it from its hook and throwing it to its place, I could as easily have
thrown the horse itself over the stable. The only way in which it
could be effected was by first pushing the saddle from its hook,
checking its fall to the floor by the hand, and then resting till the
violent action of the heart had somewhat abated; next, with occasional
failures, to throw it over the edge of the low manger; then an interval
of panting rest. Shortening the halter so far as to bring the pony's
head close to the manger, next enabled me easily to push him into a
line nearly parallel with it, leaving me barely space enough to pass
between. By lengthening the stirrup strap I was enabled to get it
across his neck, and by much pulling, finally haul the saddle to its
proper place. By a kind of desperation of will I commonly succeeded,
though by no means always. Sometimes the mortification and rage at a
failure so contemptible assured success on a second trial, with
apparently less expenditure of exertion than at first. Occasionally,
however, I was forced to call for assistance from sheer exhaustion.
The bridling was comparatively an easy matter; with his head so
closely tied to the manger little scope was left for dodging. In
the irritable condition I was now in, the most trifling opposition
made me angry, and anger gave me strength; and in this sudden vigor
of mind the issue of our daily struggle was, I believe, with a single
exception, on my side.

When I led him into the yard, the insignificance of his appearance, in
contrast with the labor it had cost me to get him there, was enough to
make any one laugh, excepting perhaps a person suffering the
punishment I was then undergoing. Mounting the animal called for a
final struggle of determination with weakness. A stone next the fence
was the chief reliance in this emergency. It placed me nearly on a
level with the stirrup, while the fence enabled me to steady myself