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On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

To be fair, feldgrau does show up in uniforms from other countries too, though the red armband calls rather specifically to a certain political party affiliation, or student council. Most of those uniforms look a bit too modern, since what Shirogane's mother passed down to her is an Uhlan uniform closer to Napoleonic in design.
So for those who don't know, this is what a Napoleonic Polish Uhlan uniform looks likes:
acd375dfa86cef900898b6ecb5f4df38--military-fashion-napoleonic-wars.jpg

c861b027a3cc63543de1fc86fc07d047.jpg


Also I just thought of something, does every country call Uma's by the Japanese word or are there words for them in different languages. In the Fanon, they are called "chicas caballo" or "caballas" in spanish and they are called "Koniodziewczynki" in polish. I was wondering if you had any world building you wanted to do on that front for this story.
 
As she gets older, will she find herself having to resist the inexplicable urge to charge into groups of people, crush them under her heels, and hear the lamentations of their women?
Not really, or at least, it won't be an urge. On the other hand, she will be much more combative if challenged.

Umamusume is a low key supernatural setting, and I think it's interesting to see authors explore and engage with that aspect.
I mean, Tracen is kinda like race horse valhalla or a throne of heroes. Otherwise how in the world are all these horse girls around at the same time?

Wait! Shiro is not going to stay in the dorms? She ain't going to room with anybody!?
Why does she have to be loner again!? She's not an SI!
The dorms are based off of two irl racehorse training centers, and the uma assignments are based off of which facility the irl horse was trained at. As Shirogane's irl horse equivalent was trained at neither of them, she is not in the dorms.

Mh-hm, if McQueen is any Example GolShi just latches onto whomever can act as Straight Man to her comedy routine of a life, more SERIOUS BUSINESS the better, and if they try to escape? She has a nice sack for them. If they can escape The Sack? Well, that's like running from a tiger, she just needs to chase then.
The problem with this is the assumption that Shirogane would run away.

Although who's to say if she had hons PTSD, doubt she ever was in an environment that would make it obvious enough for humans to notice even if it was in an era that would recognize it once she retired.
There is a phenomenon where retired horses will still react to sounds that remind them of their work, like racehorses going to alert at a call to post bugle, or a police horse going alert at the sound of gunfire or sirens.

Going by what the traffic cop stated a few chapters back, shes got some good acceleration
Shirogane is very good at starting and stopping given her experience running through traffic.

Shiro, however, has near max stamina and guts and spends much more of the race at top speed instead of accelerating at the end.
She probably has higher than maximum Guts, lol.

Arabians are known for quick by the standards of most breeds, to the extent they are still used in some specific forms of horse racing, but they're not hyper specialized for speed like thoroughbreds are, with stamina being their big standout trait—
They are also generally smaller than most thoroughbreds.

Unless you are using anime timeline, that would be pretty messy due to how inconsistent it is to irl timeline, such as Hayahide still racing while Brian already finished racing and the weird position to put in Teio/McQueen/Bourbon/Rice gen and the 2000s gen.
The anime timeline definitely makes no sense, unless Tracen is actually something like racehorse valhalla or something. Though using the irl timeline has its own issues, as if umamusume are supposed to be reincarnations of racehorses, horses that raced against each other died at very different times. If going by death dates, Silence Suzuka would be older than Symboli Rudolf since he died during his career. Same with Rice Shower. Meanwhile Meisho Doto or Gold Ship wouldn't be present because they're still alive.

Maybe Shirogane will be singing the Gas Gas Gas song to motivate herself to increase her speed in the last leg of the race.
Funny enough, someone on Ao3 commented that the plot here is fairly reminiscent of Initial D the anime.

I wonder if in her free time shiro will try and create a delivery company like uber eats but horse girls? Maybe later on create a dedicated training centre and test to create really fast and efficient couriers?
She would need a fair bit of money to start that. There likely is already something of the sort too, though I don't remember if that was just from memes or not. Even then, food delivery was kind of a big thing in Japan around that time.

One way to get her to do that is by her Trainer wanting to know Shirogane limit by asking her to run laps around the tracks.
How I would have justify it
A very funny omake!

Though more realistically, Toujou already has an idea of how long Shirogane can go since they can reference Shirogane's delivery routes.

This also makes me wonder...are there Umathons where Umamusume run marathons? Cause Shirogane could probably do very well in them. Or heck...do umamusume have categories at the Olympics? There would be so many fields they could dominate in.

Also I just thought of something, does every country call Uma's by the Japanese word or are there words for them in different languages.
Given the Umamusume basically means horse woman, I presume most languages just call them 'horse women' in their respective languages.

I bet Shiro is going to be surprised by the number of Polish fans she gets the moment she is seen in public with her racing uniform.
She definitely will be very popular in Poland, since she's one of the first generation of Polish descent umamusume born in a time when Poland managed to solidify their independence, and the Polish umamusume population was drastically reduced by the events of the 20th century. Her being directly descended from Poles who escaped the German/Soviet occupation via the help of a Japanese ambassador makes it an even more poignant story.
 
The anime timeline definitely makes no sense, unless Tracen is actually something like racehorse valhalla or something. Though using the irl timeline has its own issues, as if umamusume are supposed to be reincarnations of racehorses, horses that raced against each other died at very different times. If going by death dates, Silence Suzuka would be older than Symboli Rudolf since he died during his career. Same with Rice Shower. Meanwhile Meisho Doto or Gold Ship wouldn't be present because they're still alive.
While using death dates as a reference makes sense, Uma doesn't use that mostly because of one thing, Fate. Their irl Fate plays a large role in their current life and it even dictates their achievements in their new life. I know, it sounds silly, but its something Uma likes to reference often and also plays around (e.g. Shakur knowing she will lose the triple crown by 7cm, Suzuka feeling a foreboding sense at her irl final race, Cafe almost following her irl fate). That Fate in Uma is something that is hard to change yet its possible through the power of dreams and friendship.

Although, that would make an interesting scenario for Shiro. Being X mucking around her fate as a final petty gift would be appropriate. Far more subtle than their original shenanigans, but potentially more devious.
 
I think Shirogane is faster than we the readers seem to think she is, and it is all due to her years of delivering. The delivery box, depending on its size and weight (top to bottom vs front to back) will change her center of gravity while she is running. Her body compensates through both her leg and back muscles for that off-set. And for example a full load 20lb (8 dinner stocked box) might weigh just 20 pounds but if the box is bigger back to front it will offset that center of gravity more and thus give her training as though she was really carrying 30-35 pounds. She probably knows this somewhere in the back of her mind from her military life of carrying a fully loaded rucksack, though she might have just forgotten about it.

Now why did I mention all of that when talking about Shirogane being fast? That is because once you remove that extra weight, her body will still run as though she is carrying it. It will only be noticeable if you can test her stride length while carrying the weight vs after the weight is off. Once the weight is off, her steps will remain constant with her breathing but the length of ground each stride covers will increase thus giving her a higher top speed.

You can also see this in reverse by measuring the stride length of a well trained runner and then measuring it again when you have them put on a weighted off-balance backpack. If they are not used to that kind of weight training, they will start running with the same stride beats per minute but each step covers less ground, then the excess weight wears out their endurance and their steps per minute starts to also fall.

So I have to say this as just a reminder, but Shirogane has (for her age bracket): A very high endurance stat, A very high acceleration stat and a very high speed stat. This is what happens naturally when you run for years carrying a large container that moves your center of gravity from 3 inches behind your naval, almost completely back to your spine. Plus we know that her "normal run speed" is whatever that current vehicle speed limit was in her city. That was not her top speed, that was not her sprint speed, that was her, 'I am comfortable at this speed for hours' speed. Take that speed and then half that number again, add the 2 together and you have a -I am halfheartedly sprinting for 30 minutes at this pace and kinda raising my heart rate a bit- Shirogane midrace "I wonder how the competitors will handle this" slight acceleration.
 
As Shirogane's irl horse equivalent was trained at neither of them, she is not in the dorms.

Being alone ruins a lot of opportunities for her to further bond and interact with her fellow uma girls.

And from what the story so far, she ain't a social butterfly either!

😔
 
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While I do agree that her delivery job helped her improve her racing capabilities, it should mostly help her acceleration and ability to avoid getting blocked (AKA Power). Shiro most likely has a pretty good starting Stamina and Power, with guts and wits being also rather high due to her past lives. I however think her biggest issue is Speed. Speed in Uma is usually trained from running at top speed and this is an area Shiro kind of lacking since she would often limit her max speed. Sure, she did some practice racing, but that doesn't happen too often since she'll only do it if her friends invite her.

So, I can see her training will be improving her overall speed while also having her learned more skills.
 
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From Google Search "what is average speed limit in Fujisawa Japan for cars"
AI Overview


Speed limits for cars in Fujisawa, Japan, vary based on the type of road, but typically follow these guidelines
:
  • Expressways: 100 km/h is the standard limit, though it can be lowered depending on conditions. Some expressways in Japan have a higher limit of 120 km/h.
  • Ordinary/Suburban roads: The speed limit is typically 60 km/h, unless otherwise posted.
  • Urban areas and smaller streets: Speed limits are often reduced to 40 km/h.
  • Residential side streets: These can have limits as low as 30 km/h. As of 2026, many narrow residential roads across Japan will be officially limited to 30 km/h.
It is important to always follow posted signs, as speed limits can change based on the specific road and conditions.

Forget the Expressways as we know Shirogane did not run on those for her deliveries. Next...

From Google search "average speed of a thoroughbred racehorse" -
https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...UKEwio182i1sCQAxVWhIkEHV58NV0Q_coHKAB6BAggEAc
Thoroughbred › Speed



44 mph
Maximum, Race speed

Image, Thoroughbred

American Quarter Horse
44 mph

Horse
44 mph



Thoroughbred racehorses can run almost 44 miles per hour over a short distance, and average 38 miles per hour over typical race distances. Thoroughbred races are measured in furlongs. One furlong is 201.2 meters.Mar 21, 2024

Again, in this fanfic, Shirogane has been running at vehicle speed limits during her deliveries for hours per day, days per week, weeks per month... for 3 years. She already has thoroughbred top speed as her baseline endurance 'I can do this for hours' and that is without pushing herself against anything beyond - get the food to the customers before it gets cold or rained on -

What is 60KPH in MPH?
60KPH = 37.2823mph

Shirogane is literally right there with thoroughbreds


 
So I have to say this as just a reminder, but Shirogane has (for her age bracket): A very high endurance stat, A very high acceleration stat and a very high speed stat. This is what happens naturally when you run for years carrying a large container that moves your center of gravity from 3 inches behind your naval, almost completely back to your spine. Plus we know that her "normal run speed" is whatever that current vehicle speed limit was in her city. That was not her top speed, that was not her sprint speed, that was her, 'I am comfortable at this speed for hours' speed. Take that speed and then half that number again, add the 2 together and you have a -I am halfheartedly sprinting for 30 minutes at this pace and kinda raising my heart rate a bit- Shirogane midrace "I wonder how the competitors will handle this" slight acceleration.
While I do agree that her delivery job helped her improve her racing capabilities, it should mostly help her acceleration and ability to avoid getting blocked (AKA Power). Shiro most likely has a pretty good starting Stamina and Power, with guts and wits being also rather high due to her past lives. I however think her biggest issue is Speed. Speed in Uma is usually trained from running at top speed and this is an area Shiro kind of lacking since she would often limit her max speed. Sure, she did some practice racing, but that doesn't happen too often since she'll only do it if her friends invite her.

So, I can see her training will be improving her overall speed while also having her learned more skills.
I fully believe that Shirogane has the speed and power to pull ahead of everyone as a Front-Runner in Medium and Long races. She has very good initial acceleration and staying speed. Where I think Shirogane's weakness comes into play will be the sprint on the final stretch. Her strength is consistent and enduring speed, what she lacks is the burst of speed for a final sprint. So her goal would be to achieve as big of a lead as possible before the final sprint.

Unlike certain being who wishes for Absolute Worship, the three Goddesses actual gives a damn about people who worship them and gave them the body, soul and mind to realize their dreams. Now make Shirogane face off against max negative skills nice nature
Would Evil Nice Nature even be able to dent Shirogane? Her best debuffs tire other racers out, making her devastating to those that focus on speed with the minimal needed stamina for the race length. Shirogane is a Stamina monster so a speed debuff like Dominator would be more effective against her than All-Seeing Eyes or Mystifying Murmur.

Actually, Shirogane and Nice Nature would be a nasty combo to face in a team race. Racers are already going to be struggling with their stamina to match Shirgane's pace and then Nice Nature would nuke their energy, preventing them from catching up on the final sprint when they would normally gain ground.
 
I fully believe that Shirogane has the speed and power to pull ahead of everyone as a Front-Runner in Medium and Long races. She has very good initial acceleration and staying speed. Where I think Shirogane's weakness comes into play will be the sprint on the final stretch. Her strength is consistent and enduring speed, what she lacks is the burst of speed for a final sprint. So her goal would be to achieve as big of a lead as possible before the final sprint.

Why would she not have any energy to sprint at the end? That is not how physics work. The fact that she has as much stamina as she does, means she is conserving more energy that the rest are burning from the very beginning of the race. That is what endurance training does: You do the same as the rest but it costs you much less to do it. Not only would Shirogane be able to sprint at the end, she could start her sprint much farther from the tape than anyone else. I really do not understand how anyone thinks she cant sprint.
 
Why would she not have any energy to sprint at the end? That is not how physics work. The fact that she has as much stamina as she does, means she is conserving more energy that the rest are burning from the very beginning of the race. That is what endurance training does: You do the same as the rest but it costs you much less to do it. Not only would Shirogane be able to sprint at the end, she could start her sprint much farther from the tape than anyone else. I really do not understand how anyone thinks she cant sprint.
My point was less about having the energy, and more about not having the explosive muscles to reach the sprinting speeds most race horses get up to. As a horse breed for endurance Shirogane will be running at near top speed the entire race, setting what other Usa would consider an insane pace. It is the other Usa who don't have Shirogane's broken levels of energy that will normally try to pace themselves throughout the race and then turn up to their max at the end of the race. Shirogane can't speed up to a sprint at the last stretch as she'll effectively be sprinting the entire race.

I'll try to throw out some numbers to illustrate what I'm trying to say. Imagine Shirogane has a max speed of 1000, while more traditional breeds of Usa have a max speed of 1200. Despite having this higher max speed, the Usa likely only run at a speed around 800-900 for most of a medium to long race as they don't have the endurance for sustaining that speed. Shirogane however will be able to stay at 950-1000 for basically the whole race.

So the question then becomes does Shiroganes speed of 950-1000 for the enitre race beat 800-900 for 4/5 of the race and 1200 for the final 1/5?

At least that is the way I'm currently viewing Shirogane.
 
Now why did I mention all of that when talking about Shirogane being fast? That is because once you remove that extra weight, her body will still run as though she is carrying it. It will only be noticeable if you can test her stride length while carrying the weight vs after the weight is off. Once the weight is off, her steps will remain constant with her breathing but the length of ground each stride covers will increase thus giving her a higher top speed.
Two prroblems with this. First, while reducing the weight and thus increasing the distance she'd travel when both feet are off the ground, that is AFAIK a relatively small portion of the running time and thus the increase would be fairly minor overall (and possibly countered by the issues with having the wrong form for running without a heavy weight on her back).
Second, this is a fantasy setting. The feats the horse girls are described as performing are impossible so weather she's faster or slower when running withoout a pack is completly up to the author with no relation to RL physics.
 
Occasional reminder that honsegrils are also canonically honse weight.
I'm pretty sure their weight being horse weight is fanon. The only canon details we got are usually height, bust, waist and hip.

Also, while its possible that Uma weight heavier than human, I doubt they actually weight as heavy as a horse considering some trainer have been able to carry Umas
 
I'm pretty sure their weight being horse weight is fanon. The only canon details we got are usually height, bust, waist and hip.

Also, while its possible that Uma weight heavier than human, I doubt they actually weight as heavy as a horse considering some trainer have been able to carry Umas


Surely you can't be suggesting an artist on social media would innovate material for a bit.




On reflection, as much as I might like it as a flourish, I think you're probably correct. There are several scenarios where differences between one weight or another would have obvious logistical effects; for example, various instances of umas driving cars or riding public transportation, stairs, ladders, walkways, or chairs without noticeable reinforcement, and so on.
 
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I agree that Uma musume don't weight the same as a horse, that would be ridiculous, their physical strength on the other hand can be very different between all them. Like gentildonna having the physical strength to crush a 100kg steel ball into literal dust with her hand. It's gonna be VERY fun when author gets to Domains, Aka [Zone], one more step towards reaching the speeds that one day match the likes of other Uma musume MCs from other fanfics like Gotham Song.
 
She definitely will be very popular in Poland, since she's one of the first generation of Polish descent umamusume born in a time when Poland managed to solidify their independence, and the Polish umamusume population was drastically reduced by the events of the 20th century. Her being directly descended from Poles who escaped the German/Soviet occupation via the help of a Japanese ambassador makes it an even more poignant story.
The story...it writes itself
Overseas popularity potential
first generation of Polish descent...born concurrently with Polish Independence
Polish umumusume are rare due to 'historical events'
Descended from Poles who escaped the German/Soviet occupation via the help of a Japanese ambassador ie 'Sad Poles, bad Germans, bad Russians, Good Japanese'
Wearing a Polish Uhlan outfit
How is that not a PR gift?
 
Shirogane has already taken the Tracen entrance exams. This included some running tests. She noted that her top speed is "below average." Now, this average is likely for Tracen students, which skews high, but she certainly wasn't encumbered for the exam.
 
My issue with your numbers are that they are based on the assumption that she is running at her max speed during deliveries, which she is not. She is running at a speed she can maintain for a vastly extended period. Hours even. Her running speed during a normal delivery day... per the author.... is at vehicle speed limit for the roads she is currently running on. This means she is varying her speed constantly, going up and down in a not insignificant measurable way. That 60kph is not her max speed because she can run that speed over a great period of time while also slowing down and speeding back up to it constantly. Her max speed hasn't been seen in the story yet, period. She was seen racing her friend once, as an elementary schooler before she ever started doing those deliveries. Then the occasional race happens off-screen, and we do not know what percentage she is actually trying to run during those, or how close she is to her friend. We also don't know what kind of training her friend gets during these years but we do know she herself has been improving as she has actually won some races.
Shiroganes top speed, while pushing herself to her current limits is probably closer to 70kph and sustainable for 15-30ish minutes.
 
Shiroganes top speed, while pushing herself to her current limits is probably closer to 70kph and sustainable for 15-30ish minutes.
And that's horrifying...in a very reality-breaking, eldritch sense
Racehorses top out at around 71kph...and they may be able to do it for at most, 2min, before they collapse from exhaustion.
So, the notion that someone could do that speed for 15-30mins would freak people out in very concerning ways
Very much in a conspiracy theory way
images

"What we have here people is Shirogane Orzel"
"Cute, promising and studious. Unusual studious."
"Look at her ears people. Umas only have one ear ornament. Left or Right."
"How come she has two?"
"SEE THIS IS THEIR PLAN PEOPLE. THEYRE BRINGING IN INTERDIMENSIONAL SOLDIERS TO TAKE OUR CARATS AND FEED IT TO THEIR DEMENTED FOUR LEGGED GIANT DOG THINGS THAT THEY CALLED UMAS."
"ORZEL IS AN INTERDIMENSIONAL MAGIC CHILD SOLDIER WHO LIVED IN WORLD WHERE UMAS ARE WEIRD GIANT DOG LOOKING THINGS."
AHHHHHHH WERE BREAKING THE CONDITIONING!
THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR CARATS, NEVER TAKE OUR RACES AND NEVEER DEFEAT THE THREE GODDESSES
To the extent that this might seem sane
Utterly hilarious if Shirogane is a 'Stamina Freak'/'Endurance Beast'/'Speed Demon', but she'll end up looking like OTL GoldShip (could win every race if they want to) to outside observers
 
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Shirogane has already taken the Tracen entrance exams. This included some running tests. She noted that her top speed is "below average." Now, this average is likely for Tracen students, which skews high, but she certainly wasn't encumbered for the exam.
Yes, this information is from this excerpt:
"Oh don't deny it! Little miss 'I'm gonna become the best known Umamusume in the city by running deliveries through traffic!'"

"That is hardly an unusual profession for an umamusume." And her notoriety probably had as much to do with her foreign looks.

"Not at race speeds!"

"Steady, I've gone through the Tracen entrance exam, I know full well my top speed is below average for a racer." She would have to train even harder.

"Yeah, but you can keep that up for way longer than I can, and I won the Kanto Oaks 'cause the competition got winded in the muddier dirt!"

At two point one kilometers, the Kanto Oaks was on the longer side of races in Japan, which was still not particularly far, in Shirogane's experience.


The problem is that it is Shirogane saying that, not a trainer or a tester. You are assuming that one of the testers told her she was slow. So far, the only person in the story who has said she was slower than an average racer is Shirogane herself and how reliable of a narrator is she? Plus she already has a scholorship before she took those tests, so the results do not influence her going to the academy. The question becomes whether or not a tester gave her feedback at the time of testing and actually told her she was below average, or if it is just her own assumptions.
 
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