Horses Nine | Page 3

with a sway of the body and a pawing
movement which was quite rhythmical. He learned to box with his nose.
He learned to walk sedately behind Reddy and to pick up a glove,
dropped apparently by accident. There was always a sugar-plum or a
sweet cracker in the glove, which he got when Reddy stopped and
Skipper, poking his nose over his shoulder, let the glove fall into his
hands.
As he became more accomplished he noticed that "Reddy" took more
pains with his toilet. Every morning Skipper's coat was curried and
brushed and rubbed with chamois until it shone almost as if it had been
varnished. His fetlocks were carefully trimmed, a ribbon braided into
his forelock, and his hoofs polished as brightly as Reddy's boots. Then
there were apples and carrots and other delicacies which Reddy brought
him.
So it happened that one morning Skipper heard the Sergeant tell Reddy
that he had been detailed for the Horse Show squad. Reddy had saluted
and said nothing at the time, but when they were once out on post he
told Skipper all about it.
"Sure an' it's app'arin' before all the swells in town you'll be, me b'y.
Phat do ye think of that, eh? An' mebbe ye'll be gettin' a blue ribbon,
Skipper, me lad; an' mebbe Mr. Patrick Martin will have a roundsman's
berth an' chevrons on his sleeves afore the year's out."
The Horse Show was all that Reddy had promised, and more. The light
almost dazzled Skipper. The sounds and the smells confused him. But

he felt Reddy on his back, heard him chirrup softly, and soon felt at
ease on the tanbark.
Then there was a great crash of noise and Skipper, with some fifty of
his friends on the force, began to move around the circle. First it was
fours abreast, then by twos, and then a rush to troop front, when, in a
long line, they swept around as if they had been harnessed to a beam by
traces of equal length.
After some more evolutions a half-dozen were picked out and put
through their paces. Skipper was one of these. Then three of the six
were sent to join the rest of the squad. Only Skipper and two others
remained in the centre of the ring. Men in queer clothes, wearing tall
black hats, showing much white shirt-front and carrying long whips,
came and looked them over carefully.
Skipper showed these men how he could waltz in time to the music,
and the people who banked the circle as far up as Skipper could see
shouted and clapped their hands until it seemed as if a thunderstorm
had broken loose. At last one of the men in tall hats tied a blue ribbon
on Skipper's bridle.
When Reddy got him into the stable, he fed him four big red apples,
one after the other. Next day Skipper knew that he was a famous horse.
Reddy showed him their pictures in the paper.
For a whole year Skipper was the pride of the force. He was shown to
visitors at the stables. He was patted on the nose by the Mayor. The
Chief, who was a bigger man than the Mayor, came up especially to
look at him. In the park Skipper did his tricks every day for ladies in
fine dress who exclaimed, "How perfectly wonderful!" as well as for
pretty nurse-maids who giggled and said, "Now did you ever see the
likes o' that, Norah?"
And then came the spavin. Ah, but that was the beginning of the end!
Were you ever spavined? If so, you know all about it. If you haven't,
there's no use trying to tell you. Rheumatism? Well, that may be bad;
but a spavin is worse.

For three weeks Reddy rubbed the lump on the hock with stuff from a
brown bottle, and hid it from the inspector. Then, one black morning,
the lump was discovered. That day Skipper did not go out on post.
Reddy came into the stall, put his arm around his neck and said
"Good-by" in a voice that Skipper had never heard him use before.
Something had made it thick and husky. Very sadly Skipper saw him
saddle one of the newcomers and go out for duty.
Before Reddy came back Skipper was led away. He was taken to a big
building where there were horses of every kind--except the right kind.
Each one had his own peculiar "out," although you couldn't always tell
what it was at first glance.
But Skipper did not stay here long. He was led into a big ring before a
lot of men. A man on a box shouted out a number, and began to talk
very fast. Skipper gathered that he was talking about