My new home was nowhere near as nice as Earlshall. I was kept in a stall with a sloping floor that made my legs ache. I was also tied up and couldn’t move around. The new work was dreadful! I was now a job horse and this meant I was hired out to anyone who wanted me.
It was not a happy time in my life. I was used to working for people who knew how to ride and drive a horse correctly. Now most of the people who hired me out neither knew nor cared. My mouth was yanked around and strain put on my back and legs.
I was very unhappy, but I always did my best and one day I was rewarded. L. A man hired me to take him on a long journey. It was a pleasure to work for this man. He did not jab or pull on my mouth and he talked to me kindly. The man hired me several times after that journey, before buying me for a friend who wanted a good, safe horse.
The friend was a kind man but unfortunately he knew nothing about horses. He ordered the best food for me but didn’t think to check up on the groom he was paying to care for me. The groom was a thief and instead of feeding the food to me, he was stealing it for his chickens and rabbits. It was a while before my owner found out and by then I had become ill from lack of good food.
My owner hired a new groom but this man was no good either. He was lazy and vain. Soon my stable was dirty and smelled like a sewer. Then I got an infection in my feet. It was so painful and it made me lame. My owner was very angry that he had been cheated for a second time. He decided not to keep a horse any more, and once my feet were better I was sold once again.
I was taken to a horse fair and it would have been fun had my future not depended on it. There was plenty to see as the fair was packed with every kind of horse from tiny ponies to huge shires. Some animals were fit and healthy, while others were old or ruined by hard work. It was very noisy and people rushed here and there bargaining for a good deal.
My broken knees put many people off buying me. Those that were interested prodded and poked me and looked at my teeth. Then a small, cheerful man with a soft voice came to see me. I liked him at once. He was not like the other people. He handled me gently and I was very pleased when he bought me.
My new owner called me Jack. He was a cabby called Jerry Barker. He lived in London with his wife Polly, their two children, Dolly and Harry, and a grand old horse called Captain. The Barkers didn’t have much money but I was very well cared for. On my first morning in my new home, Polly and Dolly fed me sliced apple and made such a fuss of me that I remembered those happy times when I’d been Black Beauty.
Straight away, I was put to work pulling Jerry’s taxi cab. Jerry was a kind driver and he treated me well, but that first week was very hard. I wasn’t used to the noise and bustle of the London streets and I felt nervous and anxious. But as I learned to trust Jerry, my job became much easier. I worked hard for him, and the work was hard!
Each night Captain and I were stabled in an old-fashioned box with a sloping floor. Jerry never tied us. The stable was clean and the food was good so we were quite comfortable. Best of all tall though were the Sundays. This was our rest day. Then I did nothing but talk to Captain. He had been a warhorse fighting in the Crimean War and had shocking tales to tell.
‘War sounds awful. Why were the men fighting?’ I asked him.
‘I am only a horse,’ said Captain. ‘But I know this. It must have been over something terrible if it was right to kill so many men for it.’