Answer the following questions:
a) What do we learn from the horse’s appearance?
Ans: From the horse’s appearance and behavior, we learn that the horse is weary, old, shaggy, not very well cared for, and a bit sad, but the horse longs for a human touch.
b) When does the horse feel that life is not bad?
Ans: The horse feels that life is not bad when a passer-by speaks a kind word and strokes its mane and shaggy coat.
c) What does the poet ask the readers to do?
Ans: The poet asks the reader to stop for a word or two with the horse and show some affection towards the lonely old animal.
d) Why is the horse no longer used for riding? Give at least two reasons.
Ans: The horse is no longer used for riding because it is old; time has passed and has brought new methods of transportation, such as the motor car, making the use of the horse redundant.
e) Who might have been responsible for neglecting the horse? Why was he neglected?
Ans: The horse’s master seems responsible for neglecting the poor animal and forgetting him when he started using a motor car for transportation.
f) What would you have done to make the horse’s last years comfortable?
Ans: I would have been kinder to the horse, taken care of his body so that his coat did not remain shaggy, let the children ride on him to close-by places once a week, and done something about his lame legs and blindness.