A few days later my new groom came, a tall, good-looking young man called Alfred Smirk. If ever a groom was all show, it was Alfred. He stroked and patted me a great deal when his master was there to see it, and before he brought me to the door, he always brushed my mane and tail and oiled my hooves to make me look smart. But he never bothered to clean my feet or groom me properly.
Alfred thought himself very handsome and spent a lot of time on his hair in front of a little mirror. When his master spoke to him, it was always “Yes, sir, yes, sir,” and everyone thought he was a very nice young man. I would say he was the laziest, vainest fellow I ever met. He never took all the old straw out of my box, and the smell from underneath made my eyes sore, so that I did not want my food.
One day his master said, “Alfred, the stable smells rather strong. Shouldn’t you give it a good scrub with plenty of water?”
“I will if you wish, sir,” he said, touching his cap, “but it’s rather dangerous, sir, throwing water in a horse’s box. They catch cold very easily, sir.”
“Well, I shouldn’t like him to catch cold. But do you think the drains are all right?”
“Well, sir, now you mention it, I think the drain does sometimes give off a smell.”
So a builder came, pulled up a lot of bricks, found nothing wrong and charged five shillings, and the smell was as bad as ever. Standing on wet straw made my feet sore, and Alfred hardly ever took me out for exercise.
“I don’t know what is the matter with this horse,” my master said. “I am sometimes afraid he will stumble.”
“Yes, sir,” said Alfred. “I have noticed the same when I exercise him.”
One day, with my master on my back, I stumbled badly twice. He stopped at the blacksmith’s, and the man lifted my feet one by one.
“Your horse has a disease of the feet, and a bad one. I wonder your groom hasn’t seen to it. We find this in dirty stables, where the old straw is never properly cleaned out.”
The blacksmith treated my feet and ordered my box to be cleaned out every day, and with this care I soon felt better. But Mr Barry was so disgusted at being tricked by two grooms that he decided to give up keeping a horse. So when my feet were quite well, I was sold again.