It does seem that horses deserve the little consideration necessary to tie them in a decent spot. I have heard many of my kind speak of this matter. In some villages the hitching places along the sidewalks are most uncomfortable, the animals being obliged to stand on a twist, ofttimes with the front feet lower and in a mud puddle.
Is it any wonder we sometimes protest by vigorously pawing the sidewalks, if we can reach them?
Give us fair play.
Well, I was too lame to get out at all, after that night, for a week. I had rheumatism. Had Master been there to treat me, I might have recovered, but Herman knew nothing about horse-doctoring, and so it ran on. If I did get a little better, it was only to be overdriven and exposed. Another time there was to be a horse-race five miles off, and Chet drove Prince and I in the buggy.
Then I found out how it hurts a heavy-bodied, short-legged horse to be driven with a light-bodied, long-limbed one. He drove, as usual, just as fast as he could make us go, uphill and down the same. More than once I thought I should fall, and by the time he stopped I was whiter than even nature intended me to be, being covered with foam.
Prince was not nearly so tired, but he said it irritated and fretted him to be driven with a horse of my build.
It was only a little country horse-race, and the animals were chiefly working ones with neither inclination, strength nor training for the race-track.
The men were wild with excitement, and betting was going on all around.
After a while three men got on their horses' backs and started. The crowd yelled and clapped their hands; the riders buried the cruel spurs in the horses' sides, and leaned as far forward as possible.
Of course, some one had to beat, and it was a long-legged, bony creature that won the first heat.