Black Beauty by Anna Sewell | Chapter 2

 

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Chapter 2: Lessons

I got older and my coat started to shine. It was black, but I had one white foot, a white star on my face and some white on my back.

 When I was a big horse, Mr. Gordon came to me. He looked at my eyes, my mouth and my legs. Very good, he said.

Very good. Now he´ll have to learn to work. He'll be a very good horse then.

What does a horse have to learn?

He learns not to move when a man puts a harness on him. Or when the man puts a bit into his mouth. A bit is a cold, hard thing, and it hurts. You can't move it. It stays in your mouth and across your nose.

I wasn't happy with the bit in my mouth, but farmer Grey was a Kind man in every other way. I didn't bite or kick. My mother always had a bit in her mouth when she worked. Other horses have bits too, and I knew that. So I didn't move when they put it in. Soon it didn't hurt.

The saddle wasn't as bad as the bit. Horses have to learn to have a saddle, and to carry a man, woman, or child on their backs. They have to walk, or to go a little faster. Or to go very fast.

 They put the bit in my mouth and the saddle on my back every day. Then farmer Grey walked with me round the big field. After that, he gave me some good food and spoke to me. I liked the food and the kind words. I wasn't afraid now of the bit and the saddle.

One day farmer Grey got on my back and sat there in the saddle. The next day he rode me round the field. It wasn't very nice with a man in the saddle. But I was happy with my kind farmer on my back. He rode me in the field every day after that.

The next bad thing were the shoes for my feet. These, too, were cold and hard. A man put them on me. Farmer Grey went with me, but I was afraid. The man took my feet in his hands. Then he cut away some of the hard foot. It didn't hurt me. I stood on their legs when he did the other foot. The man made shoes for my feet.

It didn't hurt when he put them on. But I couldn't move my feet easily. But later I started to like the shoes, and the hard roads didn't hurt my feet.

Next, I learned to go in carriage harness. There was a very small saddle, but there was a big collar.

Farmer Grey told me to pull a carriage with my mother. You’ll learn a lot from her, he said, when he put the harness on me. I did learn. She showed me the way to move, and she taught me to listen to the driver.

But there are good drivers and bad drivers, she said. In addition, there are good people and bad people. farmer Greys is kind, and he thinks about his horses. But some men are bad. Or stupid. Always be good, so people will love you. Always work hard and do your best.

Vocabulary : 

Collar: (n) a leather band fastened around an animal’s neck.

Field : (n) an area of land that is used for growing crops, keeping animals, or playing a sport.

Harness: (n) a set of leather bands fastened with metal that is used to control a horse.

Saddle: (n) a seat made of leather that is put on a horse’s back so you can ride it.

Soon: (adv) in a short time from now, or a short time after something else happens.

Star: (n) a shape with five or six points sticking out of it.