When my knees had healed, I was turned out into a small meadow. I enjoyed the sweet grass, but I was alone and felt very lonely. Then one morning the gate opened, and in came dear old Ginger. With a happy whinny I trotted up to her. But I soon learned that she had not come for our pleasure. She had been ruined by hard riding and was sent here to see what rest would do for her.
Lord George would listen to no warning. There was a race across country, and though the groom told him Ginger had hurt herself and was not fit for it, he rode her in it and made her keep up with the leaders. With her high spirit she gave everything and came in among the first three, but her breathing was never the same again, and her back was hurt.
“And so here we are,” she said, “ruined in our best years, you by a drunkard, and I by a fool. It is very hard.”
We did not gallop about as we once did, but we ate and lay down together, and stood for hours under a shady lime tree with our heads close together.
When the family came back from London, the Earl came into the meadow with York. They looked at us carefully, and the Earl seemed very upset.
“What I care about most,” he said, “is that my old friend’s horses, which he thought would have a good home with me, are ruined. The mare shall have a year’s rest, and we shall see what that does for her. But the black one must be sold. It is a great pity, but I cannot have knees like these in my stables.”
“I know a man in Bath who has horses for hire,” said York. “He looks after his horses well.”
“Then write to him, York. A good place matters more to me than the money.”
“They’ll soon take you away,” said Ginger when they had gone, “and I shall lose the only friend I have. Most likely we shall never see each other again. It’s a hard world!”
About a week later Robert came into the field with a halter and led me away. We neighed to each other, and Ginger trotted anxiously along by the hedge, calling to me for as long as she could hear my feet.
I went to Bath by train. It took a good deal of courage at first, but I soon got used to it. My new stable was not as airy and pleasant as the ones I had known. The stall sloped, and because my head was tied, I always had to stand on the slope, which was very tiring. Still, I was well fed and well cleaned, and I think our master took as much care of us as he could.