Chapter 298: The New Horse Enclosure

Nick personally went to the horse enclosure outside the city to survey the terrain and consider how to design the new enclosure.

The horse enclosure he designed was primarily for housing the draft horses currently under the control of the Jeju Military Administration Committee. As for the official and private horse farms, he was temporarily unable to intervene—not that he didn’t want to, but he simply couldn’t.

He currently lacked both the manpower and the fodder to effectively manage tens of thousands of horses even if he took them over. In the end, he would still have to rely on the old hands and old methods.

Rather than causing turmoil through immediate change, it was better to let these horse farms continue to operate under their old system.

Furthermore, these horse farms likely used a system of open-range grazing for their herd horses. This system did not require stables and had minimal demand for fodder and labor. Although it had many shortcomings—such as a low reproduction rate—it was a viable method for maintaining the horse population under the current conditions.

Even if he were to take over all the horses on the island in the future, he would have to maintain this system for several years.

However, to significantly expand the horse population, select superior breeds, and implement stabled feeding was imperative.

Although stabled feeding required a large area and a long construction period, it was conducive to management, protection of foals, and the collection and preservation of manure. Although Jeju Island was relatively warm, the minimum winter temperature in the 21st century was zero degrees. In the upcoming year of 1632, a year when even Lin’gao would experience heavy snow and temperatures dropping to zero, the Lin’gao Meteorological Observatory predicted that the minimum winter temperature on Jeju Island could drop to as low as minus six or seven degrees. Building stables would be beneficial for protecting the horses through the winter.

With stables, he could establish a new breeding system to serve as a model for training personnel and promoting technology. Therefore, the Jeju horse enclosure had to serve the three functions of draft work, breeding, and training. If conditions permitted, it would be best to have supporting facilities for fodder processing and manure treatment.

In terms of building materials and labor, labor was plentiful. The Service Corps, composed of a large number of liberated government slaves, was a ready source of labor—and many of them had previously worked as fence builders, with rich experience in constructing fences and horse enclosures. They were all skilled workers.

As for building materials, Nick decided to make do with what was available. It was unrealistic to rely on ships to transport bricks, tiles, and cement from thousands of miles away. Fortunately, the construction requirements for a horse enclosure were relatively low, and they could make do with simple materials. Jeju Island had an abundance of volcanic rock, which was used for everything from private homes to government offices. There was also a good supply of locally available timber. After dismantling the old enclosure, most of the materials could be reused, except for the rotten parts, which could only be used for firewood.

Although Nick was not an architect, he knew how to build a horse enclosure. The stables at the Mopanling pasture in Lin’gao had been built by the General Construction Company under his guidance. As Merlin had said, building a horse enclosure was a mutual learning process. After completing the Mopanling pasture stables, both the General Construction Company and Nick had learned how to properly build a horse enclosure that met the requirements.

According to the requirements, the horse enclosure should be located on a flat or gently sloping area, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, with dry ground and a large water source nearby. The existing Jeju horse enclosure site met all these requirements. So he decided not to change the location and ordered the Service Corps to first level the ground.

The floor of the stables was relatively simple. There was no need to pave it with stone or cement for hardening—this was both labor-intensive and costly, and also detrimental to the horses’ health. These materials had poor permeability, were too hard, and did not retain heat. Therefore, the ground was generally compacted with clay. A clay floor was warm, protected the hooves, and was easy to repair.

There were enclosed and semi-enclosed stables. Nick, as in Lin’gao, chose the semi-enclosed type.

Although a fully enclosed stable had better insulation, the internal temperature was higher, and the humidity was greater. The horses’ resistance was weaker, and they were more susceptible to colds. In case of poor ventilation, the irritating gases produced by the horses’ manure and urine were also detrimental to their health.

The new horse enclosure’s stables were semi-open, with walls on the back and two sides, and the front open. A semi-open stable was simple in structure, had ample sunlight and fresh air, was easy to keep clean and dry, and was convenient for feeding and manure collection. The disadvantage was that it was not good for insulation and was not suitable for northern regions with very low winter temperatures.

Horses are animals that prefer cool and fear heat. Nick believed that even with the extreme low winter temperatures of this era on Jeju Island, the horses could withstand it. Moreover, a moderately low temperature would be beneficial for improving the horses’ cold resistance and adaptability.

Nick designed the stables with a sloping roof and a multi-row structure. This type of stable was the simplest in structure, saved on building materials, could accommodate a large number of horses, was easy to manage, and had good insulation. The roof was a sloping design, directly utilizing the surrounding wall as a load-bearing structure. The rafters for the roof were laid directly on the wall, eliminating the need for beams and columns. This was particularly suitable for Nick, who lacked timber of a larger diameter and did not have enough qualified carpenters.

The surrounding wall was built with the abundant volcanic rock of Jeju Island, with a mixture of clay and sand as a binder. Building a wall with irregular stones was a skilled job. Fortunately, almost all the local buildings were constructed in this way, so there were many government slaves in the Service Corps who were skilled in this work.

Most of the stables did not have individual stalls and were of an open-plan design. Only a few stables had individual stalls, which were specially for pregnant and nursing mares.

The stables had specialized mangers—all transported from Lin’gao. Nick disliked the old mangers, which he suspected might harbor many germs and parasites, so he had them all discarded and chopped up for firewood. In addition, special hayracks were installed. The hayracks were specifically for feeding long grass and were made of wooden poles, placed horizontally above the mangers at a height where a horse could eat by slightly raising its head.

The reason for installing special hayracks was that the local horses were mostly fed hay in the winter. If the hay were simply piled on the stable floor, the horses could easily ingest manure and parasite eggs, which was very unhygienic.

This small improvement was a very important step in improving the horses’ health.

In addition, Nick also built several separate, enclosed stables—these were for the breeding stallions. He was unsure if there were any suitable stallions among the current draft horses. However, there were already plans to introduce new breeding stallions for the Jeju horse population. According to his speculation, the horse population on Jeju was basically the descendants of the 150 Mongolian horses and the island’s original horses. Since then, there was no record of the introduction of other foreign horse breeds, so the horses here had very little foreign genetic material.

From a breeding perspective, the Jeju horse breed was quite “pure,” but such a “pure” Mongolian horse was not the best choice for the Senate. The height, load-bearing capacity, and draft power of the Mongolian horse were not up to the Senate’s military or draft standards; they were at best barely usable. Improving the horse breed was an urgent task—it was necessary to introduce superior foreign horse breeds and carry out a large-scale upgrading of the horse population.

The stables were designed to accommodate four hundred horses, including all the horses currently under the control of the Jeju Military Administration Committee and any future additions. Nick issued an order through the military administration committee to have all 40 horses from Jocheonpo driven to Jeju for screening.

Because building the horse enclosure was a top priority, and Feng Zongze and Nangong were very concerned about the horse resources, Nick had all the men and materials he needed. The Service Corps was sufficient in number, and with the help of various craftsmen and the tools and vehicles transported from Lin’gao, two-thirds of the work on the new stables was quickly completed. Another group of people began to build the supporting facilities, including staff dormitories, a horse infirmary, a horse quarantine station, and a special biogas digester for manure treatment.

The water collection system and irrigation channels were also under intensive construction. Nick also planned to build a simple water purification pond to provide clean drinking water for the horses.

A site for burying diseased and dead horses was chosen in a place far from the stables, with dry soil, so as not to affect the surface and groundwater.

Finally, the entire horse enclosure was surrounded by a fence—this was mainly to prevent the horses from running out, not a defensive facility. After all, the place was less than a kilometer from Jeju town, and there were also some Japanese Public Security Company personnel stationed there.

While the horse enclosure was being built, Nick began to search for sufficient fodder. The Jeju garrison did not have a large reserve of horse fodder. Apart from a slightly larger stock of hay, there was very little concentrated feed. Because Jeju had suffered a famine last year, the coarse grains such as buckwheat and barley, which were originally used as concentrated feed, had mostly become human food. Now, there was almost nothing left in the fodder storehouse except for the dregs at the bottom.

This left Nick with no choice but to seek help from Feng Zongze. He was well aware that Jeju Island was a region where buckwheat and barley were the main crops—they were even the staple food of the local population. The thirty thousand shi of grain in the Jeju warehouses would certainly have a large stock of these coarse grains.

However, Feng Zongze was in a difficult position. A large portion of this grain had to be used to feed the Service Corps. Of course, each household had some grain stored, which could barely last until the next harvest. But Jeju Island itself was short of grain. They had to feed the local population and the large number of refugees who were about to arrive. If he allocated a portion for horse feed, and there was any delay in the transportation of relief rations from Hong Kong, the entire grain reserve security would be immediately affected.

After some strenuous efforts by Nick, and because Feng Zongze was unwilling to see a large number of horses die under his watch, he finally approved a few hundred shi of barley and buckwheat for him.

Nick immediately had his Service Corps members collect a portion of the fodder grain, load it onto Zidian handcarts, and transport it back to the horse enclosure.

The fodder warehouse and silage warehouse in the horse enclosure were still under construction. To store this precious fodder grain, he ordered it to be temporarily stored in the former residence of the horse enclosure keepers. The original keepers were incorporated into the “Horse Enclosure Service Corps.”

As for the living quarters of the Horse Enclosure Service Corps members, he didn’t have to worry about that. Most of them had their own houses in and around Jeju town or lived in official housing. He only had a row of simple dormitories built for the staff on duty.