# XXVIII: A Job Horse and His Drivers explained — Black Beauty

> Chapter companion for Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.

## What happens

Black Beauty describes his experiences as a job horse, being hired out to various ignorant drivers. He contrasts tight-rein drivers who constantly pull on the mouth with loose-rein drivers who pay no attention. He recounts an incident where a careless driver fails to notice a stone lodged in his hoof, causing pain and lameness until a farmer stops to remove it.

## Themes in this chapter

### Animal Welfare and Cruelty

Highlights the suffering caused by ignorant and careless drivers who neglect their horses' needs.

### Kindness and Empathy

The farmer's intervention shows compassion and proper care for a horse in distress.

### Social Class and Exploitation

Job horses are exploited by drivers who treat them as disposable tools rather than living beings.

## Character check-ins

### Black Beauty

Narrates his experiences as a job horse, enduring different styles of bad driving.

### Squire Gordon

Mentioned as an example of a good driver who kept his horses to their best paces and manners.

### John Manly

Mentioned as a good driver who would have noticed the stone immediately.

## Key lines

> Squire Gordon always kept us to our best paces and our best manners. He said that spoiling a horse and letting him get into bad habits was just as cruel as spoiling a child, and both had to suffer for it afterward.

Squire Gordon insisted on good behavior from his horses, believing that allowing a horse to develop bad habits was as harmful as neglecting a child's upbringing.

_Emphasizes the parallel between horse training and child rearing._

> Whether the man was partly blind or only very careless I can’t say, but he drove me with that stone in my foot for a good half-mile before he saw anything.

The driver was either nearly blind or extremely negligent, as he continued driving with a stone lodged in my hoof for half a mile without noticing.

_Illustrates the driver's complete disregard for the horse's well-being._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_beauty_se/chapters/part-ii-xxviii-a-job-horse-and-his-drivers
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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_beauty_se/chapters