I know very little about horses, their functional usage, or how their lives progressed in late Victorian England, so this was new territory for me. While a little childish and simplistic (it's written from the horse's perspective so that makes sense), I enjoyed the story significantly, though I certainly wasn't on the edge of my seat at any point in time. This is a sweet book, though not necessarily a happy one as it goes to great lengths to outline the awful conditions and cruelty endured by working horses.
I was checking on the history of the book and apparently its publication and instantaneous popularity started an animal welfare movement that rapidly did away with the unnecessary and dangerous practice of using reins to jack up a horse's neck. I was glad to see the power a simple book can have on making the world a better place.
