Black Beauty Redux

I'm rereading Black Beauty by Anna Sewell as part of my ongoing thesis research and find myself marveling at the foresight of this remarkable author. This book reads like a modern tome on how to properly care for a horse and touches on many of the current animal welfare topics that are still in the news.

For those of you who don't know the story, Black Beauty is a horse in mid-nineteenth century England who passes through a series of owners, many of whom treat him kindly and some who do not. Since the story is told in first person, from the point of view of the horse--a remarkable achievement in itself since at no point does the narrative, in my opinion, become trite or sentimental--we learn how a horse feels about the different roles he was asked to play in a horse-centered society.

We learn early on about the author's opposition to tethers that hold carriage horses heads very high, fox and rabbit hunting (we witness the demise of horse and a hare), non-conscientious grooms and the health problems their laziness can engender and impatient owners and trainers who do not respect their horses.

Anna Sewell herself was a devoted horsewoman. She injured her ankle when she was fourteen and it never healed properly. From that point on she had difficulty walking but she could ride and drive a carriage. In many ways, horses saved her and perhaps this is her way of returning the favor.

Many people have interpreted this work as an early animal welfare treatise as well as a commentary on the plight of working laborers in England at the time. While both of these interpretations may indeed be valid, to me, more than anything, the book is a how-to-manual. Everyone who is thinking of getting a horse should read it to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Horses are delicate creatures who are not afraid of work but who need to be taken care of properly to ensure that they will be able to perform that work.

It is a great read--short chapters and very entertaining. See if you agree.