, and he has a very good memory."

"That's it-"

Tanaka nodded, then lowered his head without saying a word and began to think.

"How about trying the 1,000-meter run on the 23rd of this month?"

For those born in March, the end of May is not too early to debut.

And according to the person in charge, the current growth seems to be a bit slow.

Then there is no need to wait for the horse to continue growing.

It is said that horses grow four times faster than humans.

However, as Medaima was born relatively earlier than other horses of the same age, he does not have much advantage in weight.

If you wait any longer, you might end up wasting the last bit of advantage that comes with early birth.

Although it seemed like he was forcing himself to move forward, Tanaka believed that his judgment was still sound.

"We will cooperate well here."

Although he felt that time was a bit tight, Ogawa Jō finally nodded in approval.

"I have no problem here."

Ochiai also agreed very readily.

"Then, let's report this to Mr. Kitano."

Taking out a pen, Tanaka added a new column to the densely packed schedule.

The tripartite discussion ended without Kitano's attendance.

As for Kitano——

He and a middle-aged man in a suit were observing the excrement on the ground intently, like elementary school students completing their holiday insect observation diary.

Merino sheep excrement, to be exact.

"Look, these are undigested milk lumps.

Kitano spread out the excrement and began to explain with a normal expression.

The man in the suit looked a little embarrassed.

"If the milk lumps are small and do not form a serious obstruction in the gastrointestinal tract, the milk lumps will most likely be slowly pushed out with the normal peristalsis of the lamb's intestines and eventually excreted with feces."

Kitano took off his gloves and suddenly stood up and opened the lamb's mouth.

He glanced at it briefly and then let go. His oral mucosa was normal, and his gait was normal.

The possibility of foot-and-mouth disease infection was preliminarily ruled out.

The little lamb's eyes were wide open, and it was wagging its tail and pouting its upper lip repeatedly.

Seeing this, the man in the suit quickly stood up and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So it shouldn't be a big problem, right?"

The man in the suit asked uncertainly, turning his eyes away from the spread of excrement with some disgust.

"Not necessarily. If the milk lumps are large or accumulate and adhere to the gastrointestinal tract, they may cause obstruction if they continue, threatening the lamb's life."

Kitano shook his head, and this action made the man in the suit look a little nervous.

"Can this be resolved quickly?"

He asked in an earnest tone.

"We still have to find out the cause of the disease first."

Kitano's expression also became somewhat helpless.

As a professional manager, the man in the suit may have considerable skills in operating and managing the ranch.

However, when it comes to understanding livestock themselves, it is a bit difficult to put into words.

All we could get from the commissioned call was information about widespread leg weakness and loss of appetite among lambs.

“Are the feeding records for ewes in the middle and late stages of pregnancy still available?”

After walking and stopping between the pens and the grazing grounds and observing for a while, Kitano tilted his head and asked.

The pen environment is dry and clean, with no obvious sharp foreign objects, and the area of ​​grazing land is also reasonable.

In addition to parasitic and viral infections, the possibility of living environment-induced diseases and lack of exercise have also been ruled out.

Then try to find the cause from the mother's perspective and food.

"Yes! All records are saved on the computer, even the feeding time and feed batches are remembered clearly."

The man in the suit nodded repeatedly and took Kitano to his office.

"There's nothing wrong with the nutritional content of the feed, but they're feeding too little green grass."

Just as the man in the suit said, the feeding records on the computer were very detailed, and Kitano quickly found out the problem.

"In the short period after a ewe gives birth, it's fine to feed her less concentrate and green feed. But after she recovers, if she's still breastfeeding, you should gradually adjust back to normal feeding."

"Give the lambs two milliliters of vitamin B complex an intramuscular injection. Observe their body temperatures over the next two days."

After that, Kitano reminded him with some concern: "Also, record the status of your excrement. If the symptoms of leg weakness persist in a few days, feel free to contact me."

Even if the possibility of E. coli infection has been preliminarily ruled out through observation of clinical symptoms, follow-up work must also be done properly.

"Does this also need to be recorded?"

The man in the suit frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then called an employee over and whispered a few instructions.

An embarrassed expression shifted to the employee's face.

"Then the diagnosis is complete."

Although the medical fees will not be received so quickly, for Kitano, who just paid over a million yen in one go for Medahira's foster care, it is still an income.

If a few farmers hadn't happened to pay off the medical bills they owed last winter during these few days, he would probably have to go back to eating bean sprouts.

Back in the car, Kitano unlocked his phone screen and several unread messages popped up one after another.

Representative Ogawa, Master Tanaka, and Rider Ochiai each gave advice on their debut battle from their own perspectives.

"The 23rd—"

Putting down his phone, Kitano tapped the steering wheel and thought for a few seconds.

Then he responded.

"Just do it."

(End of this chapter)