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1"After this I was sent to Tattersall's to be sold; of course I could not be warranted free from vice, so nothing was
2said about that. My handsome appearance and good paces soon brought a gentleman to bid for me, and I was bought by
3another dealer; he tried me in all kinds of ways and with different bits, and he soon found out what I could not bear.
4At last he drove me quite without a check-rein, and then sold me as a perfectly quiet horse to a gentleman in the
5country; he was a good master, and I was getting on very well, but his old groom left him and a new one came. This man
6was as hard-tempered and hard-handed as Samson; he always spoke in a rough, impatient voice, and if I did not move in
7the stall the moment he wanted me, he would hit me above the hocks with his stable broom or the fork, whichever he might
8have in his hand. Everything he did was rough, and I began to hate him; he wanted to make me afraid of him, but I was
9too high-mettled for that, and one day when he had aggravated me more than usual I bit him, which of course put him in a
10great rage, and he began to hit me about the head with a riding whip. After that he never dared to come into my stall
11again; either my heels or my teeth were ready for him, and he knew it. I was quite quiet with my master, but of course
12he listened to what the man said, and so I was sold again. "The same dealer heard of me, and said he thought he knew one
13place where I should do well. ''Twas a pity,' he said, 'that such a fine horse should go to the bad, for want of a real
14good chance,' and the end of it was that I came here not long before you did; but I had then made up my mind that men
15were my natural enemies and that I must defend myself. Of course it is very different here, but who knows how long it
16will last? I wish I could think about things as you do; but I can't, after all I have gone through." "Well," I said, "I
17think it would be a real shame if you were to bite or kick John or James." "I don't mean to," she said, "while they are
18good to me. I did bite James once pretty sharp, but John said, 'Try her with kindness,' and instead of punishing me as I
19expected, James came to me with his arm bound up, and brought me a bran mash and stroked me; and I have never snapped at
20him since, and I won't either." I was sorry for Ginger, but of course I knew very little then, and I thought most likely
21she made the worst of it; however, I found that as the weeks went on she grew much more gentle and cheerful, and had
22lost the watchful, defiant look that she used to turn on any strange person who came near her; and one day James said,
23"I do believe that mare is getting fond of me, she quite whinnied after me this morning when I had been rubbing her
24forehead." "Ay, ay, Jim, 'tis 'the Birtwick balls'," said John, "she'll be as good as Black Beauty by and by; kindness
25is all the physic she wants, poor thing!" Master noticed the change, too, and one day when he got out of the carriage
26and came to speak to us, as he often did, he stroked her beautiful neck. "Well, my pretty one, well, how do things go
27with you now? You are a good bit happier than when you came to us, I think." She put her nose up to him in a friendly,
28trustful way, while he rubbed it gently. "We shall make a cure of her, John," he said. "Yes, sir, she's wonderfully
29improved; she's not the same creature that she was; it's 'the Birtwick balls', sir," said John, laughing. This was a
30little joke of John's; he used to say that a regular course of "the Birtwick horseballs" would cure almost any vicious
31horse; these balls, he said, were made up of patience and gentleness, firmness and petting, one pound of each to be
32mixed up with half a pint of common sense, and given to the horse every day. 09 Merrylegs Mr. Blomefield, the vicar, had
33a large family of boys and girls; sometimes they used to come and play with Miss Jessie and Flora. One of the girls was
34as old as Miss Jessie; two of the boys were older, and there were several little ones. When they came there was plenty
35of work for Merrylegs, for nothing pleased them so much as getting on him by turns and riding him all about the orchard
36and the home paddock, and this they would do by the hour together. One afternoon he had been out with them a long time,
37and when James brought him in and put on his halter he said: "There, you rogue, mind how you behave yourself, or we
38shall get into trouble." "What have you been doing, Merrylegs?" I asked. "Oh!" said he, tossing his little head, "I have
39only been giving those young people a lesson; they did not know when they had had enough, nor when I had had enough, so
40I just pitched them off backward; that was the only thing they could understand." "What!" said I, "you threw the
41children off? I thought you did know better than that! Did you throw Miss Jessie or Miss Flora?" He looked very much
42offended, and said: "Of course not; I would not do such a thing for the best oats that ever came into the stable; why, I
43am as careful of our young ladies as the master could be, and as for the little ones it is I who teach them to ride.
44When they seem frightened or a little unsteady on my back I go as smooth and as quiet as old pussy when she is after a
45bird; and when they are all right I go on again faster, you see, just to use them to it; so don't you trouble yourself
46preaching to me; I am the best friend and the best riding-master those children have. It is not them, it is the boys;
47boys," said he, shaking his mane, "are quite different; they must be broken in as we were broken in when we were colts,
48and just be taught what's what. The other children had ridden me about for nearly two hours, and then the boys thought
49it was their turn, and so it was, and I was quite agreeable. They rode me by turns, and I galloped them about, up and
50down the fields and all about the orchard, for a good hour. They had each cut a great hazel stick for a riding-whip, and
51laid it on a little too hard; but I took it in good part, till at last I thought we had had enough, so I stopped two or
52three times by way of a hint. Boys, you see, think a horse or pony is like a steam-engine or a thrashing-machine, and
53can go on as long and as fast as they please; they never think that a pony can get tired, or have any feelings; so as
54the one who was whipping me could not understand I just rose up on my hind legs and let him slip off behind--that was
55all. He mounted me again, and I did the same. Then the other boy got up, and as soon as he began to use his stick I laid
56him on the grass, and so on, till they were able to understand--that was all. They are not bad boys; they don't wish to
57be cruel. I like them very well; but you see I had to give them a lesson. When they brought me to James and told him I
58think he was very angry to see such big sticks. He said they were only fit for drovers or gypsies, and not for young
59gentlemen." "If I had been you," said Ginger, "I would have given those boys a good kick, and that would have given them
60a lesson."
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