They shoot horses, don't they?

I have always loved horses and joined a riding school when I was ten. You learn togetherness with your horse. The freedom and joining of spirit as you trek together in the forest or on the shorelines. The working together as you race the clock over the jumps and off course the sport of kings, horse racing.

The horse is a magnificent animal and very intelligent too. Show him respect and he will work hard for you. Show him contempt and he will let you know often how disrespectful he thinks you are in many ways.

We have a duty to the horses well being and care and the Racing associations have two hospitals for horses who compete in sports. These hospital offer facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases and injuries that occur during training and races, the implementation of epidemic control activities for the prevention of outbreaks and the spread of infection and a wide range of other related research activities. But now with the kind assistance of the promotions department of the Horse racing association and of the Chiba prefecture equestrian association for support and donations, the district riding's schools associations have raised ¥15,000,000 (US$150,000) to allow the smaller riding schools, especially those that cater to the needs of children with special needs, access to the facilities for the horses in their stables that will provide time with the specialist veterinaries and a horse transportation vehicle to be on call for all the districts equestrian clubs.

I am very grateful to the countless organizations and ordinary people who either donated or bought tickets for the model race track charity events and to everyone who gave their time to help make this worthy cause such a great success. It has made me very happy to know that with so many 'needs' in the word, that so many would help for the care of horses who do not thrill thousands in the national events, but who only work to offer children, deprived children and special needs children a special time and a chance to smile and thrill at being with such a noble animal. The horse has been a companion of humans for centuries and deserves the best care from us because we expect so much from him.

The facilities room at Tokyo racecourse in Fuchu was made available to us, the riding schools association free of charge so a big thank you to them. Toshi, the school owner from my own riding school in Shinjuku kindly gave me a bouquet of flowers to thank me for my contribution which made me cry a little because everyone did so well to achieve this, not just my small efforts. I was just so pleased that we reached the target. A most successful evening and one I am particularly proud of because it shows that when so many care, when so many will try to make true a hope, the hard work and dedication of many teams working together can achieve wondrous results.





























Now that the program can be put into place, all the schools will organize their own fund raising events to continue to raise funds to maintain the program.