Horses

Horses and ponies enter the story through Fern Woolbright’s riding and through a charged episode in which her distress puts both herself and a mare at risk. Bunty’s exhaustion brings the ride to a halt, and Fern’s mother subsequently forbids her to ride, making the animals part of the story’s depiction of bodily danger, care, and restraint.

Bunty and the ride

At the livery stables, Bruno is blindly munching apples when Fern persuades the stable girl to lend her a proper pony. The girl saddles a frisky-looking bay mare named Bunty, and Fern rides her out into the lane. Once clear of the bridle path, Fern takes Bunty across open farmland and pushes her hard over gates and hedges.

Fern’s aim is not simply to ride fast: she wants the jolting to end her pregnancy, and also imagines falling and losing consciousness forever. The mare’s capacity has a limit. Bunty eventually refuses to jump again, tired enough that Fern has to walk her back to the stable. Bunty is sweating and frothing, greenish foam around her mouth. Fern sobs into the mare’s damp neck and apologizes; Bunty will not look at her, a refusal the narration compares to her father’s.

Restriction and consequence

When Fern returns home, her mother immediately says she should not ride again and threatens to have Bruno sold for glue if she does. The threat turns riding from Fern’s private escape into an activity her mother can prohibit and control. It also follows the ride’s visible cost to Bunty: the mare has been driven until she can no longer jump.

After the doctor identifies Fern’s condition as vanishing twin syndrome, she spends the rest of the summer under her mother’s close protection. She is still not allowed to ride, and her mother even objects to her cycling the few miles into town. The ban carries the earlier crisis into the quieter weeks of pregnancy: the horses remain nearby, but riding is no longer available to Fern.

Narrative significance

Bunty is not merely a means for Fern to act on her desperation. Her fatigue and refusal change what happens: she stops jumping, and Fern must lead her back on foot. The scene makes the mare’s physical limit consequential in its own right, while Fern’s apology registers her recognition of the harm she has caused. Bruno, meanwhile, figures in her mother’s warning as something she can threaten to sell. Together, the two animals mark the contrast between Fern’s dangerous attempt to force an outcome and the restraint imposed afterward.