Black Beauty

32 Black Beatify." No," said she," " he only cared to have a styHsh turnout, as they called it ;I think he knew very little abouthorses ; he left that to his coachman, who told him I had anirritable temper ; that I had not been well broken to thecheck-rein, but I should soon get used to it ; but Ae was notthe man to do it, for when I was in the stable, miserable andangry, instead of being soothed and quieted by kindness, Igot only a surly word or a blow. If he had been civil I wouldhave tried to bear it. I was willing to work, and ready towork hard too ; but to be tormented for nothing but theirfancies angered me. What right had they to make me sufferlike that ? Besides the soreness in my mouth, and the painin my neck, // ahvays made my windpipe feel bad, and if Ihad stopped there long, I know it would have spoiled mybreathing ;but I grew more and more restless and irritable,I could not kelp it ; and I began to snap and kick when anyone came to harness me; for this the groom beat me, andone day, as they had just buckled us into the carriage, andwere straining my head up with that rein, I began to plungeand kick with all my might. I soon broke a lot of harness,and kicked myself clear; so that was an end of that place." After this, I was sent to Tattersall's to be sold ;ofcourse I could not be warranted free from vice, so nothingwas said about that. My handsome appearance and goodpaces soon brought a gentleman to bid for me, and I wasbought by another dealer ; he tried me in all kinds of wayswith different bits, and he soon found out what I could notbear. At last he drove me quite without a check-rein, andthen sold me as a perfectly quiethorse to a gentleman in thecountry ; he was a good master, and I was getting on verywell, but his old groom left him and a new one came. Thisman was as hard-tempered and hard-handed as Samson ; heahvays spoke in a rougJi, impatient voice, and if I did notmove in the stall the moment he wanted me, he would hit me