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Horse Boys Cart — Description
I'm not sure why they ended up in this situation. Perhaps this is a punishment that requires a lesson of humility or it is common use when a owner does not have a horse or a mule. In any case, a wagon loaded with heavy sacks of grains needs to be pulled for several miles under a scorching sun. I'm sure that the boy encouraging them also feels hot and tired, but empathy for pony slaves is far from the mind of a busy young master.
Best luck to pony boys, I'd gladly feed them an apple at the end of the day for all the good job they are doing for my imagination. In any case they need to work hard to earn benevolence as the whip extracts the last remnants of their strength and stamina as they push and pull for another few miles and back. Luckily, they will have the chance to eat and rest as the wagon is unloaded, unless they are untied and ordered to unload it themselves for their owner to save a few coins. Optimistically, their owner will spend the night in an inn and they can rest in a stable. Pessimistically, they will be rented out all the night long as cheap holes before being tied up again to the wagon the following morning to go back home. Whatever will be the plans for that night, they pray that the wagon will be empty on the way home, but this is unlikely. The young master does not bother to explain his plans to them. He usually gives sharp orders referring to here and now. They will soon learn to focus on the present and have no expectations for the future.
Neither present nor future looked merciful, by the way. Right now they are toiling and the day is still young as they do not know which one of these perspectives will come true. They do not even know how many miles are left. The ground is hot and the pebbles are sharp, but the skin of their soles is hardened enough not to burn or break. I'm sure they could pull that wagon also uphill with a well-directed snap of the whip on their exposed testicles, if the driver is skilled enough. Their muscles are aching terribly under the strain, the sweat is stinging where the skin is scratched is bothering and the rushes of pain from new blows are already insufferable on their back and buttocks, but a lick of the whip on the balls is a pure agony that must be avoided at all costs. There is no choice but toil.

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I'm never sure how carts and wagons work better with people pulling them -whether with arms, yokes, harness, bite, plugs, blinders, etc.-, so there might be results with better anatomy and higher efficiency. Anyway, I've been fond of the concept since forever, at least since I have seen a scene in Futurama when this happens to Fry, or before, in a cartoon* I cannot remember, in a scene where a kid is pulled on a little cart by a slave boy; I remember a whip and a bite. It also happens in American Dad and in other media. Delicious stories about pony boys can be found online.
In any case, like water wheels, grinding mills, galleys, etc., it is a slavery situation with exquisite potential to mix fatigue, sweat, whippings, dehumanization, humiliation, exploitation, etc., with the extra detail of transporting the master (or equivalent) to make the power/comfort imbalance go the extra mile quite literally.

*It was some anime like Ken Shiro I was watching in the '90s. The scene was dramatically describing the past of a character as a slave. His mother was also a slave and was shot by bandits during a raid. If someone remembers, please, tell me. The kid-me and the present-me would be grateful.