First tetanus threatens his life, and even then Emilie's grandfather has to bid to save him from the butcher.

Joey wanders in no man's land, back towards the British trench, but despite a joyful reunion with Albert, Joey is not out of danger. But he and Topthorn must pull a heavy gun, battling through the mud until Topthorn dies of exhaustion. Joey is captured by the Germans and for while he is lovingly cared for by Emilie, a young French girl and her grandfather. Joey and another thoroughbred horse, Topthorn, lead in a terrible cavalry charge towards the machine guns of the enemy's lines. When war breaks out, Albert's father, needy for money for his struggling farm, sells Joey to the army, where he, like the soldiers around him, must try to cope with the horrors of the First World War.

His father brutally demands Joey work or be sold, so Albert gently trains him to pull the plough. Sold to a drunken farmer, Joey, a beautiful red-bay foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, finds a friend in the farmer's son, Albert.

War horse author michael morpurgo