In my second year of high school, I went to Brisbane because of the school's exchange program.

That was my first time in Australia, and I had to stay at homestay because I was still underage.

The family where I live is far away from the city, and it takes an hour or two to drive without traffic jams.

For an Australian city like Brisbane, suburbs don't mean desolate.

Rather, it was a wealthy area.

Because my father is an architect, the house I live in is particularly beautiful.

The room has floor-to-ceiling windows with a verdant meadow and a strawberry growing near the window.

Strawberries are naturally raised, without greenhouses, greenhouses, and protective facilities.

When you wake up in the morning, open your sleepy eyes and open the curtains, you will see birds flying over to peck at strawberries.

Stretch out, step out of the room, and pick a few strawberries that are ripe and haven't been visited by the birds.

Start your day with breakfast with the birds.

It was a particularly beautiful time in my memory, and it was also the first time I realized that I loved being around nature so much.

On a not-so-cold southern hemisphere winter morning, I went out through the gate with an apple in hand, ready to "visit" the place where I live.

I took the apple in my mouth and put my head down and put on my shoes.

Then he reached out and opened the door without raising his head.

After walking two steps to his heart's content, he bumped into a horse with a height of nearly 1.8 meters.

Without the slightest defense, I panicked and scared the apple I had just bitten into and fell to the ground.

Before that, it was not that I had never seen a horse, nor had I ridden a pony of different colors in parks and scenic areas.

But the horse, which was obviously more than a head taller than me, was indeed the first time I had seen it.

When I was at a loss, a beautiful blonde woman wearing a knight's uniform and a heroic posture appeared at the right time.

She said sorry to me.

Probably because she smelled apples, she was so close to the door.

I looked up at the horse.

The horse, which I met unexpectedly under the rising sun, shone with a maroon light.

Pretty eyes flickered at me, at apples that had fallen to the ground, and so on.

Somewhat unsure, I picked up the apple and brought it to its mouth.

The horse ate the apple in one bite.

The blonde tickled her foal affectionately and said a word that was beyond my vocabulary at the time.

I guess it's counting her horses for gluttony.

The horse's eyes were full of smiles, and her thick eyelashes made her eyes look deeper.

It was probably from that time that I fell in love with Australia and horses.

Although he returned to Australia to study as an adult, he spent most of his time in Melbourne, but the memories of grabbing strawberries with birds and feeding horses apples in Brisbane are still vivid.

"Riding Encounter" is a love story about equestrianism hidden deep in the heart.

Thank you for accompanying you all the way, and welcome to you who come to the world of words in Melbourne for the first time.