CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A Lady's Good Advice

My new owner was a corn seller. The Governor told Jerry that he knew him and that he was sure I would be well taken care of. However, this was only partly true, for while I was certainly fed well, when it came to work, it seemed they expected more from me than I was capable of giving. Every time I was made to pull a load, it was always much too heavy for me. Jakes, my driver, could see that it was simply too much for me to handle, but his opinion was less important than the master's. For when he would suggest a smaller load to me, the master would reply, "We'll waste too much time and energy making two trips. Let's do it all in one."

But that was not the only problem. The load was heavy enough, but what made it nearly impossible to pull was the bearing rein I was forced to wear each time. After about three months of working under such conditions, I had lost a lot of my strength.

I had reached my limit when, one day, as I was pulling a much too heavy load up a hill, I stopped to rest for a moment. Jakes was apparently in a hurry, because he became very angry and started whipping me and threatening me, calling me 'lazy' and 'no good'.

I tried my best to keep moving, but after a short distance I felt I needed another rest.

When the whipping and yelling started all over again, I suddenly heard a woman's voice shout, "Stop that! Please, stop whipping him! He's doing his best to pull the cart, but the load is too heavy and the hill too high!"

"Well, his best simply isn't good enough, lady! It's not my fault that the load is so heavy. Anyway, I'm expected to deliver this corn quickly. I haven't time for this laziness," replied Jakes, raising his whip again.

"Look, just don't hit him again. That's not helping anything. If you'll listen to me for a moment, I may be able to help your horse."

Jakes laughed, "OK, I'm listening. Let's see what a woman knows about horses."

"Well, the first problem is this bearing rein," the woman began. "It's too tight. His head is pulled so far back that he cannot use all of his strength. I'm sure that if you took it off, he would be able to handle this load a lot better."

Jakes smiled and said, "Whatever you say, pretty lady. Take the whole thing off?"

"Well, if you can't take it off, just loosen it as much as possible."

Jakes did as she suggested and I felt immediate relief once the rein was undone. I exercised my neck a little to try and get rid of the pain. And soon I was ready to try and pull the cart again.

"I bet that feels a lot better, doesn't it,boy?" She said to me, touching me on the nose. Then turning back to Jakes, she said, "Now put that whip away and just talk to him gently. Let's see how well he does."

"OK, Blackie. Let's get going," he urged. I lowered my head and began to pull the cart forward again. I was still very weak and tired from the earlier work, but not having that bearing rein to worry about made it possible for me to get the cart to the top of the hill before stopping for another rest.

The entire way up the hill, the lady walked beside me, gently urging me on. And when I finally made it, she proudly turned to Jakes and said, "You see what a little kindness will do for an animal? Now, I trust you will never put that bearing rein on him again. You've seen how much better he works without it."

Jakes admitted, "What you say is true. But the fact is that everyone uses the bearing rein these days. If I don't use it, I'll look like a fool!"

"Actually, the fact is that I and many other people have not used the bearing rein for more than ten years. And nobody seems to think of me as a fool. You and your employer are simply following a bad custom. Anyway, that's all that I have to say. I don't want to keep you from your work any longer. Thanks for trying my idea, though." And after touching my head one more time, she left us.

"Now that was a real lady." Jakes said aloud to himself. "She spoke to me as she would a gentleman. And she really knows a lot about horses. I'll use her method whenever we come to a hill."

And from then on, I never had any problems pulling an uphill load.

But, unfortunately, the loads did remain very heavy. And it soon became clear that I no longer had the strength of my younger years. I was then replaced with a younger horse and sold to a cabman.

I have to say, that I left the corn seller's place just in time to avoid losing my ability to see. He had kept his stables so poorly lit, it was almost like being blind, so little could I see inside. And then whenever I was brought out into the sun, the change in light was always so great that it hurt my eyes terribly. All of his horses suffered from this and many did, in time, lose their sight, altogether.

(end of section)