CHAPTER 4 - Branding

The rest of the journey went by in a daze and before either Janice or Abigail realised it Hannah turned the wagonette off the road and through a pair of large gates that bore the name 'Du Brioch Stables'. As Hannah drove up she clanged a bell that she had in the wagonette and the security guard opened the gates for them.

By this time they had both calmed down a little. The drive they were going along was at least a mile long and at the end was a large and very imposing complex. They were driven round the back and into a large yard with low buildings on three sides. The majority of these buildings housed the stalls that the ponies were quartered in. The stalls were in sections, each section housing up to 12 ponies. There were three sections housing mares, one section for stallions and one section was the reception area, which was where Hannah took them. Further along at right angles was a path leading to the training area where they would learn how to walk, trot, canter and gallop. On the other side of the path was the arena where they would be trained in the art of the show ring. On the opposite side of the stalls was another path, which led to yet more stalls, these stalls held the Brood Mares and Milkers. These stalls were conveniently placed for easy access to the milking shed.

A corridor leading off from the reception area went first to the veterinary wing and further along to the blacksmith's shop, where they would be branded. Inside the reception area waiting for them were the Contessa and two of her grooms; the Contessa was beaming with delight at the sight of her newest acquisitions. She got one of the grooms to take the stallion from Hannah and processed him before giving all her attention over to Janice and Abigail. "Let me look at you, you beauties," she purred, going over and running her hands over first Abigail and then Janice. She was pleased to see that Janice was depilated in the vaginal area but tut-tutted when she saw the bush around Abigail's pubes. "We'll have to see to that" she told Hannah. All in all though she was delighted. She ran her hands over their haunches, felt their breasts, noting with pleasure how the nipples got hard at her touch and taking in the fact that their leg muscles were strong. Both girls were embarrassed to notice their juices flowing while they were receiving all this fondling and attention.

The Contessa brought herself back to the matter in hand. "What are we to call you?" she mused, "I know, you," she said, pointing to Janice, "will be Fire, because of your fiery red hair. And you," indicating Abigail, "will be Storm, due to your black hair, though we shall have to grow it longer." Turning to Hannah, she said, "we'll take Fire through to the vet while Storm is being ringed and shaved. Then while Fire is being ringed we'll take Storm to the vet. We can brand them both after." All this was said outside Fire and Storm's hearing.

Storm was led, protesting only slightly, into a room in the veterinary wing. This room was equipped with instruments that she didn't wish even to think about let alone see. There were clamps, forceps, straps, chains, padlocks and others she had no idea what their use was. She was led to a bench, very much like a doctor's couch and made to lie face up on it. Straps were placed around her body, arms and legs, and yet another gag was inserted into her mouth. That done her pubic hair was removed. She could feel the scissors cutting the hair and felt it being brushed from her body. Next came lather, this was spread over the area and a 'cut-throat' razor used to shave her vagina clean. She was dried, oiled and talcum powdered. Storm was expecting to be released but she was left lying there for a few minutes. Hannah stroked her face and said, "it won't be long and you will be ready for your medical." Whilst she was talking another woman entered the room and asked "how many rings is it to be?" "Four," replied Hannah, one in each nipple and one in each labia lip. The ringing was carried out quickly and professionally and Storm felt very little.

The vet, meanwhile, was examining Fire, he checked her lungs, heart, took blood samples, felt her breasts for lumps, looked in her eyes, ears and down her throat. He moved her lips apart to look at her teeth and after each part of the examination he would murmur, good good. He asked the Contessa to assist in getting Fire on to the examination couch so that he could give her an internal. The humiliations were arriving thick and fast upon the new pony. Finally she was turned over on to her front and she felt her anus being probed, the vet had donned a surgical glove and covered his hand with lubricant, Fire tried to keep the offending digit out but slowly, gently and inexorably the vet's finger entered her. He wriggled it around for a while then turned to the Contessa and said, "Fire has had sexual activity in this region at some stage." Fire's face was as red as her hair at these remarks, it was true that she had indulged in anal intercourse occasionally, but to have it discussed so dispassionately as though she wasn't there was excruciating. So embarrassed was she that she hardly heard the vet saying that she was extremely fit.

Whilst Storm was enduring her medical Fire was being ringed in the same way as Storm, one ring to each nipple and one through each labia lip.

If they thought that they had been humiliated so badly that nothing could be worse, they had a shock in store. They were taken through to the blacksmith's workshop where there were braziers burning with irons being heated. There were a number of benches and each of these benches had metal straps all along. These were similar to jubilee clips only on a much larger scale. The straps were placed so that they could fit around arms, legs, body and neck, their sole purpose being to keep the animal from moving and hurting itself. It was obvious to both Fire and Storm what was going to happen and both struggled vainly to escape, Fire also realising that the 'tattoos' she saw earlier were in fact brands. They were quickly overpowered and strapped down, the Contessa making sure that they were both firmly fixed and couldn't move. There was fear in their eyes and sweat pouring down their bodies but move they could not. The Contessa was to brand them herself; she had taken over the responsibility of branding since an earlier blacksmith had made a mess of one of her animals and it had to be re-branded, causing the beast considerable anguish.

She decided to brand Storm first as she felt that she would suffer most by waiting. The hindquarter to be branded was sprayed with a numbing solution. This would not stop the pain but would make it easier than on bare flesh. There was a wait of a few seconds for the numbness to take effect and the branding iron was removed from the fire. Hannah was holding Storm's head, stroking her and trying to comfort her. Suddenly there was a scream, heard even through the gag, followed by the smell of burning flesh. The branding iron was held in place for 15 seconds. To Storm it felt like a lifetime. The wound was covered by an ointment, which was made to the specification of the Contessa. It consisted of brown seaweed, mint, vinegar and fennel. These ingredients were mixed to form a jelly, which was spread over the brand mark. As soon as the jelly had been applied the vet gave Storm an injection that would knock her out for the 24 hours that it would take for the wound to heal. All animals were given the same treatment after branding. The branding could have been done under the anaesthetic but the Contessa insisted that the animal should be awake and know who was its owner. All three newly branded ponies would be kept in the veterinary hospital for the next 24 hours after which they would have their brands coloured by the tattooist and then be taken to their stalls and made ready for their training.

CHAPTER 5 - Harnessing

As the three ponies started to come to Hannah and other grooms were ready with a drink and a little food. The first to wake was the stallion and, once he had been fed and watered, his brand was coloured and he was led off to his stall. Storm was next to wake; she blinked blearily unsure where she was for a few seconds. During that time Hannah had poured a little water down her throat, moistening her lips first. As Storm became fully conscious she was allowed to sit and fed some small pieces of fruit. She started to speak but was quickly silenced by Hannah. When Hannah was confident that she was fully conscious, Storm's brand also was coloured. Then she was led to her new quarters.

While Storm was being taken to her stall, Fire was regaining consciousness and looking for any likely chance of escape. Almost as though she could read Fire's mind, Hannah said smilingly, "I'm afraid you won't be able to escape, and if you did, with the Contessa's brand on your hindquarters you would soon be brought back here." Fire's spirits sank, it was confirmation of what she had secretly thought herself, and knowing that the staff would be on the look out for any attempt made escape all the more unlikely.

The stalls that the ponies were kept in were eight feet long by five feet wide. The front of the stalls were partitioned by wooden panels that went half way up to the ceiling, and there were iron bars reaching from the top of the panels to the roof. There was a door leading into each stall and this was also split between a wooden panel and iron bars; inside the partitioning of each stall was by vertical iron bars. Once inside with the door locked there was no way of escape.

At the moment the doors of the stalls housing Fire and Storm were fully open and both had been led into one stall and tethered to rings cemented into the wall. Fire was quick to realise that they had been left with their hands free and immediately started trying to undo the rope tethering her. There was a laugh and Hannah came into the stall grinning hugely, "well you get marks for trying I must say, unfortunately the marks you are going to get you won't like." With those words she gave Fire six hard cuts on her rump with a riding crop. Then without pausing for breath Hannah released them from their tethers and took them to the bathing station. As they only had their collars on it was a matter of seconds to remove them and the grooms under the watchful eye of Hannah began the task of cleansing them both. Neither Fire nor Storm made any attempt to speak; they were both in awe of Hanna's riding crop and Fire in particular didn't wish to feel its sting again.

Once they had been hosed down and dried it was time for harnessing. First came hoof boots - these were thigh length and consisted of a raised sole without a heel. The soles were about three inches thick and had horseshoes nailed to them. First Fire and then Storm were walked up and down in the stable yard while they got used to walking in the boots. When Hannah was satisfied they could walk without falling she brought them back to fit the rest of the harness.

The next item was a three-inch wide posture collar, which made the pony keep its head raised. This was locked shut with a small padlock. The fitting of the collar was followed by a girth strap, a bit like a corset, it was boned and had draw strings at the back which Hannah tightened until the pony could hardly breathe and then she loosened it just a bit to make it bearable. The girth strap had buckles at the top and bottom enabling the next item, the breast straps, to be attached. The breast straps crossed over the front and under each breast forcing the breasts up and out and also kept them from bouncing up and down whilst the pony was trotting, as this could be quite painful.

The bridle, which was placed over the head of the pony, was the next item to be put on. It consisted of a strap that went right round the brow and another that went over the head, with the hair lifted up out of the way, and under the chin. There were O-rings either side of this strap and yet another strap going from one O-ring round the back of the head, again under the hair, to meet up with the other O-ring. The immobilisation of the hands and arms was next, this was accomplished by using a single glove that was placed over the animal's crossed arms and laced tightly so that movement was impossible.

"Nearly done, my beauties," murmured Hannah as she clipped a bit on to one of the O-rings. Holding on to the pony's nose, making her open her mouth in order to breathe, she slipped the bit in and clipped it to the other O-ring.

The worst part of being harnessed, as far as the ponies were concerned was being fitted with the tail. Before either Fire or Storm realised what was happening they were bent forward, anally lubricated and the tail plug inserted. Both fought the intruder into the rectum, both were unsuccessful in expelling it. The rest was merely window dressing. Bells were attached to the nipple and labia rings, blinkers fitted to the bridle and a purple plume fitted to the top of the head.

CHAPTER 6 - Training

They were led to a paddock where a woman was standing. She was wearing the standard dress for employees of the Contessa, black riding jacket, white blouse, beige jodhpurs, black riding boots and black riding hat. What wasn't standard, was the long whip. Hannah led the new ponies over to her and told them, "this is Ludmilla; she will be responsible for your training programme." With that statement, she handed over the bridle reins and was gone.

Ludmilla looked them over, walking all round and nodding to herself. When she had completed her inspection she turned and called, "Chantar! Come here girl," with that a pony girl who had been on the far side of the paddock trotted over and stood waiting. "This is Chantar. She will help me with your training. I want you to watch what she does and then I want you to copy her, is that understood?" Fire and Storm, realising they were expected to answer, both nodded.

"I want you to understand that we want your training to be enjoyable and fun. You will not be beaten if you can't get something right first time, you will only be punished if you are wilfully disobedient or obstinate. Now the first thing we must do is teach you to whinny, go ahead Chantar show them how it's done." Chantar shook her head and somewhere from the back of her throat brought forth a loud Wheee, which sounded very much like a horses neigh. "Good girl," cried Ludmilla, patting her charge fondly. "Now, Fire I want you to try, head back and go." Unfortunately, Fire's first attempt was more like the croak of a frog than a whinny. "Not quite what I had in mind," said Ludmilla, laughing; even Chantar was snickering. "Still it was only the first try, some of the ponies we have had took weeks to perfect the technique. OK, have another go."

Eventually, after about a dozen attempts, she was quite close, close enough for Ludmilla to say that she could have a break and Storm could have a go. Storm, it seemed, would be one of those ponies that took a long time to master the technique of neighing. Her attempts were, according to Ludmilla, somewhere between a frog croaking and a car backfiring. She was just going to tell Storm to have a rest when, out of the blue, she emitted the perfect whinny. Chantar whinnied with pleasure and Ludmilla beamed in delight. "Well done, Storm, very well done," she exclaimed. "We had better do some more, just to see whether it was a fluke or not." It appeared that it wasn't a fluke; the whinnies came from Storm as though she was born to it.

"Now for the next part of your training, Chantar will demonstrate the various gaits for you," with that she attached a long rope, a lunging rope, to Chantar's bridle and called, "walk on." Chantar began a slow walk round in a circle, guided by the rope in Ludmilla's hands. "See how she lifts her legs, each one is raised exactly horizontal from the thigh to the knee and the hoof is pointed down". She allowed Chantar a few more circuits before calling a break for water. Ludmilla gave them five minutes rest and she had them walking round turn and turn about. After about half an hour she allowed them another rest, telling them that they were doing very well. She just had to give each of them gentle taps with the whip occasionally as a reminder to keep their legs up.

After the break, it was Chantar's turn again to show them how to trot. This involved a kind of springing step, making sure that both legs were not on the ground at the same time. After every half hour Ludmilla gave them a rest, fed them small pieces of fruit and watered them. Before either of them realised it the day had gone and they were taken back to the stables. Hannah met them with three other grooms and with two grooms to each pony they were unharnessed and taken to the showers where they were thoroughly hosed and cleansed.

It was because they were completely unrestrained that there were two grooms to each pony, once Hannah was sure that they would not try to escape then there would be need of only one groom. When they were taken back to their stalls it was with a groom either side of them hold on to their arms. Once in the stalls, before either became aware, they had been shackled on one ankle, although the chain that was attached was long enough for them to move around in relative comfort.

Fire, certainly, was expecting her arms to be restrained, but she wasn't prepared for the fitting of a chastity belt. Her look of surprise made Hannah laugh. "I'm afraid that you won't be getting any sex tonight," she said. Fire looked across into Storm's stall and found the same thing happening to her. "Now listen, you two," said Hannah, "there is permission for you to speak at this time each evening, you have 30 minutes until the buzzer goes when you must stop speaking immediately. Also, the chain holding you is long enough to reach the bars dividing you both so you can touch each other and you may hold on to each other as long as you like, or until you are told otherwise. Finally, occasionally, if you are good, you won't be fitted with the chastity belt," she smiled, "I'll say goodnight, but I must warn you someone will be watching over you all the time."

Such a lot had happened to them over the last two weeks that they just held on to each other through the bars. Finally, Fire whispered, "I'm sorry, all this mess you're in . . ."

"Shh, shh" Storm countered, "I love you and I'd rather be here with you than back home safe without you." At that they both burst into tears and were still sobbing when the buzzer went. Eventually tiredness overcame them and kissing each other through the bars they lay down to sleep holding hands.

In the control room, watching, the Contessa said, "we must keep them together, I believe we will get more out of them that way." Hannah agreed, "should we put them in the same stall, do you think?" "We will keep that in mind, but I want to see how they get on kept close but separate."

The following morning was one of the most traumatic since they arrived in Murchoria. First they were fed with bowls of bran, which they had to eat without using their hands, even though they were at the time unfettered. It was explained that they would be fed pieces of fruit or biscuit by hand during the day, but their morning and evening meal would be given to them in a bowl, so they would have to learn to lap it up. If that wasn't bad enough they were taken outside the stalls, along with all the other ponies in their section, whereupon the other ponies began to squat down and empty their bowels and bladders. There was no embarrassment, just naturalness. Eventually, Fire and Storm, realising that they had to do the same or keep everything in, which was impossible, followed suit, although with very red faces. They were being trained so that they only defecated first thing in the morning, and most ponies developed the ability to urinate at the same time and then once more in the evening alleviating any embarrassing situations in public. As soon as all the ponies had relieved themselves, grooms cleansed the area thoroughly before disinfecting it. Meanwhile the ponies were taken to the bathing station for cleansing. After two weeks, this ritual became second nature to Fire and Storm. Fire in particular remembered Hannah's word in the wagonette, you will soon get used to it. It seemed to be true.

For three weeks they were kept training solely on the gaits. This part had to be perfected before they could continue with the rest of the disciplines. Fire and Storm had no real idea as to the passage of time, their days were all the same, so that when on the fourth week they were taken, not to the paddock, but further along into a large field, which had what looked like a running track around it, they were surprised at the change in routine. Had they taken more notice of the track they would have seen that the lane markings were much wider than was needed for athletes to run around. To be fair, they weren't given the opportunity for sightseeing as they were led into a building at the side of the track.

Inside they were introduced to another trainer who would be teaching them the trotting techniques for racing. The trainer was called Farouk and he told them they would be harnessed to sulkies and would be taught the various signals used by drivers on the track. The sulky was attached to the mare at the waist, the shafts being designed to fit snugly either side of the mare's girth. Once the straps were tightened it was as though mare and sulky were one item. The sulkies were made of very lightweight material and had a low centre of gravity. This made it very easy for the mares to trot with and very hard to turn over. In time trial tests over the years it was found that the difference in speed of a mare trotting with and without a driver was very small.

The training involved in pulling a sulky was even more intense than the previous training at the various gaits. They had to master the start, making sure that there was no 'jerk' when they began the race. They had also to assimilate the commands from the driver. They wouldn't be able to hear any verbal commands from the driver as the noise from the crowd would drown these out, so they had to rely on the whip and reins. It was explained that the whip would not be used on them except under certain circumstances, and then only as much as was necessary. One such circumstance would be if the driver felt that the mare was not working hard enough, another would be if they were neck and neck with an opponent and needed a bit more speed. Other than those instances the whip and the reins would be flicked to indicate whether a little more speed was needed, whether to stay where they were or whether to move to the left or right.

All this seemed to engulf them as they struggled to take it all in. However, once they were on the track and under the watchful eye of Farouk it all started making sense. They were both enjoying the session so much that it was a shock when Farouk said that was enough for today.

Training with the sulky went on for another two weeks after which they were schooled in the art of the show ring, which lasted another four weeks.