Poor Blossom: The Story of a Horse

"Poor Blossom: The Story of a Horse" by Edith Carrington is a fictional account written in the late 19th century. The story is narrated from the perspective of Blossom, a horse, and chronicles his life journey from his early days in a kind farm setting to his varied experiences under different masters in urban life. The story explores themes of kindness, cruelty, and the struggle of the horse as a sentient creature within human society. At the start of the tale, Blossom reminisces about his idyllic beginnings on a farm where he learned valuable lessons from his mother about the human-animal relationship. The narrative shifts as he learns about the complexities of life with humans, including the cruelty of their kind. We are introduced to other horses, like Rip, providing a glimpse into their dynamics and aspirations. Blossom’s early innocent play transitions into a realization of his future labor and subservience as he prepares to be broken in for service. This opening sets the stage for Blossom's subsequent trials, creating a poignant contrast between his naive youth and the harsh realities of life as a working horse in society. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Edith Carrington (1853–1929) was an English animal rights activist and promoter of vegetarianism. She was for sometime an artist, but began to write books on animals from Carrington. She was a vocal opponent of Eleanor Anne Ormerod's campaign seeking the extermination of the house sparrow and was an anti-vivisectionist.