Chapter 47. Hard Times My new master I shall never forget; he had black eyes and a hooked nose, his mouth was as full of teeth as a bull-dog’s, and his voice was as harsh as the grinding of cart wheels over graveled stones. His name was Nicholas Skinner, and I believe he was the […]
Chapter 46. Jakes and the Lady I was sold to a corn dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and with him he thought I should have good food and fair work. In the first he was quite right, and if my master had always been on the premises I do not think I should have […]
Chapter 45. Jerry’s New Year For some people Christmas and the New Year are very merry times; but for cabmen and cabmen’s horses it is no holiday, though it may be a harvest. There are so many parties, balls, and places of amusement open that the work is hard and often late. Sometimes driver and […]
Welcome to another weekly edition of the a-z of plants that are dangerous to your horse. Today’s plant is one with a fabulous name & this is one plant that actually looks toxic in many ways. The name Viper’s Bugloss pretty much says it all, anything named after a viper is probably not going to […]
Chapter 43. A Friend in Need The election day came at last; there was no lack of work for Jerry and me. First came a stout puffy gentleman with a carpet bag; he wanted to go to the Bishopsgate station; then we were called by a party who wished to be taken to the Regent’s […]
Chapter 41. The Butcher I saw a great deal of trouble among the horses in London, and much of it might have been prevented by a little common sense. We horses do not mind hard work if we are treated reasonably, and I am sure there are many driven by quite poor men who have […]
Chapter 39. Speedy Sam I should say that for a cab-horse I was very well off indeed; my driver was my owner, and it was his interest to treat me well and not overwork me, even had he not been so good a man as he was; but there were a great many horses which […]
Image from NY State IPM Program at Cornell University under the CC by 2.0 license Welcome to this week’s edition of the a-z of plants that don’t like your horse. Today’s plant is a common one, but it is also one that is every bit as ugly as it’s name & toxicity implies. Pigweed dispels […]
Chapter 37. The Golden Rule Two or three weeks after this, as we came into the yard rather late in the evening, Polly came running across the road with the lantern (she always brought it to him if it was not very wet). “It has all come right, Jerry; Mrs. Briggs sent her servant this […]
Chapter 33. A London Cab Horse Jeremiah Barker was my new master’s name, but as every one called him Jerry, I shall do the same. Polly, his wife, was just as good a match as a man could have. She was a plump, trim, tidy little woman, with smooth, dark hair, dark eyes, and a […]
Chapter 32. A Horse Fair No doubt a horse fair is a very amusing place to those who have nothing to lose; at any rate, there is plenty to see. Long strings of young horses out of the country, fresh from the marshes; and droves of shaggy little Welsh ponies, no higher than Merrylegs; and […]
Chapter 30. A Thief My new master was an unmarried man. He lived at Bath, and was much engaged in business. His doctor advised him to take horse exercise, and for this purpose he bought me. He hired a stable a short distance from his lodgings, and engaged a man named Filcher as groom. My […]