Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 96 - 60 Sorry for That

Chapter 96: Chapter 60 Sorry for That

Harano turned into a "tin man," his courage started growing, and he slept even more soundly, waking up refreshed and in an even better mood the next day. So, he went to see his newly bought steed—a little tri-color mare.

This "tri-color" isn’t like the tri-color pattern on cats, but rather a fashionable Tang-era way of braiding a horse’s mane into fluffy curls. It’s like in Li Bai’s poem, "Five-flower horse, garments worth a thousand gold coins." Japan picked up this custom and did the same with their horses as a way to boost the horse’s price, kind of like waxing a car nowadays.

The tri-color little mare Harano just bought had her mane braided into three fluffy curls, rolling down her neck like ocean waves. The horse’s coat was a deep brown-black, with a big patch of white on her face, big eyes, and long eyelashes. She was also very gentle, now stretching out her tongue to snatch hay from Ah Qing’s hand, only snorting occasionally.

But...

That’s about it for the positives. There’s nothing too special otherwise.

Her shoulder height was only a little over 120 centimeters. By modern standards, she was definitely a pony, especially with her chunky build, short, sturdy legs, and a neck that didn’t arch gracefully like other horses—always slouching—making her look even shorter. But her hooves were big and round, and now, wearing straw shoes, they looked even bigger and...

As Harano looked, he realized something was off. He quickly looked closer—why is this horse wearing straw sandals?

Yesterday, he rushed off to shop in Atsuta, worried things might go wrong at home, so he hurried the whole time. Plus, as a modern guy, he didn’t know ancient armor or horses, so Master of All Things, Ah Man, checked everything while he just haggled. Only now did he notice there was something weird about this horse!

The more he looked, the weirder it felt. He couldn’t help but squat down and peel back the straw shoes to examine the hooves, and after a moment, he was speechless—the tri-color mare didn’t have horseshoes. No iron shoes at all.

What the heck?

Is the horse dealer even saving money on something like this?

Ah Qing was nearby, helping to calm the mare. Seeing Harano squat there without getting up, she couldn’t help but softly ask, "What’s wrong? Is she sick or hurt?"

She had a natural fondness for animals and got along great with Harano’s second-hand donkey. Now there was a new little mare at home, she liked her as well. She’d eaten early just to come feed the horse, and when Harano suddenly went to check the hooves, she got worried the new friend might be hurt or sick.

"No horseshoes, the horse dealer just threw on two pairs of straw shoes and sold her to us!" Harano checked each hoof—none at all. He cursed his luck, but there was nothing to do about it, so he began thinking about who he could get to put on horseshoes—damn it, he’d wanted to teach himself some riding today, but now his time had been derailed for some bizarre reason.

Maybe he should blame Ah Man—she hadn’t checked carefully either. He’d have to scold her later.

"Horseshoes?" Ah Qing tilted her head, thinking about that weird word and more or less got the meaning. She said softly, "Are those iron things nailed to the hooves? I think I’ve heard of it, but there’s no need to nail on any iron. No one does it."

"No need for horseshoes? You guys don’t use horseshoes? Wouldn’t the hooves get injured that way?" Harano had been thinking about how to chew out Ah Man, but Ah Qing’s words threw him for a loop—he raised his eyebrows in surprise. In all the time-travel novels, horseshoes are a "world-shaking invention"—anyone who ends up in Han or some earlier era always flaunts this thing, maybe even gets appointed as an official, so why is it that here horses don’t need horseshoes at all?

Maybe horseshoes hadn’t reached Japan yet?

Ah Qing was very familiar with horses. She couldn’t afford one herself, but she’d had many short-lived "friendships" with them—kind of like never having eaten pork but having seen plenty of pigs walk. She thought it through again and said confidently, "Yes. You just need to regularly trim the hooves and harden them with fire, then usually let the horse wear straw shoes. That way, their hooves won’t get hurt, so no one bothers with iron."

"That actually works?" Harano was only half-convinced. This is totally against modern common sense, but after taking another close look at the horse and thinking about Japan’s mountainous terrain, he started to get it.

Horses have been in Japan for over a thousand years. They must have evolved into some kind of mountain horses—short necks, thick legs, big hooves, clomping up and down mountains all the time, so their hooves were naturally toughened. Maybe they really didn’t need horseshoes.

That must be it—no other explanation. Thinking back, Maeda Toshie’s horse also seemed to have straw wrapped around the hooves.

Not bad—learned another new thing after time traveling. Turns out ancient Japanese horses wore straw shoes! Never would’ve guessed that kind of weirdness before time-traveling—Japan really is a strange place, getting weirder—their horses wear straw sandals, too. I wonder if their soldiers fight as weirdly...

Harano didn’t bring it up again, lest it show off how clueless and out of place he was—anyway, as long as the horse could be ridden, horseshoes or not didn’t matter. He mulled this over while starting to fumble with the tack, getting ready to teach himself horsemanship.

No choice, really—he couldn’t find a horse-riding teacher. Ah Man was broke, a little beggar who’d never ridden a horse, so self-study was his only option—sooner or later he had to learn. Horses could run a hundred meters in nine seconds, and at that speed over long periods—way better than people—so horsemanship was a must-have survival skill, pretty much like how everyone has to learn to drive nowadays.

If he had to learn riding sooner or later, may as well start now. It’s just that Japanese horses really aren’t much to brag about—way too short. For once, the stereotypes found online aren’t wrong. With his 1.8-meter height, he might look like a gorilla riding a donkey—hilarious to watch. As for Japanese people, not a big deal; they’re short themselves, around 1.45 meters, so riding a 1.2-1.3-meter horse looks just right—pretty normal, actually.