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And nowhere you need to go.
Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.
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Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
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Happy listening.
Chapter 30 My new master was an unmarried man.
He lived at Bath and was much engaged in business.
His doctor had advised him to take horse exercise,
And for this purpose he bought me.
He hired a stable a short distance from his lodgings and engaged a man named Filcher as groom.
My master knew very little about horses,
But he treated me well,
And I should have had a good and easy place,
But for circumstances of which he was ignorant.
He ordered the best hay with plenty of oats,
Crushed beans and bran,
And I knew there was plenty of food,
So I thought I was well off.
For a few days all went well.
I found my groom understood his business.
He kept the stable clean and airy,
And he groomed me thoroughly and was never otherwise than gentle.
He had been a host in one of the great hotels in Bath,
But had given that up and now cultivated fruit and vegetables for the market,
When his wife bred and fattened poultry and rabbits for sale.
After a while it seemed to me my oats came very short.
I had the beans,
But bran was mixed with them,
Instead of oats,
Of which there were very few,
Certainly not more than a quarter of what there should have been.
In two or three weeks this began to tell upon my strength and my spirits.
The grass food,
Though not very good,
Was not the thing to keep my condition up without corn.
However,
I could not complain,
Nor make known my wants,
So this went on for about two months.
I wondered my master did not see that something was the matter.
However,
One afternoon he rode out into the country to see a friend of his,
A gentleman farmer who lived on the road to Wales.
This gentleman had a very quick eye for horses,
And casting his eye over me he said,
It seems to me your horse does not look so well as he did when you first had him.
Has he been well?
I believe so,
Said my master,
But he is not nearly so lively as he was.
My groom tells me horses are always dull and weak in the autumn,
And that I must expect it.
Autumn fiddlesticks,
Said the farmer,
It's only August,
And with your light work and good food he ought not to go down like this.
How do you feed him?
My master told him,
And the other shook his head slowly.
He began to feel me over.
I can't say who eats your corn,
My dear fellow,
But I am much mistaken if your horse gets it.
Have you ridden very fast?
No,
Very gently.
Then just put your hand here.
He passed his hand over my neck and shoulder.
It is as warm and damp as a horse just come up from grass.
I advise you to look in your stable a bit more.
I hate to be suspicious,
And thank heaven I have no cause to be,
But I can trust my men,
Present or absent.
But there are mean scoundrels wicked enough to rob a dumb beast of his food.
You must look into it.
He then turned to his man who had come to take me.
Give this horse a right good feed of bruised oats and don't stint him.
I thought about what he had said.
Yes,
As horses we are dumb beasts,
But if I could have spoken out I could have told my master where his oats went into.
My groom used to come every morning about six o'clock,
And with a little boy he put them into the basket the little boy was carrying.
He used to go with his father into the harness room where the corn was kept and I could see them doing it when the door was ajar.
They filled a little bag with oats out of the bin and then they were off.
Five or six mornings after this,
Just as the boy left the stable,
The door was pushed open and a policeman walked in holding the child tightly by the arm.
Another policeman followed and locked the door on the inside saying,
Show me the place where your father keeps his rabbit's food.
The boy looked very frightened and began to cry,
But there was no escape and he led the way to the corn bin.
Here the policeman found another empty bag like that which was found full of oats in the boy's basket.
Filcher was cleaning my feet at the time but they soon saw him and though he blustered a good deal they walked him to the lock-up and his boy with him.
He was sentenced to prison for two months.
Chapter 31 A Humbug My master was not immediately suited,
But in a few days a new groom came.
He was a tall,
Good-looking fellow enough,
But if ever there was a humbug in the shape of a groom,
Alfred Smirk was the man.
He was very civil to me and never used me ill.
In fact,
He did a great deal of stroking and patting when his master was there to see it.
He always brushed my mane and tail with water and my hooves with oil before he brought me to the door.
He made me look very smart,
But as to cleaning my feet or looking to my shoes or grooming me thoroughly,
He thought no more of that than if I'd been a cow.
He left my bit rusty,
My saddle damp and my cropper stiff.
Alfred Smirk considered himself very handsome.
He spent a great deal of time about his hair,
Whiskers and necktie before a little looking glass in the harness room.
When my master spoke to him it was always,
Yes sir,
Yes sir,
Touching his hat at every word.
And everyone thought he was a very nice young man.
I should say he was the laziest,
Most conceited fellow I ever came near.
It was a great thing not to be ill used,
But a horse wants more than that.
I had a loose box and I might have been very comfortable if he'd not been too indolent to clean it out.
He never took the straw away and the smell from what lay underneath was very bad.
It made me lose my appetite.
One day the master came in and said,
Alfred,
The stable smells rather strong.
Should you not give that stall a good scrub and throw down plenty of water?
Well,
Sir,
He said,
Touching his cap.
I'll do so if you please,
Sir,
But it's rather dangerous throwing down water in a horse's box.
They're apt to take a cold,
Sir.
I should not like to do any injury,
But I'll do it if you please.
Well,
Said the master,
I should not like him to take cold,
But I don't like the smell of this stable.
Do you think the drains are all right?
Now you mention it,
I think the drain does sometimes send back a smell.
There may be something wrong,
Sir,
Said Alfred Smirk.
Then send for the bricklayer and have it seen to.
Yes,
Sir,
I will.
The bricklayer came and pulled up a great many bricks,
But he found nothing amiss.
So he put down some lime and charged the master five shillings.
The smell in my box was as bad as ever.
And standing as I did on a quantity of moist straw,
My feet began to grow unhealthy and tender.
I know not what is the matter with this horse,
Said the master after a while.
He goes very fumble-footed.
I'm afraid he might stumble.
No,
I've noticed the same myself,
Said Alfred,
When I've exercised him.
But the truth was he hardly did ever exercise me.
And when the master was busy,
I often stood for days together without stretching my legs at all.
One day,
My feet were so tender that trotting over some fresh stones with my master on my back,
I made two such serious stumbles that as he came down,
Lands down into the city,
He stopped at the farriers and asked him to see what was the matter.
The man took up my feet one by one.
Your horse has got the thrush,
He said,
And badly too.
His feet are very tender.
It's fortunate he's not been down.
I wonder your groom's not seen to it before.
This is the sort of thing we find in fowl stables where the litter's never properly cleaned out.
If you send your groom here tomorrow,
I'll attend to the hoof and direct your man how to apply the liniment.
The farrier ordered all the litter to be taken out of my box day by day and the floor kept very clean.
I was to have bran mashes,
A little green food and not so much corn till my feet were better again.
With this treatment,
I soon regained my spirits.
But my master was so much disgusted at being twice deceived by his groom,
He determined to give up keeping a horse and to hire when he wanted one.
I was therefore kept until my feet were sound and then I was sold again.
