We'd been living here in Meguro for over a month before I realised that we had a bunch of horses as 'neigh'bours. They're pretty quiet and well behaved, no late night horseying around. They mane-ly spend their time inside the stables, sharing stories told to them by their grandparents about when Meguro was one big field (that was before their grandparents were turned into Bazushi [馬寿司 horse sushi] and sold in the nearby supermarket).
Pay these ponies 100 yen and they'll give you a ride. Pay them 1000 yen and they'll give you a ride without throwing you off.
They're the star attraction of our local zoo, which is otherwise made up of dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and turtles.
I'm not sure I really agree with keeping them in a stable in central Tokyo, I'm generally anti-zoo. Ok, so they do have a small exercise ground, but personally if I was a horse living there I'd try and bite some kid's hand off so I was transferred to a paddock in the middle of nowhere.
Come to think of it though, that's the plan that their grandparents had - and look what happened to them!
I'm glad I'm not a horse though because I'm scared of them, every since one got pretty angry with me for leading them into a barbed wire fence in Scotland in 1991.
Is a fear of horses a common thing? What do you think about keeping animals in the city? Have you ever tried horse sushi?
Joseph
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