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spot where there were tough tussocks no one had tried to eat before. They weren’t much, but they were better than empty stomachs.
    Men came when the sun was high above us. At first I paid them little attention as they led one horse away, and then another. They were not my mares or their foals.
    And then they came for me.
    Grey Beard and Red Beard leant on the lengths of wood keeping us in. Grey Beard laughed. ‘You said you could break any horse. Let’s see what you can do.’
    Red Beard chewed a blade of grass, not properly, like a horse swallowing it down, but so that it sat in his mouth. ‘I will and all,’ he said, showing his teeth. ‘He’s a beauty, ain’t he? Half Arab, I’d say. Look at that head.’
    I knew they were talking about me. I tossed my head, and pawed at the ground.
    ‘Bet you a guinea you can’t break him.’
    Red Beard showed his teeth again. ‘That’s a guinea easy earned. There ain’t no horse I can’t break in just three days. I gets half o’ the price for him when I break him, remember.’
    ‘I’m no man to skimp my bargain,’ said Grey Beard. He spat on his hand, and held it out to the other. ‘You have my word on it.’
    That’s when Red Beard threw the rope at me.
    It went around my neck. I leapt in the air, bucking, fighting to get free, but the rope—that’s what they called the white stuff, I knew by now—choked me so much I grew dizzy.
    At last I realised that the more I tried to get away,the more I choked. I quietened, my sides heaving, and paused to see what Red Beard wanted. The other horses were milling around the yard, disturbed by what was taking place.
    Grey Beard pulled some of the wood away. Red Beard tugged at the rope. I pulled back, prancing and shaking my head to get rid of the restriction. It wouldn’t shake free. I had to follow him, or choke.
    I heard one of my mares whinny behind me. I tried to call back, but the rope was still too tight.
    That was the last I ever saw of my horses.
    How can you be King when you’re alone?
    Step by step, Red Beard led me to another enclosure. This was made of wood too, but smaller and stronger-looking than the one before. It was so small I couldn’t easily turn around, even if I hadn’t had the rope about my neck.
    Red Beard fastened the rope to one of the bits of wood. He climbed into the enclosure. I tried to bite him, but he lunged away behind me where I couldn’t reach.
    I tried to kick. I missed.
    I felt another rope, this one under my tail. Another circled my body. I could hardly move, the ropes held me so close.
    Red Beard ducked under the ropes, and came up to my head. He tied more ropes across my face. Again, I tried to bite. He flicked me with his whip. The pain made me lose my aim.
    I tried to lift my head. I tried to yell, in anger and in fear.
    I could do nothing. Nothing but stand in that wood cage held tight by ropes.
    The man climbed over the railings again. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Let’s leave you there a while, shall we? Let you get used to who is boss.’ He showed his teeth again. They were yellow, like old bones.
    And so I stood there. The day grew hot. I needed to drink, to eat. My body began to ache, and shake, from standing still so long.
    Then he came back.
    ‘Down!’ he yelled. ‘Down! Down! Down!’
    The whip lashed me from every side. At last I realised what he meant. I knelt, buckling my legs till I was kneeling on the ground.
    Back he came, into my pen. I felt his weight upon my back. I tried to rise, to shake him off. But every time I moved he whipped me hard again.
    At last I knelt there, quiet. I heard him chuckle. ‘Said that I could do it. Let’s see how you obey tomorrow, heh?’
    He got off me then. He loosened my ropes—not much, but so I could move enough to stop the pain. He brought me water in a small container. It smelt of wood, not of stones and mountains and the sun. But I drank. My mouth was dry, drier than I had ever known.
    And then he left me, tied up and all