Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

To the naked eye, the overall color of the hay is a uniform light yellow.

Grab a handful of hay and put it close to your nose, and you can smell the natural scent of hay.

Kitano clenched the hay again, shook it, and then released it. There were no crumbs left on his hands, and the hay was not clumping.

Take some out of the house, pick up a lighter and light it.

The hay burns at a normal rate with less smoke and no pungent odor.

The hay produced by the system mall is indeed of excellent quality.

Of course, compared to the price of 250,000 yen, such quality becomes a matter of course.

"Hay can be sent directly to Nishiken, but what about fodder?"

After thinking about it, Kitano made a phone call.

"Hello, Professor Ota, may I bother you for a moment?"

Professor Ota is a close friend of his mentor, Professor Yamazaki, and has been dedicated to improving the varieties of native forage grasses for many years.

"Yes, I'm Kitano."

"No, no, that's all thanks to the riders. I don't understand horse racing."

"Haha, that's it—"

After a brief greeting, Kitano explained his purpose.

He plans to borrow the other party's laboratory to conduct a full set of tests on the forage, including NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy).

"Is that so? No problem, just send it over."

Professor Ota agreed very readily.

Although it takes four to five days to get the test results, Kitano feels it is worth it.

Anyway, a 20-kilogram box of hay only needs one green amulet.

You can make it back by reading the news for half an hour every day.

Kitano tried his best not to convert.

It’s still very expensive.

After warming up the leftover pasta from last night in the microwave and quickly finishing his breakfast, Kitano set off with the fresh grass samples.

By the way, I picked up another box of hay.

After sending the sample to Professor Ota's laboratory, they continued towards Nishiken Ranch.

When they arrived at the ranch, the Xuhe family was busy with their work.

"Good morning, Mr. Kitano."

Kana Ogawa, who was routinely observing the foals in the grazing area, noticed the approaching silver pickup truck. After Kitano got out of the car, the girl nodded slightly in greeting.

"Good morning, Miss Ogawa. Are you feeling better?"

Putting the cardboard box behind the car on the ground, Kitano greeted the girl.

Putting down the form in her hand, Ogawa Kana raised her head and revealed two delicate fangs.

"Thanks to you, everything is fine now~"

"Mr. Kitano, are you here to visit Pegasus? He came back yesterday and was so proud of himself for a long time, like he knew he had won the competition."

As she spoke, the girl suddenly turned her head.

"Asheng! Come here quickly——"

A terrifying sound came out of its mouth that was completely inconsistent with its body size.

"It's so noisy! I didn't realize I was here! It turns out it's Mr. Kitano who's here!"

Ogawa Katsu walked out of the stable angrily, and when he saw the figure in front of Ogawa Kanna, he scratched his head embarrassedly.

He glared at Ogawa Kanna with some anger and embarrassment.

Ogawa Kana, who was hiding behind Kitano, immediately responded with a face.

"Why don't you take Mr. Kitano to the stables quickly?"

Ogawa Kana pointed to the stable with a wicked smile.

"I know, I know!"

Ogawa Katsu casually tied the towel in his hand around his neck and walked ahead with a gloomy look on his face.

Chapter 13 Kitano's Proposal

"Just like on the way there, Pegasus remained calm on the way back. The transportation went smoothly."

"Although I'm a little tired, I'm still in good spirits, and my appetite hasn't changed much."

"For the rest of the week, the plan on the ranch side is to let it graze and recover for a while."

On the way to the stable, Ogawa Masaru began to calm down and explained the situation to Kitano.

As Medaira's actual stable attendant, he followed his father to Tanaka Stables before dawn this morning to complete the task of transporting Medaira.

After that, I have been busy until now.

Entering the stable, Ogawa Katsu first grabbed an apron hanging on the wall and put it on. He glanced at the cardboard box Kitano was holding, scratched his head, and reminded him awkwardly, "Mr. Kitano, the cost of food is already included in the management fee. Besides, Pegasus has a rather picky appetite, so I'm afraid he won't eat much of what you bring."

He thought that the box in Kitano's hand contained something to eat for Medahira.

"That's hay in here."

Kitano explained.

"Pegasus doesn't like hay very much. Even fresh hay has to be mixed with apple chunks before he'll eat it."

Ogawa Masaru shrugged and hesitated before continuing, "But it would be a shame to just let it go to waste. How about selling it to the ranch for the same price Mr. Kitano paid for it?"

Although he didn't know what Pegasus liked, the owner of the Kitano horse was thoughtful enough to bring gifts to visit the racehorse.

Although his father would most likely not agree, he didn't want the Kitano horse owner's kindness to go to waste.

At worst, just deduct it from your own salary!

"This is hay received from a related party to be used as bedding."

Kitano continued to explain.

After entering the stable and observing along the way, he noticed that the stables at Nishiken Ranch used wood chips for bedding.

Wood bedding has good water absorption and low dust rate. Apart from the need to be replaced frequently, it does not have many disadvantages.

More importantly, the cost is relatively low, making it an ideal bedding material with good cost-effectiveness for small and medium-sized ranches with greater financial pressure.

But apart from the price, it is far inferior to the special bedding hay that has been sterilized in all aspects.

"Ah?"

The expression on Xuhe Sheng's face suddenly froze.

The two stopped in front of Mudaiba's stable.

After taking the cardboard box handed to him by Kitano and opening it, Ogawa Katsu could tell by just looking at it with the naked eye that the quality of the hay in this box as bedding was definitely far superior to the wood chips he had laid out.

"This must be expensive, right?"

He asked cautiously.

"This is support from a related party, so it's just the cost price."

Kitano decided not to tell the boy the actual price of the hay so as not to shock him.

“That should be expensive too.”

Ogawa Katsu took out a bunch of hay and looked at it carefully, then said with envy.

This level of hay can even be used as food.

As for using it as padding, let alone him, I'm afraid even my father hasn't done it many times.

"The same two boxes of bedding will be delivered next week. If there is any extra."

"no!"

Kitano was interrupted before he could finish his words.

He looked at the boy in front of him who suddenly became serious with some surprise.

"Since we've already collected the money for the padding from you, Mr. Kitano, how can we still have the audacity to ask you to provide it?"

The boy said somewhat seriously.

While receiving a box or two of hay as a gift every now and then is perfectly normal, having the horse owner pay for the bedding is something entirely different.

Even if it was just for the sake of the ranch's reputation, he had to reject Kitano's proposal.

"I didn't think well enough."

Kitano lowered his head in shame.

After quickly figuring out the relationship, he also discovered the inappropriateness in his words.

"So if you really want to cover the padding yourself, I'm afraid you'll have to modify the contract. But that part is under Dad's jurisdiction, so you'll have to go to him."

Ogawa Masaru continued speaking seriously.

Although he is actually responsible for most matters of the entire ranch except training, strictly speaking he is still just an apprentice.

Even if the owner of the ranch is his father.

"But I'll lay out this box of hay later when Pegasus is out grazing. You'll see what happens then!"

After finishing the explanation, Ogawa Katsu immediately returned to his youthful and lively nature.

"To be honest, I also want to see what a stable made of hay would look like—"

Looking at the hay lying quietly in the box, Ogawa Sheng began to get impatient.

As if he heard the noise coming from the stable, Xuhe Zhang temporarily put down his work and walked over.

"You little brat! What if you scare the horses by yelling in the stable?"

He first scolded Ogawa Katsu with a stern face, and then greeted Kitano with a gentle expression.

Kitano was amazed by the speed of the face changing.

"I don't!"

Ogawa Katsu first retorted out of habit, then changed the subject with a guilty conscience: "Mr. Kitano wants to discuss something with you, Dad."

After saying that, he shrank his head and pointed in Kitano's direction.

Ogawa Jō looked at Kitano.

Kitano organized his words a little, and then proposed that he would be the bedding for Medaipei.

"So that's it."

Ogawa Jō tapped his cane with his fingers, and after a moment he showed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

"But the ranch's account is running low. Even if we modify the contract, I'm afraid we won't be able to refund you the relevant fees in a short period of time."

Although the one million yen management fee that Kitano paid in one go was a considerable sum, from the perspective of a production ranch, no amount of money would last.

As early as February this year, in order to obtain the best possible stallion resources, the ranch's actual cash flow had been drained.

Even if Kitano's one million yen is included, it is only barely enough to keep the ranch running.

"As for a refund, I don't mind. As long as I can pay it back, even if it takes a little while."

Kitano said, waving his hand.

Even without considering the benefits or mission rewards, being able to improve Mudaiba's living environment is enough reason.

As for not being able to pay back the refund for the time being——

All I can say is that as a veterinarian, he is used to it.

"In this case, we won't have anything to worry about."