At Birtwick, the sense of pride and hap­pi­ness with­in Black Beau­ty only grew with time, owing large­ly to the respect and love the mas­ter and mis­tress com­mand­ed among all liv­ing beings, not just humans. Their kind­ness extend­ed to ani­mals of all sorts, ensur­ing no crea­ture suf­fered under their watch. Notably, their influ­ence inspired a cul­ture of com­pas­sion, lead­ing to a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in the use of check-reins on cart hors­es with­in their com­mu­ni­ty, a cause the mis­tress active­ly advo­cat­ed against through gen­tle per­sua­sion.

The sto­ry delves into the mis­tress’s unmatched effi­ca­cy in advo­cat­ing for the wel­fare of ani­mals, a sen­ti­ment echoed by our nar­ra­tor who wish­es all indi­vid­u­als shared her empa­thy. A par­tic­u­lar inci­dent involv­ing a man named Sawyer and his rough treat­ment of a bay pony high­lights the mas­ter’s firm yet rea­soned stance on ani­mal cru­el­ty. Wit­ness­ing Sawyer’s harsh dis­ci­plin­ing of the pony, the mas­ter con­fronts him, empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of treat­ing ani­mals with respect and cau­tion­ing him about the moral impli­ca­tions of his actions.

Fur­ther, an encounter with Cap­tain Lan­g­ley show­cas­es a polite yet can­did cri­tique of the use of check-reins, draw­ing a par­al­lel to mil­i­tary dis­ci­pline mis­placed in the treat­ment of hors­es. This con­ver­sa­tion sub­tly under­scores the mas­ter’s com­mit­ment to ani­mal wel­fare and his will­ing­ness to address such issues regard­less of the social stand­ing of his inter­locu­tor.

Through these vignettes, the chap­ter not only accen­tu­ates the moral fiber of the main human char­ac­ters but also serves as a cri­tique of com­mon prac­tices deemed cru­el towards ani­mals. The nar­ra­tive, rich in moral con­vic­tion, seam­less­ly blends advo­ca­cy for ani­mal rights with a reflec­tion on human char­ac­ter and ethics.