Sumio Suzuki

On November 18, during a feeding experience at the Yatsugatake Long Riding Horse Club in Kobuchizawa, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, a four-year-old girl suffered a partial amputation of her right middle finger. Because detailed reporting of the accident has not been made public, the exact causes are unknown, but this could have been prevented if the feeding had been conducted with trained horses under proper staff guidance.

Feeling the warmth of a horse and taking the first step toward having an interest in horses can be a valuable experience. Many people are attracted by their large, gentle, loving eyes. However, horses remain animals, and no matter how well trained they are, unpredictable things can happen. Therefore, one must always consider the worst-case scenario. For children under six years old, feeding experiences are safer when done using tools.

Yonaguni Island: “Free Riding Experience for Island Residents,” held every Sunday, April 28, 2013 (This program is no longer conducted.)

Author feeding horses

Five-year-old grandchild feeding horses

Sixteen years ago, while attending lectures at Aichi Gakuin University and using the library, I encountered the phrase “Japanese native horses are in danger of extinction.”

Experts have written that:

1. Japanese native horses are living cultural assets that tell the story of Japan’s history with the horse (former director of Ueno Zoo, Teruyuki Komiya).
2. They are proof of the symbiotic development of horses and humans in Japan’s cultural and historical soil (Professor Nobukazu Takisaka, Tokyo University of Agriculture).

I agree with these assessments.

In July 2012, the Japan Equine Federation issued a request to zoo directors, urging them to cooperate in exhibiting and protecting Japanese native horses.

Below is the transition of the number of native horses by breed from fiscal 2008 to 2023:

1. Hokkaido Native Horse
2008: 1,254 heads
2012: 1,354 heads (+100)
2023: 1,143 heads (-211 from 2012)
Although numbers once increased, they have sharply declined due to aging producers. However, they have not fallen below 1,000 heads.

Because they are capable of a distinctive lateral gait—where the left foreleg and left hind leg move together, and the right foreleg and right hind leg move together, resembling the restrained, dignified jog of a samurai in period dramas wearing kamishimo inside a castle with both hands held at the hips—traditional danzuke (pack carrying) is performed as appropriate.

Lateral Gait

The condition/state of danzuke (pack carrying). According to one account, the horse is said to have carried a load of 300 kilograms over a distance of 10 kilometers.

A video clip of a Hokkaido Native Horse running in a lateral gait.

They are used for trekking, horse therapy, and haseyumi (mounted archery in which arrows are shot from a galloping horse).

Horse therapy: Because they are shorter in height than Thoroughbred-type horses, caregivers feel more at ease, the physical burden on assistants is reduced, and safety is better maintained.

Haseyumi (mounted archery) – meteshita (lowered bow hand): an extremely high-difficulty shooting technique.

2. Kiso Horse
2008: 149 heads
2012: 157 heads (+8)
2023: 128 heads (-29)

Photos show that a stallion named “Suzukaze” was used for father-daughter breeding, which led to a foal with congenital deformities, revealing challenges with inbreeding. Efforts were made to introduce new stallions, but no foals were born in 2023.

Breeding stallion: Suzukaze. A mare at a park in Aichi Prefecture that was covered by Suzukaze gave birth on February 28, 2012, to a colt (male foal).

The park director at the time noticed abnormalities in the foal (Suzuharu) and, on September 17 of the same year, asked a representative and a veterinarian from the Kiso Horse Preservation Society to come and examine it. However, without even touching the foal, they stated that it had “congenital right hindlimb flexural deformity.” From this, it is clear that the cause was inbreeding.

In fiscal year 2022, a new breeding stallion was introduced. It is not known how many mares were covered, but in fiscal year 2023 not a single foal was born (based on interviews).

Under these circumstances, where inbreeding has progressed, it would be difficult to produce riding horses that are truly suitable for trekking.

When I attended a horse therapist training course twelve years ago, one of the instructors was a graduate of the Nagoya University School of Medicine. The couple operated a therapeutic facility in a mountainous area of Kyoto Prefecture and were engaged in therapy for people with severe intractable diseases using two Kiso horses.

They explained that they chose Kiso horses because, for caregivers and assistants, the horses have a gentle and obedient temperament, and because they use a diagonal gait (shatai-ho—when the right foreleg moves forward, it is followed by the left hind leg). This gait, they said, subtly stimulates the caregiver’s nervous system more effectively than the lateral gait of the Hokkaido native horse.

After attending the therapy for six years, one child was able to speak for the first time.

3. Noma Horse
An adult male stands about 100 cm tall.

2008: 81 heads
2012: 60 heads
2023: 52 heads.

As of 2020, Noma horses in Ehime Prefecture are preserved at two locations: 50 horses at Noma Uma Highland and 2 horses at Tobe Zoo. These are divided into a core population for breeding and preservation (the breeding group) and another group consisting of horses that have finished breeding, geldings, and elderly horses. The latter group, because of their particularly gentle temperament, is tamed and trained and is mainly utilized for children’s riding experiences and therapeutic riding. Because of their small height, riding is limited to elementary school children weighing up to 30 kilograms.

Looking to the future, diversification of keeping locations is required. In order to avoid the risk of extinction, it is necessary to further promote transfers or loans to other zoos and similar institutions, which are already being implemented.

Next, it is necessary to establish a secondary population to support the breeding core population. Although forming such a secondary population is expected to be financially challenging, it should be considered as a future task, including entrusting care to institutions with a public or public-interest character.

Furthermore, promoting a gene bank for horses is important. The Tokachi Station of the National Livestock Breeding Center is already preserving genetic resources, including live animals and frozen semen, for six breeds of Japanese native horses: the Hokkaido native horse, Kiso horse, Taishu horse, Tokara horse, Miyako horse, and Yonaguni horse. Mr. Yoshihiro Kubo, section chief at the Tokachi Station of the National Livestock Breeding Center, has also conducted on-site surveys regarding the production and preservation of frozen semen for Noma horses, and positive results are anticipated in the future.

Tsutomu Hashiguchi
(“Horses of Japan: The Past, Present, and Future of Native Horses”)

4. Misaki Horse (National Natural Monument)
2008: 115 heads
2012: 87 heads
2023: 92 heads; 20 foals were born, with 13 surviving as of December 16, 2024.

They are feeding in a harem group.

From “Father–Daughter Mating and Its Avoidance Mechanisms in Misaki Horses”

Yujiro Kaseda and Ken Nozawa
May 9, 1996

Journal of Animal Science of Japan, Vol. 67, No. 11, pp. 996–1002, 1996

Abstract

Based on the results of a 16-year behavioral study and paternity determination of Misaki horses living in a feral state, this study analyzed the occurrence of father–daughter mating and the mechanisms by which it is avoided, focusing on 12 breeding stallions and their 51 daughters. Of the 176 breeding seasons during which both the 12 stallions and their 51 daughters were reproductively capable, in 82 seasons the two parties spent the season in different areas. In other words, by leaving their natal area before reaching reproductive age and spending reproductively active seasons in regions different from those of their fathers, the daughters physically avoided contact with their fathers, resulting in avoidance of father–daughter mating.

In the remaining 94 breeding seasons in which the stallions and their daughters occupied the same home range, not a single case was observed in which they formed a stable mating relationship. Thus, this study shows that the formation of mating relationships between fathers and daughters was avoided through dispersal, whereby female offspring leave their natal group before sexual maturity.

Among 124 cases in which father–offspring relationships were confirmed, two foals were born from two father–daughter pairs. In both cases, the daughters had been born and raised in groups led by stallions other than their fathers and later, after reaching sexual maturity, formed harem groups with their fathers. On the other hand, there were no cases in which a female offspring that had once left her natal group returned after sexual maturity and formed a stable mating relationship with the stallion of that natal group (the stallion with whom she had spent her early life).

These results support the hypothesis reported for wild and semi-wild horses that “experience of spending early life in the same group leads to avoidance of inbreeding or a reduction in sexual behavior.”

Fiscal year 2008: 115 horses

Fiscal year 2012: 87 horses
(Down 28 compared with fiscal year 2008)

This decrease was due to the culling of 12 horses in 2011 as a result of equine infectious anemia.

Fiscal year 2023: 92 horses
(Up 5 compared with fiscal year 2012)

In fiscal year 2023, 20 foals were born. As of December 16, 2024, 13 foals remain alive (6 males and 7 females). This number appears to be roughly the same each year.

Cape Toi covers an area of 550 hectares.

In the early Edo period, a domain-run ranch was established by the Takanabe Domain, and horse breeding was carried out through year-round grazing and natural reproduction.

During the era of the Takanabe Domain, only horses with bay, black, or dark bay coats were accepted, and horses of other coat colors were culled. Today, however, all horses born at Cape Toi are counted as “Misaki horses,” regardless of coat color.

Because of its chestnut coat, it was culled (photographed by the author on July 30, 2011).

At present, the population consists of 15 to 20 harem groups, along with males that do not hold harems. Each harem group is composed of one breeding stallion, approximately four mares, and one foal. In the morning, they graze on the hillside grass, and as the sunlight becomes intense, they move into the thickets. The lead is taken by the oldest mare, while the breeding stallion brings up the rear, as if watching over the group.

The harem stallion

They move into the thickets in search of shade.

The lush, vibrant pasture owes much to horse manure. It is also because members of the “Misaki Horse Pasture Cooperative” carry out controlled burning every January without fail, to remove poisonous plants and manage the grasslands. At Cape Toi, there exists a “natural museum without buildings” that sustains the grassland ecosystem.

Yu Akita
Ecotourism Promotion Office, Kushima City Hall

Poisonous plants — horses leave them uneaten.

5. Taishu Horse
2008: 30 heads
2012: 28 heads
2023: 44 heads (+16)

The Tsushima horse is designated as a Natural Monument of Tsushima City. There is the Hatsuuma Festival (held every year on the second Sunday of October), which features Umatobase—a horse race held annually at the Meho Rodam Equestrian Park. However, because awareness of the “Taishu horse” has not spread widely among local residents, a male instructor transports a horse on a truck and conducts outreach classes at elementary and junior high schools.

In Tsushima, pasture grass does not grow well, so the cost of feed places a heavy financial burden.

Although the number of tourists from South Korea is increasing, they do not seem to have much interest in horses.

In Gentle Horses That Supported Island Life (by Minoru Toyota and Tomoko Yoshihara, in Horses of Japan: The Past, Present, and Future of Native Horses), it is stated that “In 2020, two foals were born. Going forward, the plan is to produce four to five foals per year, with the goal of reaching 50 horses on the island in five years (by 2025).” When this policy was conveyed to an instructor, the response was that “this is desk-top theory and the reality is far more challenging.”

Fiscal year 2020: 39 horses
Fiscal year 2021: 41 horses
Fiscal year 2022: 45 horses

Looking only at the numbers, production appears to be progressing smoothly. However, in fiscal year 2023, the total was 44 horses, a decrease of one from the previous year, and it is understandable that the instructor replied that things do not proceed as neatly as they do on paper.

Grooming of Taishu horses

6: Tokara horse

Horses at the Iriki Farm of Kagoshima University, Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture. (When they detect humans, they all flee at once.)

Horses at Kaimon Sanroku Nature Park, Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture. (Ignoring humans.)

Horses on Nakanoshima, Toshima Village, Tokara Islands. (They come closer when a camera is pointed at them.)

Fiscal year 2008: 115 horses

Fiscal year 2012: 114 horses
(Down 1 compared with fiscal year 2008)

Fiscal year 2023: 90 horses
(Down 24 compared with fiscal year 2012)

Breakdown

Kagoshima University Iriki Farm: 17 horses
Year-round grazing; semi-feral

Kaimon Sanroku Nature Park: 56 horses (20 males, 26 females)
13 foals were born, and 2 were transferred to Kagoshima University Iriki Farm
(Managed by the Iwasaki Group, hotel division. Grazed from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but gathered in stables outside those hours.)

Nakanoshima: 17 horses (6 males, 11 females), year-round grazing
3 foals were born; inbreeding has progressed considerably
One horse is scheduled to be transferred from Kagoshima University Iriki Farm next year
(Designated as a Natural Monument of Kagoshima Prefecture and managed by Toshima Village.)

Kagoshima University’s Iriki Farm is primarily a cattle research facility, and Tokara horses are kept there for the purposes of species conservation and pasture management.

There are around 20 paddocks. The horses are allowed to graze on the pasture grass left uneaten by the cattle, and their manure becomes high-quality compost, resulting in lush, green pasture growth the following year.

The horses eat the pasture grass left uneaten by cattle.

Differences in the mouth structure of horses and cattle.

In Tokara Horses: Living in Solitude (by Arata Okamoto, in Horses of Japan: The Past, Present, and Future of Native Horses), it is written that:
“In recent years, Tokara horses that have set out on new journeys have adapted to different environments and begun to walk forward with vitality. This is thanks to those who extended a helping hand in their training. At the same time, the significance of maintaining Tokara horses is gradually being understood. As a result, the Tokara Horse Preservation Society has begun to receive requests from people who wish to keep, utilize, or increase Tokara horses.”

However, when an inquiry was made to the staff of Kaimon Sanroku Nature Park (Iwasaki Group), the response was, “We have never heard of such a situation.”

At that time, the secretariat of the Preservation Society was housed within the Faculty of Agriculture at Kagoshima University, but it was transferred to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine last year.

7: Miyako horse (owned by Miyakojima City)

Fiscal year 2008: 31 horses

Fiscal year 2012: 35 horses
(Up 4 compared with fiscal year 2008)

Fiscal year 2023: 48 horses
(Up 13 compared with fiscal year 2012)

There has been no increase or decrease since fiscal year 2017.

It is stated that:
“The secretariat of the Miyako Horse Preservation Society was transferred from the Livestock Division of the Miyakojima City mayor’s office to the Cultural Properties Division of the Board of Education. Support from Okinawa Prefecture, the Japan Equestrian Federation, and the Japan Racing Association was also strengthened. In March 2020, a preservation and utilization plan was created under the new framework. All horses were to be treated as Natural Monuments of Okinawa Prefecture, and for species preservation the goal was set to increase the population to 100 horses by fiscal year 2030. In addition, the society aimed to become a juridical entity. (Omitted) A Miyako Horse interaction plaza was also planned within the prefectural Miyako Park, which is scheduled to be developed nearby.”

(Yukio Nagahama, Horses That Supported the Ryukyu Kingdom, in Horses of Japan: The Past, Present, and Future of Native Horses)

Under the current situation, in which maintaining a population of 48 horses over the past seven years has been all that can be managed, it is difficult to imagine increasing the number to 100 within six years. Furthermore, regarding the statement “a Miyako Horse interaction plaza was also planned within the prefectural Miyako Park to be developed,” a telephone interview with the Cultural Properties Division revealed the comment that “it was merely planned.” There is a sense that the proposal is somewhat overly ambitious.

Umugui: a type of bridle traditionally used in Okinawa, which allows the horse to be controlled with a single rein.

The breeding stallion at Nikatori Farm, with a height of approximately 122 centimeters. I was allowed to go trekking on April 23, 2013. The person who prepared everything for us was Mr. Akihiro Nikatori.

Perhaps because my weight was 45 kilograms, the horse ran comfortably. (This activity is no longer conducted.)

Of the 35 horses in fiscal year 2012, 20 were entrusted by the city to Mr. Akihiro Nikatori, the representative of Nikatori Farm, for care and management. At that time, the entrusted care fee paid by the city was 5,000 yen per horse per month, with a foal birth incentive of 100,000 yen. He lamented that it was utterly impossible to continue keeping horses under such conditions. Despite repeated negotiations with the city to raise the entrusted care fee, these efforts were unsuccessful.

However, after the transfer of the Preservation Society’s secretariat and following the year in which the Japan Racing Association became involved, negotiations for a fee increase were resumed. As a result, the fee was raised, and an annual amount of 500,000 to 800,000 yen per horse came to be paid.

Because this extremely low entrusted care fee had been a serious problem, a December 2018 issue of Weekly SPA! reported, with photographs, that some caretakers had kept horses in poor conditions and allowed them to die from neglect without proper care. This report spread on social media and drew strong public criticism.

All that can be done is to wait and see how many horses the population will increase to by fiscal year 2030.

8: Yonaguni horse

Yonaguni horses at Kita Farm.

Fiscal year 2008: 85 horses

Fiscal year 2012: 130 horses
(Up 45 compared with fiscal year 2008)

Fiscal year 2023: 110 horses
(Down 20 compared with fiscal year 2012)

The population peaked at 141 horses in fiscal year 2011. Although there have been fluctuations since then, the number has been maintained at 110 or more.

On a small island with a circumference of 27 kilometers, they are kept at Kita Farm and Higashizaki (Agarizaki) Farm. (At Minami Farm, crossbred horses had been grazed year-round, but it was closed in recent years due to the installation of a Self-Defense Forces radar base.)

When I visited on April 26, 2013, the island had fisheries, rice paddies, fields, and forests, and the richness of its natural environment was deeply soothing.

Every year, a world championship tournament for marlin fishing was held.

Yonaguni Horse Riding Experience
A girl who became able to ride alone from the age of three; height approximately 122 centimeters.

At the time, while heading toward the seaside with Mr. Asakura, the instructor who was the farm manager then, I was told, “You may go ahead,” and I remember galloping off with a great sense of exhilaration (my weight was 45 kilograms).

Beach riding

Playing in the sea on horseback

The hill where Japan’s last sunset can be seen

At present, it is impossible to speak of the path that has led to the conservation and active utilization of the Yonaguni horse without acknowledging the role of Mr. Masaki Kuno. Prompted by a newspaper article in 1982 that reported the Yonaguni horse facing the risk of extinction, he relocated to Yonaguni Island. In 1992, he established the Yonaguni Horse Interaction Park.

In October 2017, together with representatives from Okinawa Main Island, Kume Island, and Ishigaki Island, he founded the General Incorporated Association for the Conservation and Utilization of the Yonaguni Horse.

Mr. Kuno is a person of exceptional character and vision, and the very existence of the Yonaguni horse today stands as a testament to his efforts.

Currently, the Izunokuni Horse Park in Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and the Shimanto Horse Park in Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, have joined the association.

Due to repeated incursions into Japan’s territorial waters and airspace by China, numerous Japan Self-Defense Forces bases and radar facilities have been constructed in Miyakojima City and Yonaguni Town. As a result, it has been reported that some local assembly members view population growth in this region as a positive development.

Regrettably, even since the end of the Second World War, this area has continually been placed on the front line of Japan’s security challenges.

Summary

Fiscal Year 2008: Total of 1,860 horses

Fiscal Year 2012: Total of 1,958 horses, an increase of 98 compared with fiscal year 2008

Fiscal Year 2023: Total of 1,707 horses, a decrease of 251 compared with fiscal year 2012

In all three fiscal years, Hokkaido native horses accounted for approximately 67 percent of the total.

This pattern has remained unchanged since 1985, when the Public Interest Incorporated Association, Japan Equestrian Association first presented data on trends in the population of Japanese native horses.

References

Horses of Japan: Past, Present, and Future of Native Horses, 5 October 2021, University of Tokyo Press (General Incorporated Association).

Public Interest Incorporated Association Japan Equestrian Association, Trends in the Number of Japanese Native Horses.

Father–Daughter Mating and Its Avoidance Mechanisms in Misaki Horses

Yujiro Kaseda and Ken Nozawa, Journal of the Japanese Society of Animal Science, Volume 67, Number 11, pages 996–1002, 1996.

In Yamanashi Prefecture, there is a ranch operated by an individual who breeds, gentles, trains, and actively utilizes Kiso-line Japanese native horses that are not registered with the Public Interest Incorporated Association Japan Equestrian Association.

This individual is Mr. Yukio Kikuchi, Representative of Koyodai Kiso Horse Ranch. He has devoted himself exclusively to Japanese horses, conducting research into equestrian techniques, tack, and mounted archery methods, and has remained active on the front lines for approximately forty years.

This section introduces the Isawa Hachiman Kai-Koma Style Yabusame Ritual held at Isawa Hachiman Shrine, located in Isawa Town, Fuefuki City, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Based on the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba (Illustrated Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions), held at the Iwase Bunko Library in Nishio City.

The horse tack used is very close to that depicted in the scrolls. Riding is performed using long-tongue stirrups (shitanaga abumi), employing a style in which the rider does not sit fully in the saddle except at a walk. Instead, the rider maintains a standing, light-seat position; for ease of understanding, one may imagine the riding posture of a modern horse-racing jockey.

Yabusame (Mounted Archery): First Sacred Rite Archer

Yabusame (Mounted Archery): Second Sacred Rite Archer

Yabusame (Mounted Archery): Third Sacred Rite Archer

Bajōmai (Dance on Horseback)

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Nagashi-bata (Flowing Banner)

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Omonoi (Chasing Target Archery)

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Oshimojiri

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Yundesita (Lowering the Bow Hand)

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Nagamaki

Bajō Bugei (Mounted Martial Arts): Spear

Such skills are made possible only through diligent, daily training.

With the cooperation of:
Koyodai Kiso Horse Ranch
Koshu Traditional Japanese Equestrian Arts Research Association

Photographs provided by:
Mr. Yoshio Hayashi

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Japan won the bronze medal in the team eventing show jumping competition. This marked the first time in ninety-two years that Japan had won an Olympic medal in equestrian sports. It was also the first medal achieved in a team event, with the four riders having an average age of forty-one.

This joyful achievement followed the gold medal won by Second Lieutenant Takeichi Nishi, an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army Cavalry, in the show jumping competition at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games. His beloved horse, Uranus, was a French-born Anglo-Norman chestnut, standing 181 centimeters tall.

In 1945, having been promoted to lieutenant colonel, Takeichi Nishi was dispatched to Iwo Jima as commander of the 26th Tank Regiment to defend the Japanese mainland. He was killed in action on March 22 amid relentless attacks by United States forces. He was forty-five years old at the time of his death.

At the 2024 Arima Kinen (Nakayama Racecourse, 2,500 meters), Regaleira, a three-year-old bay filly, claimed victory, marking the first win by a horse of this profile in sixty-four years.

Her average speed was 59 kilometers per hour, a feat not seen since Star Roch in 1960.

I watched the live broadcast on television, and just before the finish line, by the narrowest of margins, decided by the subtle rise and fall of the horses’ heads, the goddess of victory smiled upon Regaleira. As she is still only three years old, her future promises to be most exciting.

Amid the controversy that shook the horse racing world over the unauthorized possession of communication devices, jockey Nanako Fujita, aged twenty-seven, who holds the record for the most career wins by a female jockey with 166 victories, submitted an application for the cancellation of her jockey’s license. The application was accepted by the Japan Racing Association, and she retired on October 11. Her jockey career spanned approximately eight and a half years.

Prohibition on Bringing Communication Devices

As a measure to prevent race-fixing, jockeys registered with the Japan Racing Association are required, from the evening before a race meeting (by 9:00 p.m.), to deposit personal belongings in lockers at the racecourse or training center facilities and remain in designated “adjustment rooms,” where contact with the outside world is prohibited.

What a bitter and deeply regrettable outcome.

This is a personal reflection, but I began attending a riding club thirty-eight years ago and naturally became a regular reader of Horse Riding Life. Three years later, although it was only a local equestrian competition, the results of an event in which I competed were published in the magazine. Seeing my own name in print made me very happy. Riding clubs from all over Japan were introduced in its pages, and my dream was to ride at least once at a riding club in Kobuchizawa, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture.

As the equestrian population declined, the magazine changed its name to Horse Life. Today, it is no longer displayed in the sports magazine section of bookstores. Depending on the municipality, even libraries no longer carry it in their magazine corners.

Even when placing a reservation at a bookstore, it takes about five days before the issue arrives. Perhaps the thinness of the magazine itself speaks to the times. It feels lonely.

I sincerely hope that the coming year will be a good and fulfilling one for each and every one of you.

December 29, 2024

Sumio Suzuki

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