One of the more interesting things that Animalia had figured to offer were specialized retirement plans, particularly for animals that had been used in sports, such as racing, or in other educational programs. Many times these animals were often well cared for, and as Archeron IV stood by at one of the loading doors to Horizon, he had his own memories of that program. He and his group of Percheron stallions had been part of a traveling Medieval fair that would show the tactics and horsemanship in jousting matches that were "sport" in Medieval Europe, complete with the breed of horse bred to carry a heavily armored knight. He remembered being well treated and brushed by the knights as they did other things to car for him and the others. But age was something that effected all things, and when he came to Animalia, he was reaching the point where he was too old to continue performing in that way.
Thus he and the others were uplifted and became Animalians. They did still work with the Medieval Fair in some ways, though now in helping fair goers learn more about the Percheron as a breed and why the breed was kept around when its use in cavalry warfare began to lessen and how things like the Medieval Fair allowed for its skills and abilities to be shown. It gave them the opportunity to travel and see much of the world, and Archeron found that to be entertaining and to meet new people. It also got him and his fellow "knights" away from Animalia's "Mane Seven." Archeron had heard plenty about them, and while he was sure they would be quite fetching females, he wasn't that interested in how forward they were. Love and romance weren't something that could be forced. But the past year had hurt a lot of the travel that Archeron would do, and brought Archeron and the knights back to Animalia while waiting for things to get back to normal.
This then had him in Animalia when word came down that a group of Japanese "war horses" that had been in lives similar to the knights he worked with in Japan were on their way to Horizon for uplifting. This was enough to get Archeron curious and was willing to come in and help where he could. He imagined that Japan had events that were very much like what he and the other knights did before their uplifting. After all, Japan had a "Medieval" period in their history too. It would make sense that they might have some interest in preserving the legacy parts of that history, even if the modern country was very different from its ancient past. Thus Archeron was there with Doctor Stein as a single large horse trailer was backed up to the main supply door at Horizon, which was where larger animals being uplifted were brought to.
"This is the only truck?" Archeron asked as he looked over the the suited man beside him and Doctor Stein.
The man wore a formal business suit and had rather thick glasses over his eyes while his dark hair was well combed and ordered as he he then straightened his suit before looking up to the imposing male Horse Animalian.
"Yes," the man answered with a decent Japanese accent to his English, "I am afraid that you may have some confusion, Mister Archeron IV..."
"Call me, Archy," Archeron corrected.
"Yes..." the man spoke, "but the Kiso-Uma, while bred for the Samurai, are not the same sort of massive animals that European knights rode in their Medieval Period. It is a stocky breed, yes, but it is not of comparable size to a draft horse. They aren't the smallest breed of horse from Japan, but they will be smaller than most other comparable breeds of Horse that have had similar uses in much of the rest of the world."
"But wouldn't they have needed to be able to carry the Samurai into battle and thus need to carry the weight?" Archy wondered.
"From time to time yes," the man nodded as the man driving the truck began opening the gates, "but typically most Samurai fought on foot. Thus all his horse was needed for was to get him to where the battle was. He wouldn't always be riding into battle to fight while mounted. Not to mention that the armor worn by Samurai, while very effective, was not the heavy metal plate armor or even chain-mail seen in Europe."
"Interesting," Archy commented as the gates were opened to reveal the four horses inside.
They were indeed stocky but had that fit over a smaller frame than even some of the other breeds of Horse that Archy remembered seeing before his uplifting and would likely be smaller than the American Quarter Horse Animalians that seemed to be the basis for most of the Horse Animalians in Animalia, like the Browns once uplifted. They were largely dark brown in color, with a slightly light brown around the lips. Their manes and tails were largely black, and they came forward as the hand manning the truck ushered them forward. This was enough to get Doctor Stein to open the door and look to Archy.
"If you can lead them to our main conversion center for large animals, we have everything set up for their uplifting," Doctor Stein instructed and began to move in.
Archy nodded and stood by a bit to make sure that the four Kiso-Uma horses didn't panic or have reason to run. For the most part, that didn't happen as the hand slowly moved along the side and gave instructions to the horses in Japanese. The horses also showed some signs of curiosity at Archy and sniffed at his hands and seemed to look to him and the man that represented the Japanese organization that was paying for these four to be uplifted. The clopping of their hooves on the tile attracted some attention from others in the halls, but the procession was handled smoothly and none of the four Kiso-Uma horses had to use the restroom. It made for an easy journey to that larger lab area where Doctor Stein was waiting with another member of Horizon's staff as they held the door open. One looked to Archy for a moment and then turned to head into the room. The four made their way in and Archy watched as Doctor Stein shut the door behind the four Kiso-Uma horses.
"It shouldn't take them long to drink from water trough we have set up in there," Doctor Stein said to the hand that had helped urge the four horses and to the glasses wearing Japanese owner of the four horses, "from there their uplifting will quickly follow."
"And they will have no pain?" the glasses wearing man asked.
"In my experience, the sensation of being uplifted is more puzzling than painful," Archy spoke, "sure their forelimbs will split to form five fingered hands, but there should be no pain with that. The biggest thing is more all the human knowledge that they would have picked up from you, their handlers and care givers, as well as any historical reenactors that they would work with to show the skills and moves your Samurai performed in the past... before things like trucks replaced the horse. It was new to me when I was uplifted, and at first puzzling... but as I understood more, it became more amazing. I think I would actually discussing things with them and compare Europe's Medieval history to Japan's Medieval history from a horse's perspective."
"And we will have appropriate clothes that should fit them once they are uplifted," one of the aides behind Doctor Stein spoke up and lifted up sets of folded clothing that was stacked in his arms.
The man in glasses nodded to both Archy and then to the Horizon aide as they waited for the four horses that went in to be uplifted. True to Doctor Stein's expectations, this did not take long before a knock on the door from the inside was made and the aide walked to it. He opened it to reveal the four Kiso-Uma Horse Animalians standing their, half covering themselves and half looking to Archy with some curiosity. They were still shorter than the Browns, but they were still strong looking male Horse Animalians with dark brown fur and a black mane and tail. The aide offered them the clothing.
"These should fit you," the aide spoke softly.
The first of the four looked to the Horizon aid, said, "thank you" in Japanese, took the clothing and then shut the door.