Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/56

 horse out. He was so stiff with his long confinement that he hobbled around like an old horse. But a vigorous rubbing by the groom and the helper soon set him right. Then he was led away and put in a spacious box stall, in quarters such as his sire, Sir Wilton Second, had occupied when he was a colt. Jerry came several times a day to see him and to care for him. He saw to it that he was properly fed and watered and groomed. He also took him for a little exercise each day.

Jerry himself would be mounted on a tall black horse, who would not even look at Dapples, while the groom led the colt by his side. Sometimes it seemed to Dapples that the large horse went too fast. At such times he would have to gallop to keep up, although the adult horse was merely trotting rapidly, but these daily gallops were the very best thing for the Shetland.

Finally, when he had been at Rosemere for about a month, Dapples was turned