CHAPTER ELEVEN

I Move On Again

Sadly, this wasn't to be the only unpleasant experience I would have while the master and mistress were away. A man named Reuben Smith had been hired to care for us during this period. He was usually a very good and gentle worker. He was friendly and well-liked by everyone. But he had one very bad habit: drinking.

The driver was very good friends with Reuben, so he did everything he could to try to keep this bad habit of his a secret from the master. But one night, when Reuben was asked to drive the master's friends home from a party, he was so drunk that he couldn't even see the road in front of him. It became so dangerous that one of the party guests had to throw Reuben out of the seat and take control of the horses.

The master fired him as soon as he had heard the news. So Reuben and his wife and two children all were forced to leave their pleasant little home in Earlshall Park. I learned about this from the male horse I always pulled the carriage with, for Reuben had been fired before Ginger and I arrived. But now, after promising not to drink on the job, he had been hired back by the master.

A few days after Lady Anne had fallen from Lizzie, Reuben rode me into town to take care of some business. He had me wait at White Lion's stable, where many workers left their horses for part of the day. He told the stable boy that he would return around four o'clock and to feed me before then.

However, four o'clock came and went. When he arrived an hour later, I was relieved and ready to head back home, but he told the boy that he was meeting some friends and that he'd be back no later than six o'clock. But before he could leave the stable, the boy caught his arm, saying:

"Sir, I noticed that one of your horse's shoes seems to be falling off. I can repair that for you, no problem."

"Ah, never mind that," replied Reuben, "I'll fix it myself, later."

It was not until nine o'clock that he returned to get me. I could tell right away that he was very drunk.

"Be careful, sir." said the stable boy, noticing the difficulty Reuben was having climbing into the saddle.

"Shut up, boy! I know what I'm doing!" He shouted just before digging the back of his boots into my side to get me going. As soon as we reached the edge of town, he had me running hard. The streets were made of stone, which made my shoe soon come completely off. Reuben was too drunk to know what happened, so he kept hitting me, trying to make me run faster and faster. Now my foot had no protection and the stones were cutting it up badly, making the pain more and more terrible every time I set my foot on the ground. But Reuben kept hitting me, demanding greater speed. Finally, the pain became so great that I suddenly fell to my knees, and Reuben flew straight ahead, landing with a loud "THUD!" in the middle of the road several meters away from me. I somehow got back onto my feet and made my way to the side of the road to avoid being hit by traffic that might come around the corner. Reuben tried pushing himself to his feet as well, but he must have been in terrible pain, for he suddenly cried out and fell back to the ground, where he lay very still.

Three hours later, I heard a voice shout, "Hey, there! I see Baron!" It was the groom from Earlshall.

He came running over to me and took my foot in his hand, and shook his head, saying: "His foot looks very bad and so do his knees."

Then, from the road, I heard someone shout, "Hey, Robert! Reuben's dead!"

"I'm sure he'd been drinking, because this horse was in no condition to be ridden tonight," answered Robert.

After putting Reuben onto a wagon and wrapping my foot in cloth, I was carefully led, three miles down the road, back to Earlshall Park. Robert took care of me the best he could for the rest of the night, feeding me corn, wrapping my knees and preparing my foot for the doctor who would be coming the next morning.

When the doctor arrived, he looked at me closely.

"Physically, the horse will be just as strong and healthy as before, but his appearance will now be less attractive, because of his damaged knees," he reported to Robert.

And he was right, for a couple of weeks later I was running in the fields, not yet fully recovered, but getting better and better by the day.

One day, as I was exercising, I met Ginger. I had not seen her since she kicked herself free from the bearing rein. I was very happy to have run into her, but once we began to talk, my happiness quickly disappeared. She told me that the master's son had ridden her too hard too often and now she was no longer able to do the job. "And so," she said, looking at my knees, "Here are two young horses, who, instead of being healthy and strong as they should be, are now weak and damaged, by the carelessness of a young fool and an old drunk."

When the master finally returned from London and discovered what had happened to us, he said to his driver angrily, "All that money spent for nothing! And what's worse, is that I promised my friend, Squire Gordon, that he could trust me to take good care of his favorite horses!"

He decided to keep Ginger for another year to see if her health could be restored, but because of the appearance of my knees, I was to be sold.

The driver then spoke up, "I've got a friend in Bath, who's needing horses. He's known to care for them very well."

"Fine, send him a letter, inviting him to see Baron. I don't care who owns him, as long as they will take good care of him."

And a week later, I was sold. As I was being led away by Robert, I hadn't the opportunity to say goodbye to Ginger. But I heard her voice yelling out to me in the distance as I walked down the road away from Earlshall Park. She did not stop yelling until I was out of sight.

(end of section)