“I can’t say,” he replied, “but the dealers and the horse-doctors know it very well.  I was at a dealer’s once, who was training me and another horse to go as a pair; he was getting our heads up, and he said, a little higher and a little higher every day.  A gentleman who was there asked him why he did so.  ‘Because,’ said he, ’people won’t buy them unless we do.  The fashionable people want their horses to carry their heads high and to step high.  Of course, it is very bad for the horses, but then it is good for trade.  The horses soon wear up, and they come for another pair.’  That,” said Max, “is what he said in my hearing, and you can judge for yourself.”

What I suffered with that rein for four months in my lady’s carriage would be hard to describe; but I am quite sure that, had it lasted much longer, either my health or my temper would have given way.  Before that, I never knew what it was to foam at the mouth, but now the action of the sharp bit on my tongue and jaw, and the constrained position of my head and throat, always caused me to froth at the mouth more or less.  Some people think it very fine to see this, and say, “What fine, spirited creatures!” But it is just as unnatural for horses as for men to foam at the mouth; it is a sure sign of some discomfort, and should be attended to.  Besides this, there was a pressure on my windpipe, which often made my breathing very uncomfortable; when I returned from my work, my neck and chest were strained and painful, my mouth and tongue tender, and I felt worn and depressed.

[Illustration]

In my old home I always knew that John and my master were my friends; but here, although in many ways I was well treated, I had no friend.  York might have known, and very likely did know, how that rein harassed me; but I suppose he took it as a matter of course that could not be helped; at any rate, nothing was done to relieve me.

CHAPTER XI

A HORSE FAIR

No doubt a horse fair is a very amusing place to those who have nothing to lose; at any rate, there is plenty to see.

Long strings of young horses out of the country, fresh from the marshes, and droves of shaggy little Welsh ponies, no higher than Merrylegs; and hundreds of cart horses of all sorts, some of them with their long tails braided up and tied with scarlet cord; and a good many like myself, handsome and high-bred, but fallen into the middle class, through some accident or blemish, unsoundness of wind, or some other complaint.  There were some splendid animals quite in their prime, and fit for anything, they were throwing out their legs and showing off their paces in high style, as they were trotted out with a leading rein, the groom running by the side.  But round in the background there were a number of poor things, sadly broken down with hard work, with their knees knuckling over and their hind legs swinging out at every step; and there