CHAPTER FOUR

I Get to Know Ginger

Soon after my arrival, they had me working. And one day I found myself working together with Ginger, pulling a carriage. To my surprise, we did a great job. I'd expected her to be uncooperative, but she was just the opposite. We shared the work equally, which made things much less difficult. John was very pleased. He had very little to do except guide us with the reins. There was never any need to whip us into a faster run.

On Sunday, I was led to the Birtwick apple garden with four other horses: my good friend Merrylegs, Ginger, who was becoming a little less angry with me, Justice, who was an older horse, and Sir Oliver, a retired hunting horse, who was one of our master's favorites.

We all had a great time running around and playing in the grass there. It was so fun that Ginger, who was never very friendly, started to talk with me as if she wanted to be friends.

"So where were you born?" she asked.

I told her about Farmer Grey and how wonderfully we had been cared for on his farm. Hearing this, Ginger seemed to become a little sad.

"I didn't have such a nice life when I was younger. I had terrible owners and trainers."

She started to tell her story to me and quickly I began to understand why she was always so unfriendly to everyone. She had been taken from her mother far too early and was forced to live with unfriendly horses. She told about some boys who used to come to the farm and throw stones at the horses, sometimes hurting them badly. "Our master never once yelled at them or asked them to stop. So we soon started to think of humans, especially young boys, as our enemies."

"Tell me how you were trained, Ginger?" I asked.

"Oh, it was horrible. One day, a few men quickly approached me in the field and forced me to the ground, and then one of them held my head and another took hold of my nose while the third roughly placed a bit into my mouth."

Hearing this, I thought back to how gently Farmer Grey had introduced all of the new riding equipment to me. Then I asked Ginger what happened after that.

"I wasn't given any time to get used to the pain. I was immediately taken to a man named Samson, who put more equipment on me and then tied me to a long rope and made me run in circles for hours, whipping me every once in a while to prevent me from slowing down. And when I felt I couldn't run any longer, he put a saddle on my back and climbed on. I tried to throw him off several times, but he would just hit me every time."

Ginger's story made me sad. It hurt to hear such terrible things. I hoped that the story would soon end, but she seemed to have much more to tell.

"I did, finally, manage to throw him and then I ran far away down the field and stood there feeling frightened and hurt from all of the hits Samson had given me. When, later that day, the owner came to lead me to my stable and I saw Samson standing in the doorway, I started to try to run again, and the farmer immediately understood why. He looked at Samson and said, 'What you did was wrong. You'd better learn quickly that bad people always make bad horses.

"And after that, I was sold to a wealthy Londoner, whose only interest in horses had to do with his own desire to look wealthy and powerful."

"How could horses make him look wealthy and powerful?" I asked.

"It was all in how he made the horses pull his carriage. We all had to wear the bearing rein, which is a terribly tight strap that pulls your head far back. It was terribly uncomfortable."

"It sounds like it must have hurt a lot," I said.

"I can't even describe it to you, it hurt so much. I got so tired of it that I finally did something about it. I kicked my way free from the carriage. The owner decided he couldn't trust me after that, so he sold me."

"Was your next owner a better man?"

"I wish that I could say yes, but in fact my next master and many masters after him all used the bearing rein."

"You've had many masters, then?"

"It would be impossible for me to count them all. So far, this is the best home I've had. I know I still behave badly, but it's hard for me to change."

So Ginger and I quickly became friends. And now that she had a friend, she also became happier, and stopped behaving so badly toward others.

Even the workers started to notice a change in Ginger. I overheard James one morning saying, "You know, I think that brown horse is getting used to me."

"You're good to these animals, James. They can't help but learn to be good to you too."

(end of section)