Black Beauty

As Black Beauty spends more time at Birtwick Hall, he comes to realize that Squire Gordon and his wife not only take good care of their own animals, but also advocate for positive change. For example, if Lady Gordon sees a horse straining with a bearing-rein and a heavy load, she will try to persuade the driver to stop using the rein. One day, while Squire Gordon is riding Black Beauty, he stops and chastises a man who is treating the pony pulling his cart harshly. Criticizing the man’s cruelty, Squire Gordon notes that “we shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be towards man or towards beast” (40).

The man driving the pony-cart was a laborer, but Beauty notes that Squire Gordon is not shy to rebuke men of higher social classes either. In one conversation with his friend, Captain Langley, Squire Gordon criticizes Langley’s use of the bearing-rein to force the heads of his horses artificially high, and shares his belief that horses can work harder when they are unconstrained.

One day, Black Beauty pulls a light cart, driven by John, to take Squire Gordon to a nearby town. On the way there, they notice the river waters are rising, and there seems to be a risk of flooding.