KidLit Forum

‘EVERY LITTLE MAKES A DIFFERENCE, BE IT FOR BETTER OR WORSE’ Part 2, chapter 1

The book looks like a handbook for horse keepers, fact that is highlighted by the numerous if clauses, rules, and practical advice and common sense observations:

“(…) it is one of the hardest things in the world to get horses out of a stable when there is either fire or flood”
“(…) never to allow a pipe in the stable, and thought it ought to be the rule everywhere”
“(…) horses can do more work if they can stand comfortably and can turn about(…)”
‘(…) with our blinkers one can’t see or understand what a thing is unless one looks round(…)’
‘(…) we horses do not mind hard work if we are treated reasonably (…)’
‘Good feed and fair rest will keep up one’s strength under full work, but no horse can stand against overloading (…)’
‘(…) a stone-blind horse was safer to drive than one which had imperfect sight, as it generally makes them very timid.’

There are also TIPS on how to take care of horses:
- their needs = animals need so little things to be happy:
“(…) all who had to do with me were good and I had a light airy stable and the best of food. What more could I want? ”
“(…) to look after me, and talk to me, and bring me nice things to eat”
“ Oh! If people knew what a comfort to horses a light hand is, and how it keeps a good mouth and a good temper (…)”
AND TO CONCLUDE: ALL THESE LITTLE THINGS HELP A HORSE VERY MUCH, PARTICULARLY IF HE GETS KIND WORDS INTO THE BARGAIN“”
- feeding: ‘(…) best hay with plenty of oats, crushed beans and bran, with vetches, or rye grass, as the man might think needful’
- clean stable: Part 2, chapter 10
- drinking water: “Some people say that a horse ought not to drink all he likes, but I know if we are allowed to drink when we want it we drink only a little at a time, and it does us a great deal more good than swallowing down half a bucketful at a time, because we have been left without till we are thirsty and miserable.”
- taking care on bad weather: “When it is a dry cold a couple of good thick rugs will keep the warmth in us; but when it is soaking rain they soon get wet through and are no good.”

Chapters 7 and 8 (Part 2) can be considered a kind of personality tests for those who want to became cart drivers, as it offers some very well described behaviors and styles of driving. It is these descriptions that make the reader feel a certain tension (I would say for the first time in the book) while reading the above mentioned chapters.

Horses treat life with dignity even though they admit that “(…) men are strongest, and if they are cruel and have no feeling, there is nothing that we can do, but just bear it – bear it on and on to the end. (…) OH! IF MEN WERE MORE MERCIFUL THEY WOULD SHOOT US BEFORE WE CAME TO SUCH MISERY.”

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Monika Bandi