A Job Horse and His Drivers (Ch28 / Q11)

If I could interview the author of this book I would ask her the following questions: 1) Where did you get the idea for this book? 2) Is this book based on a true story? In this chapter Beauty has been sold and is now a job horse. Before Beauty was always driven by people who knew what they were doing. But now most of the drivers that Beauty was hired out to had no clue on the matter. In this chapter Beauty tells us about two of the many ways he was driven during his stay there. One is the tight-rein drivers. Who seem to think that it is the end of the world if they don't hold the reins as hard as they can. There is also the loose-rein drivers that let the reins just lay on there knees. This often gets horses in to bad habits that they have to be whipped out of. Once Beauty was with one of these drivers and the man was not even paying attention to Beauty or the road. There had been some road work and there was a lot of loose stones. It just so happened that Beauty got a stone in his shoe. He was driven a half a mile before his driver noticed anything and he just thought that Beauty was lame. Luckily a farmer came along that knew his business. He got the stone out of Beauty's shoe. But Beauty was still in a lot of pain.