13/08/2026
Oh my goodness, I am still pinching myself. I was beyond lucky to spend my birthday on the weekend riding a native Kiso horse in Japan! 🇯🇵🐎
After a LOT of help from AI and Google Translate (and some last minute translation services from the amazing Hotel Irori in Kyoto - highly recommended!!!) I was able to secure a horse experience at Mikarinonomori Bokujo (御猟野乃杜牧場) in Omihachiman.
My goal was to meet and ride a Kiso uma (Kiso horse), one of Japan's 8 native breeds, and the only one considered native the main island of Honshu.
The Kiso was believed to have travelled to Japan from Mongolia in the 4th century. They were used as work/farm horses and later became popular with Samurai.
The breed nearly went extinct when the Meiji emperor decided to ban native breeding in the 1800s, with the goal of improving the bloodlines by only allowing crosses with larger western stallions. In addition, thanks to mechanised farming numbers continued to drop into the 1900s.
After WWII only one stallion remained, having slipped through the cracks thanks to being protected as a shrine horse. With careful conservation efforts, it is widely believed he became the forefather of every living Kiso horse today. The breed is still critically endangered with fewer than 150 living individuals.
With this in mind, I was insanely lucky to be able to interact with Kiso horses at one of the few ranches dedicated to the promotion, breeding and conservation of the breed, and couldn't believe it when I found one so close to Kyoto!
After meeting our amazing, insanely fit translator Jo Villa at the station (an American-expat-horsey girl-scientist who frequents the ranch...she ran the last two train stops on foot while I genuinely nearly got heatstroke just loafing on the train 🙃), we were picked up by Sensei Ikumi Isobe and driven to the ranch about 10 minutes away, where we met the team and their beautiful Japanese Kaikan dogs.
I really didn't know what to expect as the email communication had been somewhat open-ended with a heavy reliance on translation apps, so I was prepared to pop in for some pats and a basic one hour experience. Boy was I wrong! 🤣
We started in their shady bamboo arena with a super cool yabusame (Japanese horse archery) experience. This involved learning how to tie our obi (waistband), stock our ya (arrows), and hold and use the yumi (bow), shooting at targets from the ground and while balancing on a wooden beam.
After a break, we were assigned horses for a ride out around the Kamo Shrine area, a nearby Shinto (traditional Japanese) shrine dedicated to honouring horses. To be honest I was too focused on riding with a completely new seat to even notice the shrine - I felt like a complete beginner! 😅
The horse I was assigned was called Tenkai, or 'Heavenly Sea'. He was funny, sensible, certain of his rights, small and strong - SO STRONG - and insanely sure-footed! He wanted to eat everything in sight and knew his job inside out. Although I was a complete beginner with the traditional Japanese style of riding he took amazing care of me, while also politely pointing out 'we don't do that here'.
Yabusame horses are trained to be steered with the knees in order to free up the entire upper body for shooting, so the number one rule was to ride with KNEES OUT! Plus a light forward seat and very stable core (spoiler: I don't have one 😅). Any accidental touch with the knees would send Tenkai dutifully into the cones, and at one point the big wooden training horse 🙈 This style of riding pointed out every little crookedness and felt similar to when you go to a good pilates class and realise you have been cheating your way through life using only half the muscles you should - Jo pointed out how much this style had improved her dressage and showjumping seat. The instructors were incredibly perceptive to tiny details and I quickly realised I was in the presence of master horsewomen.
The horses were ridden in both western saddles and kura (traditional Japanese saddles), with abumi (stirrups) which ran the length of the foot with open sides. Much of the gear had been handmade by Sensei, the amazing woman who ran the ranch. Dare I say the coolest human on the planet. I was lucky enough to ride in a kura with abumi for the yabusame component, and equally lucky that Sensei suggested I switch to a western saddle for the latter part of the day, which I was monumentally physically unprepared for 😅
After a break for the horses, we started the horseback yabusame experience. Jo escorted me through the yabusame track on her horse, Tenkai's brother, so I could focus on setting my bow and shooting. Then, we were on our own - Tenkai, my errant knees and me. Walking, trotting and shooting targets to our left and behind us. It was amazing. I'm slightly obsessed now. If anyone is selling a yubi (or the core strength of a warrior, or, let's face it, anything better than a 10 year old child) hit me up.
After the yabusame experience I thanked Jo for her help, a hot happy mess and ready to go back to Kyoto, at which point she informed me we were going to ride to Lake Biwa. Amazing!!!
After another short horse break with saddles off, four of us headed out through the rice fields, bamboo forests and backroads to the beautiful lake. It was hot and humid but, unlike me, the horses were made for this weather and barely puffed. I couldn't believe how easily they navigated the heat! The ride consisted of walk, trot, canter and gallop through the most beautiful scenery, followed by Sensei and Lindsay in a small truck who took some beautiful footage. I learned to dodge slippery manhole covers, and Jo was quick to point them out with her whip to protect Tenkai and me from myself 😅
Once we reached the lake Sensei guided us into the water, and the horses needed no encouragement. Tenkai ploughed right in deep and had a big drink of the lake water, which I was told was his favourite flavour. Although most things seemed to be his favourite flavour 🥰
After a time of swimming around on very happy Kiso horses, we headed home. By this stage my very unfit legs were jelly and at certain points I was fighting for my life as we trotted along with this amazing horse doing literally all the heavy lifting. We had the most amazing gallop between the rice fields on the way back. The power in this little horse was insane and he didn't skip a beat. I learned the Japanese term for 'good kid' was 'ii ko', and used it liberally. What an absolute superstar.
We returned just before dark. The horses had another drink, their feet checked and a big hose down. Tenkai was again a water baby and drank from the hose with gusto.
One of the ranch ladies approached me and asked in Japanese to show her some bodywork moves to try. Jo helped translate as we worked through some good areas to address and avoid, and a couple of different techniques. There were so many differences in horse care between what I see in the Adelaide Hills and Japan, and bodywork is nowhere near as prevalent there, so it was awesome that these ladies had such a keen interest! I felt I had so much to learn from them about the way they cared for their horses too, from their tack to local forage types and rice hull bedding substrate, and ways they managed their horses and kept them so fit and happy with such limited space (we are SO spoiled for space in the Adelaide Hills!). I wish I had the language for all of the questions that kept bubbling up...thank goodness for Jo humouring all of my questions.
After the horses were fed, we regrouped to discover that Sensei had unbelievably arranged for me to have a birthday cake with a special message written in English on top! We exchanged gifts with each other and I couldn't believe how generous everyone was with their time and knowledge.
In short, hands down the best birthday ever with what turned out to be an incredible half-day experience and the trip of a lifetime. A HUGE thank you to the beautiful team at Mikarinonomori Bokujo, in particular Sensei and Jo, as well as the other teachers and riders, for their amazing hospitality and patience! An enormous thank you to Lindsay too, without whom none of this would have been possible!
Also, in preparation for the experience I drew on passive heat acclimation principals taught by the amazing Raquel from Integrated Veterinary Therapeutics at Uni (do her courses!!!) and cross referenced human studies to prepare for the switch from Adelaide winter to hot, humid Kyoto summer. I used baths to mimic an environment with high heat/humidity/minimal evaporation, change sweat composition to assist in retention of electrolytes and increase plasma volume, measuring resting, active and recovery heart rates at increasing temperatures and durations, managing to drop my heart rate by 10bpm at 40 degrees. I also grabbed an ice vest from a Kyoto department store for the experience, plus of course salt and magnesium in my water, as always! The temperature change and humidity was insane but I didn't drop off my horse during what turned out to be a much longer session than I anticipated, so thank you Raquel!!!
Also thanks to my amazing physio/magical alien Mark Elford, without whom I *literally* wouldn't be able to turn my neck or touch my toes. This experience would have been out 👏 of 👏 the 👏 question.
I truly hope to be back to learn more from these amazing horses and humans someday and I absolutely loved my time in Japan with so many magical places and moments - in the meantime I have a lot of archery, riding and language to practice!
I highly recommend supporting the wonderful team at Mikarinonomori Bokujo by booking an amazing experience if you're planning a trip to the Kyoto area ❤️🐴
