“Horses are the center of my life,” says Sato grinning. Every morning, whatever the weather, she heads towards the horse barn for the 7 o’clock practice. “No matter how tired I am, when I see the horse’s face I become wide awake.”

She does an event called “show jumping,” where you must ride your horse through a course with a fixed design in a certain time limit. You are graded depending on your time, and whenever you make a mistake there is a deduction. Watching a horse and its rider jump over a large obstacle is an overwhelming experience. She says that she enjoys the tension of the event. It is not just Sato who becomes nervous about an event. “I couldn’t have done it without my partner, Nanbu,” she states. Nanbu is 15 years old, which means that he is about 60 years old in human age. He is a veteran with a good sense of the sport. He is clever, and also a powerful jumper. “Nanbu is unique. His small figure is a perfect match for me.” He is a precious partner who came all the way from Nagano to Tokyo with her to Waseda.

Her family owns a temple and a horse riding club in Nagano. The mountains there are a natural horseback riding course. Her father, who was a horseback rider in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, has coached her since she was 7 years old. Furthermore, her eldest brother will be riding in this year’s Beijing Olympics. “ My family treasures horses. In this event, partnership is the most important factor. You must lead, while the horse needs to understand its rider well. That is why I try to spend as much time as possible with my horse. He is practically my boyfriend.”

Before she entered Waseda, she had only ridden in single events. “In the horseback riding club, I have learned the excitement of participating in a team event.” Her present goal is to do well in each event and hopefully this will lead her to the London Olympics in 2012. Today she is running under the Higashifushimi sky with her partner, Nanbu, as always.