Clara Dillingham Pierson Nature Reader Part II

AMONG THE FARMYARD PEOPLE “Hallo!” said he. “Have you had a bit in your mouth too?

Wasn’t it dreadful? I am so angry that my hoofs fairly tingle to hit that farmer.”

“It was hard,” said the Gray Colt, “but the man who drove me was very kind and let me rest often. He patted me, too, and that helped me to be brave. My mother says we won’t mind the bit at all after we are used to it.”

“Well,” said the Bay Colt, “I’m never going to be used to it. I won’t stand it, and that’s all there is about it.” He stamped his hoofs and looked very important. Two-year-olds often look quite as important as ten-year-olds, and they feel much more so. The Bay Colt was rather proud of his feet, and thought it much nicer to have solid hoofs than to have them split, like those of the Cows, the Hogs, and the Sheep.

When he said that he would not stand it to be driven, a queer little sound ran through the stalls. It was like the wind passing over a wheatfield, and was caused by the older Horses taking a long breath and whispering to themselves. The Bay Colt’s mother was saying, “Poor child! What hard work he does make of life!”

The next day both Colts were driven again, and the next day, and the next, and the next. By this time the Gray Colt was quite used to it. She said she rather enjoyed knowing what the man was thinking, and that she could tell his thoughts by the feeling of the lines, much as she used to understand her mother by rubbing noses when she was a tiny Colt. Her cousin had a sore mouth from jerking on the lines, and he could not enjoy eating at all. That made it even harder for him, because he got very hungry, and it is not so easy to be sensible when one is hungry.

When the Gray Colt learned to walk steadily and turn as her driver wished, she was allowed to draw a light log through 48