Birdie Put One Foot On This, Then Drew It Back And Put Another
On, Then Smelt The Bridge Noisily.
Persuasions were useless; she
only smelt, snorted, held back, and turned her cunning head and
looked at me.
It was useless to argue the point with so
sagacious a beast. To the right of the bridge the ice was much
broken, and we forded the river there; but as it was deep enough
to come up to her body, and was icy cold to my feet, I wondered
at her preference. Afterwards I heard that the bridge was
dangerous. She is the queen of ponies, and is very gentle,
though she has not only wild horse blood, but is herself the wild
horse. She is always cheerful and hungry, never tired, looks
intelligently at everything, and her legs are like rocks. Her
one trick is that when the saddle is put on she swells herself to
a very large size, so that if any one not accustomed to her
saddles her I soon find the girth three or four inches too large.
When I saddle her a gentle slap on her side, or any slight start
which makes her cease to hold her breath, puts it all right. She
is quite a companion, and bathing her back, sponging her
nostrils, and seeing her fed after my day's ride, is always my
first care.
At last I reached a log cabin where I got a feed for us both and
further directions.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 162 of 274
Words from 44269 to 44518
of 74789
