Question
The Welsh Horse Trainer
READER
ANNOTATION
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At the age of six, Daffyd Jones came over to America with his extended family—aunts and uncles and cousins and all—in 1893. The family had saved and scraped and planned, and bought farmland in Lackawanna County, in northern Pennsylvania. It was the best choice they could see. It let all of them make the most of the skills they had, from those who farmed to those who worked livestock to those who’d spent their lives in the mines. They had a plan designed to keep them safe and to give everyone a chance to prosper.
For Daffyd, that meant working beside Granda on the farm, with the stock when he was a boy, then moving to an apprenticeship with a local farrier and horse breaker—a man who made horseshoes and tack and who trained green horses. His name was Bert Skellington, and he traveled one end of the county to the other, back and forth, tending to the needs of the horses in the small towns and the farms in the area. Daffyd learned to make the shoes for the big plough horses, huge animals big enough to break the heavy soil of the valleys; he also learned how to make bits, buckles, harness fittings, and more. It was specialized work, best done on the farms, and few blacksmiths could match the traveling farriers making all the gear the horses used. Bert also trained the horses, which is also known as a “horse breaker.”
Daffyd later decided that “breaker” was the right word. Bert’s methods were strict and disciplined, aimed at having a horse ready for work quickly, with minimal issues. Farmers might put in the time training a plough team slowly, but riding horses and carriage horses weren’t part of the daily life of a farm in the same way. People wanted results, fast and cheap, and if the animal wasn’t trained to a high level when the breaker was done, they were good enough to start out with.
In 1903, when Daffyd was sixteen, he got lucky. He and Bert had gone to a stable outside Philadelphia that specialized in training carriage horses and sulky-racing horses—racing horses that pulled light little carts, rather than being ridden by jockeys. Daffyd had worked well with the skittish racehorses, and even better with the quieter horses intended for more ordinary owners to carry them around the city and local towns. The day before Bert and Daffyd were supposed to move on, the stable master took Daffyd aside and offered to buy out his not-yet-completed apprenticeship with Bert and make him an apprentice in the stable.
Daffyd had to think about it. He asked Bert what he thought. The wiry old man looked at him carefully and said, “You’d be foolish not to take it, Davy-boy.” Bert looked around the stable, then sighed. “Things are already changing—it’s all trains and steamships and automobiles coming in. Factories. You can see it now—less and less work for blacksmiths, when you can buy better from a Sears catalog. Fewer and fewer horses, and it’s only going to get worse. Pretty soon the only horses are going to be the fancy ones. Racers. Show horses. Carriage horses you can show off with. Fancy riding horses for going out with rich people in the park. They aren’t going to want a dirty old breaker for those horses, boy. They’re going to want a trainer. Someone who turns out class from the very start. Take him up on it.”
Bert got every penny he could for the rest of Daffyd’s apprenticeship. He didn’t bother getting a new apprentice. As work fell off and fewer horses needed his care, he could just about keep up. He saved the money he got for letting Daffyd go and bought a house, and spent his final days letting customers come to him. He got by.
Daffyd did better. He learned how to work carriage horses and sulky racers from one of the best in the business. Sometimes he still worked tough and fast, using the methods of a breaker. But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.
Every time Daffyd saw a closed-down blacksmith shop, or saw a Ford Model A go chugging past, or bought new horse tack through a Sears catalog, he thought how lucky he was—and how wise Bert had been. It was a new era.
Question 11
BOOKMARK
This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Part A
How did Daffyd change after the apprenticeship with Bert ended?
Daffyd decided to use the gentler approach of training horses.
Daffyd decided that he would rather work on cars than with horses.
Daffyd decided that he would rather be a farmer than a horse trainer.
Daffyd decided not to continue being an apprentice and opened his own shop.
Part B
Which sentence best supports your answer in Part A?
“As work fell off and fewer horses needed his care, he could just about keep up.” (paragraph 6)
“He saved the money he got for letting Daffyd go and bought a house, and spent his final days letting customers come to him.” (paragraph 6)
“He learned how to work carriage horses and sulky racers from one of the best in the business.” (paragraph 7)
“But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.” (paragraph 7)
READER
ANNOTATION
VIEW ALL
NUMBERS
At the age of six, Daffyd Jones came over to America with his extended family—aunts and uncles and cousins and all—in 1893. The family had saved and scraped and planned, and bought farmland in Lackawanna County, in northern Pennsylvania. It was the best choice they could see. It let all of them make the most of the skills they had, from those who farmed to those who worked livestock to those who’d spent their lives in the mines. They had a plan designed to keep them safe and to give everyone a chance to prosper.
For Daffyd, that meant working beside Granda on the farm, with the stock when he was a boy, then moving to an apprenticeship with a local farrier and horse breaker—a man who made horseshoes and tack and who trained green horses. His name was Bert Skellington, and he traveled one end of the county to the other, back and forth, tending to the needs of the horses in the small towns and the farms in the area. Daffyd learned to make the shoes for the big plough horses, huge animals big enough to break the heavy soil of the valleys; he also learned how to make bits, buckles, harness fittings, and more. It was specialized work, best done on the farms, and few blacksmiths could match the traveling farriers making all the gear the horses used. Bert also trained the horses, which is also known as a “horse breaker.”
Daffyd later decided that “breaker” was the right word. Bert’s methods were strict and disciplined, aimed at having a horse ready for work quickly, with minimal issues. Farmers might put in the time training a plough team slowly, but riding horses and carriage horses weren’t part of the daily life of a farm in the same way. People wanted results, fast and cheap, and if the animal wasn’t trained to a high level when the breaker was done, they were good enough to start out with.
In 1903, when Daffyd was sixteen, he got lucky. He and Bert had gone to a stable outside Philadelphia that specialized in training carriage horses and sulky-racing horses—racing horses that pulled light little carts, rather than being ridden by jockeys. Daffyd had worked well with the skittish racehorses, and even better with the quieter horses intended for more ordinary owners to carry them around the city and local towns. The day before Bert and Daffyd were supposed to move on, the stable master took Daffyd aside and offered to buy out his not-yet-completed apprenticeship with Bert and make him an apprentice in the stable.
Daffyd had to think about it. He asked Bert what he thought. The wiry old man looked at him carefully and said, “You’d be foolish not to take it, Davy-boy.” Bert looked around the stable, then sighed. “Things are already changing—it’s all trains and steamships and automobiles coming in. Factories. You can see it now—less and less work for blacksmiths, when you can buy better from a Sears catalog. Fewer and fewer horses, and it’s only going to get worse. Pretty soon the only horses are going to be the fancy ones. Racers. Show horses. Carriage horses you can show off with. Fancy riding horses for going out with rich people in the park. They aren’t going to want a dirty old breaker for those horses, boy. They’re going to want a trainer. Someone who turns out class from the very start. Take him up on it.”
Bert got every penny he could for the rest of Daffyd’s apprenticeship. He didn’t bother getting a new apprentice. As work fell off and fewer horses needed his care, he could just about keep up. He saved the money he got for letting Daffyd go and bought a house, and spent his final days letting customers come to him. He got by.
Daffyd did better. He learned how to work carriage horses and sulky racers from one of the best in the business. Sometimes he still worked tough and fast, using the methods of a breaker. But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.
Every time Daffyd saw a closed-down blacksmith shop, or saw a Ford Model A go chugging past, or bought new horse tack through a Sears catalog, he thought how lucky he was—and how wise Bert had been. It was a new era.
Question 11
BOOKMARK
This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Part A
How did Daffyd change after the apprenticeship with Bert ended?
Daffyd decided to use the gentler approach of training horses.
Daffyd decided that he would rather work on cars than with horses.
Daffyd decided that he would rather be a farmer than a horse trainer.
Daffyd decided not to continue being an apprentice and opened his own shop.
Part B
Which sentence best supports your answer in Part A?
“As work fell off and fewer horses needed his care, he could just about keep up.” (paragraph 6)
“He saved the money he got for letting Daffyd go and bought a house, and spent his final days letting customers come to him.” (paragraph 6)
“He learned how to work carriage horses and sulky racers from one of the best in the business.” (paragraph 7)
“But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.” (paragraph 7)
Answers
GPT-4o mini
**Part A:** Daffyd decided to use the gentler approach of training horses.
**Part B:** “But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.” (paragraph 7)
**Part B:** “But more often he, and the men around him, took their time and worked to bring out the best in an animal.” (paragraph 7)