CHAPTER TEN

The Bearing Rein

I now had a new home and a new master, and it wasn't long before I had a new name, too, for the earl decided to call me "Baron."

On our second day at Earlshall, Robert, our new groom harnessed us both to a carriage and led us around to the front hall. Moments later, I could hear the sound of a silk dress approaching, and then through the front door suddenly came the lady of the house. She had a very serious face. And from the door to the carriage she said nothing. And it wasn't until she had organized her dress and become comfortable in her seat that she said, "Drive."

And that was our introduction to the misses.

We were, of course wearing the bearing-rein, because appearance was very important to the lady. And a good appearance in these days meant keeping your horses' heads very high. Luckily for me, I usually rode with my head high anyway, so it wasn't a very big change for me, at first. However, it seemed that the misses was not quite satisfied with our appearance, for the next day she told the driver to tighten the bearing-rein even more, because we looked too lazy.

Now I could understand why Ginger hated the bearing-rein so much. My head was pulled so far back that I found it nearly impossible to pull the carriage uphill.

And yet, the misses still felt we didn't look good enough. So the driver was again ordered to further tighten the rein. It felt horrible. We were all being forced into completely unnatural positions. It was no longer practical to pull a carriage. I quickly learned to hate it, but I always did my best as my mother had told me to do.

After a few days, the misses had not made any further complaints, so I started to feel that things wouldn't get any worse. But I soon learned that I was wrong.

After Ginger and I had been there for two weeks, we became used to the schedule of picking up the misses at three o'clock every afternoon. One day, she came down the front stairs, seeming very angry about something. This bad feeling of hers made her even more sensitive about our appearance. With horror, I heard her say to the driver, "Get those horses' heads up higher! I can't go to my friend's home with a team looking like that!"

We couldn't believe that the bearing-rein was going to be fitted even tighter. We were terrified. He fitted me first and I could taste blood when the bit tore part of my mouth open. Then it was Ginger's turn, but she refused him. And the more he tried to tighten the rein, the angrier she became. Soon she began to kick so violently that she fell to the ground, pulling me down with her.

The driver sat on Ginger's head to control her and called for one of the grooms to come and lead me back to the stables. For the first time in my life, I was terribly angry. Fortunately, after I was put back into my stable, no one came around to see me after that, because I would have kicked the first person I saw.

After a while, Ginger appeared, being led to her stall by the driver, who was talking to himself, saying, "I knew these bearing-reins would cause problems for the horses. And now the master is going to blame me for making the lady late for her friend's party."

And, indeed, the master was angry. When he arrived at the stables he walked up to the driver and said to him, "You should know better than to listen to the misses! She knows nothing about horses!"

"Well, sir ... to be honest, from now on, I'd rather you just gave me orders then."

But this changed nothing, for the very next day we, again, wore the bearing-rein. It seemed the misses was more powerful than the master.

As for Ginger, her refusal to wear it gave the master no choice but to give her to his son as a hunting horse. So she never pulled the carriage for the misses again. Her replacement was a large male horse, who did not seem to mind wearing the bearing-rein. I couldn't understand, so one day I asked him how he could bear it. I didn't like his answer: "Although I know it's ruining my health and will cause me to live a shorter life, I must wear it. I have no choice. None of us has a choice."

And it was this way for the next four months. Soon, the tightness of the rein started to cause water to flow from my mouth uncontrollably. Sadly, many people thought this was attractive. They didn't realize that it was just as unnatural for a horse to do this than it was for a man. But this wasn't the only problem. My head was pulled back so far that it hurt my neck and chest. Even when I was resting in the stable, my whole body ached. Soon I felt nothing but pain and sadness. I missed my old home and my old friends. Here, at Earlshall Park, I had no one.

Then spring arrived, and, happily, the master and his wife left the Park to visit some friends in the city for a while. During this time, I was ridden by one of their daughters. Her name was Lady Anne, and she was a good rider. Almost every day we would go out. Usually, we were accompanied by a man named Blantyre, who owned a large female horse called Lizzie. She was a strong and healthy horse, and Blantyre rode her proudly.

It was popular, in those days, for women to ride "side-saddle". I enjoyed carrying the ladies because they were always very gentle. One day, however, I was surprised to hear Lady Anne ask Blantyre to put her saddle on Lizzie. I didn't mind carrying Blantyre. I knew I was strong enough to satisfy him, but I worried about Lady Anne riding such a powerful horse.

"I don't think it's a good idea, she's not an easy horse to control," Blantyre said.

"You cannot change my mind. You're always talking about how great Lizzie is. I want to find out for myself," replied the lady.

He did as he was told and together we rode to the village post office, where Blantyre had to send an important letter.

"Just wait here, dear. I'll only be a few minutes," Blantyre said as he loosely tied me to a pole outside the office.

Lady Anne laughed and said, "There's no need to worry. I'll be waiting here when you come back out."

Only moments after Blantyre had gone inside, a boy being pulled by a small team of horses came speeding past us. He seemed to be in a great hurry for he was hitting them again and again, trying to get them to run faster. The team nearly ran into Lizzie who was closer to the road than I was. This frightened her terribly. I tried to calm her, but it was no good, for seconds later she was running full speed down the road. I made as much noise as I could to get Blantyre's attention. Soon he came running out, and seeing Lady Anne far down the road, he quickly climbed onto my back. I didn't even wait for him to urge me on. I turned around and started running as fast as I could.

After a few minutes, we arrived at a point where the road divided. We couldn't see which way Lizzie and Lady Anne had gone. Luckily, a boy standing nearby had seen them go right, and enter a park. So now we were no longer running along roads, but across fields, and soon we could again see Lady Anne in the distance. As we came closer and closer to them, we could see that they were heading toward a stream. Then our greatest fears suddenly came true. When Lizzie jumped over the stream, her front legs didn't reach the top of the hill on the other side, causing her to fall hard to the ground. Lady Anne flew over Lizzie's head and onto the field.

Blantyre cried to me, "Let's go,Baron! You can make that jump!"

I gathered all the strength I could and with one huge push of my back legs, I jumped over the stream and cleared the hill, as well. We then ran to where Lady Anne had fallen and Blantyre jumped to the ground. He placed his hand under the lady's head and urged her to speak. "Please, Anne! Say something!" Her face was terribly white, as if there was no more blood running through her body.

But soon a gentle cry could be heard coming from her mouth. A man who had been cutting the field grass nearby came running over, and Blantyre ordered him to take me to fetch the closest doctor he could find. "And bring a carriage back with you, quickly!"

The man had no idea how to ride a horse, but I did my best to keep him from falling off while running as quickly as possible. And within a couple of hours, Lady Anne was lying in her bed back at Earlshall Park.

Two days later, Blantyre came to visit me with Robert, the groom.

"That's him," he said, touching my nose gently. "That's the horse that saved Anne. Good old Baron. Promise me that, from now on, you will only let her ride him, and no other horse."

(end of section)