Black Beauty

When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky – his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse.

But in the nineteenth century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.

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Glossary

1. cab a taxi
2. cough (v) to push out air violently and noisily from the throat
3. dealer someone who buys and sells things
4. drunk (adj) feeling the effects of too much alcoholic drink
5. feed (v) to give food to a person or animal, or to eat something
6. gallop (of a horse) to run very fast
7. groom (n) a person whose job is to look after horses in a stable
8. groom (v) to clean and brush a horse’s coat
9. harness (n) the straps, collar, etc. on a horse’s head and body which fasten the horse to a carriage
10. harness (v) to fasten a horse to a carriage with straps
11. hay dried grass, which is used to feed animals
12. hunt (v and n) to chase and kill animals for food or sport
13. look after to take care of something or someone
14. mare an adult female horse
15. master/mistress a man/woman who owns animals and employs people to look after them
16. neigh (n) the loud cry of a horse
17. oats a kind of plant used as food (for animals and people)
18. pat (v) to touch gently with your hand several times
19. pleasant nice, enjoyable, pleasing
20. race (n) a competition to see who can run, ride, etc. the fastest
21. ruin (v) to harm or damage something completely
22. strength being strong
23. temper how you feel (e.g. a badtempered person is angry)
24. tight fixed or fastened very closely
25. treat to behave well or badly towards someone or something
26. trot (of a horse) to run slowly, with short steps