When I was four years old I was broken in. That means the bit and the saddle and the iron shoes and learning to obey. The bit is a hard piece of cold steel in your mouth, and you cannot spit it out. Then I was sold to Squire Gordon at Birtwick Park. My box there was large and airy, and I could see all round. John Manly the groom rubbed me down and talked to me, and I loved him at once. They called me Black Beauty. Next to me lived a tall chestnut mare named Ginger, who had a bad habit of biting. Nobody was ever kind to me, she told me. They beat me and pulled at my mouth and shut me in the dark. I said that my master was not like that, and Ginger said that she was glad for me.