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"I do," said Twinkleheels. "But please don't talk so loud! I don't want everybody on the farm laughing at me because I lost a race." The Muley Cow went into the barn grumbling. "That pony is a young upstart," she muttered. "The idea of his telling me not to talk so loud! Ebenezer is altogether too pleasant to him." Old Ebenezer continued to be agreeable to Twinkleheels.

"Oh, you might," Ebenezer said. "There'd be no harm in trying, anyhow. Racing with me would be good practice for you, even if I did win. If you're going to have a race, don't look for an easy one! Choose a hard one. That's the kind that will make you do your best." Twinkleheels thanked him. "It's very kind of Ebenezer to race with you," the Muley Cow bellowed. "You ought to feel honored."

Back from the village Twinkleheels came clipping up the road and swung through Farmer Green's front gate as fresh as a daisy. And old Spot, with his tongue lolling out, and panting fast, was glad to lie down on the woodshed step to rest. "My goodness!" said Spot to Miss Kitty Cat. "This Twinkleheels is the goingest animal I ever followed.

He made up his mind, however, that when he was grown up he would learn to ride standing up and turn somersaults in the air off a horse's back. But now he knew that he must content himself with less risky sports. Something happened one day that caused Johnnie to admit to himself the wisdom of his father's advice. He was riding Twinkleheels along the road, bareback, after a heavy rain.

"I'm very sure-footed," Ebenezer told him proudly. "Of course, a person will step on a loose stone now and then. But I've never really stumbled in my whole life." "How old are you?" Twinkleheels inquired. "I'm twenty," Ebenezer told him. "And you've never stumbled in all that time!" Twinkleheels cried. "How did you manage to stay on your feet like that?"

Johnnie Green and his friends were not alone in enjoying this sport. Old dog Spot joined them when he could. Unfortunately, when Twinkleheels kicked, old Spot always wanted to bark. And Johnnie didn't like noise at such times. He and his friends were always amazingly quiet when they were engaged in currant throwing behind the barn.

Spot lay on the barn floor, looking on while Johnnie Green harnessed Twinkleheels. "This boy," Twinkleheels explained, "made me think he had some oats for me. He caught me unfairly." Old dog Spot grinned. "Can't you take a joke?" he asked. "This is no joke," Twinkleheels grumbled. "Johnnie is going to drive me over the hill. They're going to have a ball game over there.

When Johnnie Green began to walk towards him Twinkleheels waited until his young master reached out a hand to take hold of his mane. Then Twinkleheels wheeled like a flash and tore off across the pasture, leaving Johnnie to clutch the empty air. Johnnie chased him, crying, "Whoa! Whoa!" It seemed that the faster he ran the faster Twinkleheels drew away from him. So Johnnie soon fell into a walk.

Then he began to nail on the shoe. One thing puzzled Twinkleheels. Every time the blacksmith struck a blow with his hammer he gave a funny grunt. Twinkleheels nudged Ebenezer with his nose. "Do you hear that?" he asked. "Is he related to Grunty Pig a sort of cousin, perhaps?" The old horse Ebenezer gasped. "Bless you, no!" he exclaimed. "Then why does he grunt?"

"Ah!" cried the other bay. "Twinkleheels not only has a mealy nose. He's mealy-mouthed as well!" Johnnie Green had often ridden bareback. Lacking a pony, before Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, he had ridden the old horse Ebenezer back and forth between the barn and the pasture, guiding him by his halter rope. Ebenezer was a steady old fellow. He never jumped nor shied.