CHAPTER 11 - The Return Home

As soon as they had arrived back in Murchoria, the Contessa called a meeting of all senior staff. She told them of the success the stables had had at the international event and that there would be even larger bonuses for the staff owing to the $180,000 dollars they had won.

She also told them that the stables would have a couple of visitors for, initially two weeks, although that may change. The couple were Lord Peter and Lady Veronica Rowley; they were from England and were looking to start their own pony girl stables. She had met Peter in America and had invited him and Lady Rowley to see how the du Brioch stables operated. The Contessa said she expected all staff to give their guests every co-operation and that nothing was to be denied them.

The day Lord and Lady Rowley were due to arrive Hannah took Fire and Storm and coupled them up to a buggy. This was something quite new to them and they obviously looked worried because Hannah smiled and told them they were going to bring guests back from the station. "Although you have never been harnessed to a buggy before, you have pulled a sulky in the pairs races, so it will not be that much different, just a bit heavier, but don't worry you will have two more ponies to help you." The two other ponies turned out to be stallions, Galahad and Comanche to be precise. There was some un-pony-like reddening from the two mares because the two stallions had mounted them both on a regular basis, and were showing that they would like to do it again; that was until Hannah, with a grin, rapped them both sharply with her riding crop.

Once all four ponies were hitched up to the buggy they were driven round to the front of the stables for the Contessa to join them. She gave each pony a pat and a small piece of apple and then they were off. The drive to the station was about two kilometres and took them twenty minutes at a very slow trot. Well within their capabilities. In fact, they reached the station with hardly a sweat on. They had just a few minutes to wait for the train so Hannah watered them. When Lord and Lady Rowley saw the team waiting they were ecstatic, Lady Rowley in particular kept petting them and saying things like, "oh, they look so beautiful" and "I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it," she hadn't been with Peter at the international event in America.

The journey back to the stables took longer due in part to the guests wanting to stop and photograph many interesting buildings, but also to the fact that the buggy was so much heavier on the return. Before they reached the stables it was agreed that the Contessa would call them Peter and Veronica and in return they would call her Irena.

After a leisurely lunch, during which, Irena told Peter and Veronica that she would give them the grand tour the next day and after that they were free to wander around wherever they wanted and to ask what questions they liked and her staff would give them every assistance. They could pet or stroke any of the ponies with one exception, which she would tell them about tomorrow.

CHAPTER 12 - The Tour

The following day they did the tour; training grounds, racetrack, hospital, smithy and stalls. It was when they went through the stalls to the paddock behind that they saw a filly with sores and welts all over her body. "This is the pony I spoke to you about yesterday," the Irena told them. "She is called Moonbeam, and she was rescued by Gretchen, one of my newest, and youngest, grooms." Irena went on to explain how some trainers think that the only way to get a pony to obey them is to beat them. "Gretchen was going home at the end of her shift when she came across a trainer by the name of Mikhal Rashide, beating a pony who was on the ground, still in the shafts of a sulky. It took a great deal of courage for her to face up to the trainer, well known for being a bully, although he wasn't always like it, but she stood her ground and even threatened to take him to court if he didn't let her take Moonbeam. She used my name and said that I would be along to discuss his treatment of the animal, so he let her bring moonbeam back here. Needless to say I did go and see him. My father and Mikhal's father were great friends and because of that I tried to reason with him, knowing that he was in trouble financially but he refused my help. His stable is about 10 miles from here and he had driven Moonbeam all that way while he was in a drunken stupor. I offered to buy Moonbeam from him, at a higher price than he would have got for her anywhere else, and he agreed". Gretchen stayed with Moonbeam night and day for the first week until she had to be forced to go home and get some rest. Irena went on to explain that they were healing the welts and bruises slowly but surely, but gaining the animals trust could be a long haul. "It's been three months since Moonbeam was rescued and until just recently Gretchen was the only groom that could get close to her without her getting frightened and upset, she has a good rapport with her. We made a breakthrough though, after Hannah suggested that we put Moonbeam in with the broodmares; they really are the gentlest of creatures and as you can see they have taken her under their collective wing so to speak." This was so noticeable by the fact that four or five of them were stationed round her and were nuzzling and licking her. Just then Moonbeam went to one of the mares and started to suckle from her. This was helping her to fill out and get better in her body.

When Peter and Veronica were shown photographs of the injuries to Moonbeam they were appalled to think that anyone could treat a defenceless animal like that. So it was with sober thoughts that they moved on to the milking shed. Irena explained that she had eight brood mares and a dozen milkers. The brood mares would be milked along with the rest but only after any foals had been fed, this included moonbeam. It was also explained that the mares were milked twice daily and that they had their levels of oestrogen increased and that they were also injected with prolactin which helped to increase the amount of milk they produced.

At the milking shed, eighteen of the twenty mares were waiting to be let in. They were all waiting patiently. As soon as the groom opened the shed doors they went in and along to their own milking position. Peter and Veronica were astounded; the place was absolutely spotless; the two grooms doing the milking were wearing white coats, white hats with nets to cover their hair and green Wellington boots. What increased Peter and Veronica's astonishment further was the sight of, what can only be described as penis-like projections sticking out from a post in front of each milking position. They all had plastic covers over them, which were being removed by the grooms. Irena explained that when they first started, the milking was done by hand. This was not only time consuming but also made the mares' teats very sore. Also the milk yield was not enough to make the venture viable. It was then decided to invest in a milking machine, which doubled the yield. It was around this time that the grooms noticed that most mares were moving their hips back and forth and so as an experiment some of them were fitted with dildos during milking. This had the effect of increasing the milk yield even further, so the engineers fitted vibrators to posts for all the mares. The vibrators are adjustable in height so that if a different mare is placed in the position the vibrator can be raised or lowered to accommodate her. One further innovation that was started when they returned from America was the introduction of soft music during the milking. "We have seen yet a further increase in milk yield, all in all since we started, our output has increased by 133%," said Irena.

In the meantime the mares had settled themselves on the vibrators and the grooms were attaching the suction cups to their teats. When all were prepared the machines were switched on and the mares were slowly relaxing and allowing the milk to flow while at the same time experiencing wonderful sensations throughout their whole bodies. Hannah told Peter and Veronica that the milking usually took about ten minutes and most mares would have reached a climax by then but that if some mares needed longer they didn't shut the vibrators off until all mares had been satisfied, it was usual for a mare to remove herself from the vibrator once she had climaxed.

Peter and Veronica remarked that they had had a really informative tour and that they had got a lot of information to help them when they opened their own stable. Later that evening Irena mentioned that there was to be an auction of stock in two days time and that if they wanted Peter and Veronica could go with her and see what she looked for in a pony. They would take the wagonette but as there were going to be more passengers than normal they would harness 12 ponies for the drive. She asked Hannah to get the larger shafts fitted and said that apart from Peter and Veronica they would also take Gretchen. It would be a good time to induct her in what to look for.

CHAPTER 13 - At the Auction Rooms

At 9 am the following morning all was ready, 12 ponies, six mares and six stallions were standing patiently waiting. It would take an hour to get to town and they would have time for a coffee before going to view the merchandise. They arrived at the auction rooms and were greeted deferentially by the owner Novak; the Contessa was a very valued client. He called his assistant Rochand to look after the office while he took the Contessa and her party along to the viewing gallery. Once more Peter and Veronica were amazed, there in the gallery were 18 people, all completed naked, each one tethered to a post and each with their hands fastened behind their back. Some were weeping, others defiant while yet others were stoically accepting what was to be. "Are all these people to be sold?" said Veronica. "These are no longer people" came the reply. "Once someone is convicted, then they lose all rights to be human and are designated as an equine. If their sentence is for a set number of years, then they regain their human status immediately the sentence is complete. This is also true of anyone sold by their family, although these can only be sold for a maximum of ten years." They were wandering along the gallery while Novak was speaking and Veronica noticed that each had a sheet with information on. At the top it read HOMO EQUUS, (Human Equine), underneath was the description male or female, name, age, country of origin and whether they were leasehold or freehold. On each of the male notices was an extra piece of information regarding sperm count. There was a series of figures, but for easy checking there was either: High, Normal or Low. On enquiring about this they were told that some stable owners required stallions for their stud farms, and because they needed to know that the stallion was able to perform adequately, as soon as there was a conviction, a sample of sperm was taken for analysis.

Most of the animals originated from Murchoria or countries nearby, but there were a couple of fillies that interested Irena; these were from Australia and they were freehold. Novak explained that although they entered the country legally, they had been found to have an amount of heroine in their possession hence the life sentence. Irena went over to them and put her hand out very gently to touch one. Although the filly shied back a little she did let Irena fondle her breasts. Irena was watching for the nipples to harden, which they did quite quickly. Pointing this out to her guests she told them there was plenty of room for the nipple to be ringed. Next to be checked were the filly's teeth and gums. "I look for pinkness in the gums and evenness of the teeth," she said. Moving her hand down to the labia she noted there was plenty of flesh there also for rings. Veronica asked if it were possible for anyone to buy stock at the auction. Irena told her that there is no restriction as to who buys any animal, as long as they can pay. What is restricted is the export of certain animals, namely the leasehold ones. She went on to explain that at one time there was no check where the ponies went after they were sold, but that all changed when the parents of one filly turned up at a stables to claim her back after her sentence was complete and she had disappeared. She had been sold on to another trainer and lost track of. This caused a great uproar and there was talk of not allowing prisoners to be ponies anymore but building prisons for them instead. The upshot was that a law was brought in forbidding any leasehold pony to be sold outside Murchoria, that law also covers any person sold as a pony by their family in order to raise money. There is no restriction on freehold ponies, so you would get an export licence without any problem. Veronica was intrigued she wanted to know if the missing pony had been found. "She was found eventually, but it took nearly 2 years and the parents were given compensation for their distress." They walked round the gallery once more but nothing else took the Contessa's eye. As the sale did not start until 2 pm, Irena took them to her favourite Bistro for lunch.

After lunch, the lots went quite quickly as most buyers had made their minds up which pony they were going to bid for. When it came to lot 10, the first of the Australian mares, the bidding quickly rose to 80,000 crowns at which point there were just two bidders left, the Contessa and someone she couldn't see. When the bidding reach 100,000 crowns the Contessa asked Hannah and Gretchen to see if they could find out who was against her. The bidding went to 150,000 crowns before Gretchen came back with the news that it was Rashide, the former owner of moonbeam. He had raised the bid to 160,000 when the Contessa went straight to 200,000 crowns. It was too steep for Rashide, he stalked off in a temper. Gretchen felt for his ponies, as he was certain to take it out on them. With nothing much in the way of competition she bought the second Australian mare for 70,000 crowns.

It was two very subdued mares that Hannah and Gretchen secured in the wagonette; they still hadn't come to terms with all that had happened to them over the last 7 days. Peter and Veronica gave Irena a hand to hitch the ponies to the wagonette and with everyone on board they made for the du Brioch stables.

The immediate concern when they arrived back was to ensure that the two new mares were named, shaved, ringed and checked over by the vet before being branded. The names, chosen by Gretchen, were Darwin and Perth, after Australian cities. Once the branding had been done and the two mares were sedated the party went back to the Contessa's apartment in the main building. They were discussing the day's events over a glass of wine, when a servant announced the arrival of the Crown Prince of Murchoria. After he had been formally introduced to Lord Peter and Lady Veronica, he excused himself and said that he had come privately to discuss arrangements for his daughter, Princess Olga's forthcoming wedding. She had wanted to be carried to the wedding ceremony in a carriage pulled by human equines ever since she was a young girl; she had stipulated mares for the job, so could the Contessa supply the necessary ponies?

As soon as the Contessa assured the Crown Prince that she would be delighted to carry out the task he was so relieved that he invited Irena, Peter and Veronica to a dinner party that was being held to formally announce the wedding. The evening was such a success that Peter and Veronica were also invited to the wedding service along with the Contessa. As the Rowleys were able to leave their business affairs in the hands of their son and daughter they were more than happy to accept Irena's invitation to stay with her until after the wedding. It was only a few hours by plane back to the United Kingdom if the need arose.

CHAPTER 14 - Royal Wedding

The following day Contessa du Brioch called a meeting of all her staff to inform them of the honour that had been accorded to the stables. "This is an honour for us all," she said. "As the Princess wants only mares to pull her coach, I shall need the names of twenty-four mares. We will need eighteen to pull the coach but we will have a further six in reserve. All the mares that are chosen will be trained fully." There was a general clamour with grooms calling out the names of their favourites, but the Contessa quietened them, saying that names on a piece of paper would be sufficient. She along with Hannah, Ludmilla and Solam, would choose which mares would pull the coach.

The final list of mares chosen to pull the coach was; Fire, Storm, Moonbeam, much to the delight of Gretchen who felt that she had come along so well in the last few weeks that she wouldn't disgrace the stable, Lavender, Mishca, Bright Eyes, White Star, Snow White, Snowflake, Tsarina, Chantar, Queenie, Pearl, Maraschino, Breeze, Zephyr, Jangles and Ripple. Venus, Neptune, Blaze, Firefly, Lapwing and Goldie were the reserves.

The next two weeks were taken up with training the mares to pull the coach smoothly, it was quite heavy but with eighteen pulling there wasn't very much strain put on individual mares, and once it was moving the coach was very easy to pull and manoeuvre. All the ponies were told why they were being trained in this way and all without exception were proud that they had been chosen. The training was allowed to be fun for the animals and there were plenty of treats and strokes, especially when a difficult manoeuvre was carried out successfully. By the time the wedding day dawned they were perfect. Every thigh was horizontal, every raised hoof was pointing down every head was raised up and looking straight ahead, and every mare was in complete harmony with the rest. The Contessa was delighted.

At 6 am on the wedding day, the mares were roused and taken to the bathing station to be hosed down; when they were thoroughly cleaned and oiled they were harnessed. The harnesses were in royal purple with gold buckles and gold O- and D-rings. The bells on the nipples and labia were gold also. In her navel, each mare had a ruby inserted. The head plumes were inserted into diamond tiaras. Every tail had purple ribbons tied to it and each mare's hair, which had been brushed for an hour, was arranged so that it flowed down her back. By the time they had been hitched to the coach, crowds were lining the street. Hannah, who along with Solam would be driving the team, climbed on board and gave the command walk on. The mares, as one, started off on the journey to the palace. There wasn't a hint of a jolt. As they reached the main highway she had them at the trot and the crowd were cheering them on all the way to the palace.

Hannah brought the team to a halt so that the coach steps were exactly in line with the red carpet that the princess and her father would be walking along to enter the coach. After ten minutes the bride appeared with her father and entered the coach. This was a nervous moment for Hannah; would the mares pull the coach slowly to start with without jolting, with fingers mentally crossed she gave the order walk on and, just as they had been practising, the coach pulled away from the palace, down the drive and into the main thoroughfare without so much as a tremble.

It was a three-mile journey to the church and the team were trotting along, heads held high bells tinkling and the crowd cheering them on their way. Princess Olga leaned across to her father and said, "thank you papa, everything is so beautiful, especially the ponies."

At the Cathedral, Hannah again halted her charges so that the door of the coach was exactly level with the red carpet that was laid for the bride and the crown prince to walk on.

While the service, which took about an hour and a half, was being performed, the mares were taken out of the shafts and allowed to rest at the rear of the Cathedral in the shade. Hannah would be signalled in plenty of time for her to hitch the team up to the coach and bring it round to the front ready for the bride and groom. They were all standing quite still when the bride and groom left the Cathedral to have the photographs taken. The Princess insisted that she had some taken with the mares, holding the reins and also with her in the driving seat.

Once all the photographs had been taken, the happy couple climbed into the coach for the journey back to the palace and the wedding reception.

Because the ponies had had a long day it was decided that they should be stabled at in the palace stables for the night and then taken back to du Brioch in the morning. Once the mares had been settled, Hannah and Slolam joined the celebrations, albeit from the servants' quarters.

It was while the mares were being hosed down that Princess Olga and her husband came to see them. They petted each one individually and said that they will never forget how beautiful the ponies looked and also how smooth the ride was.

CHAPTER 15 - Gala Day

There seemed to be an air of anti-climax running round the stable after the excitement of the royal wedding so the Contessa decided that it was time for a gala. It would take place in two weeks, and be held over three days. Peter and Veronica had to return home but had agreed to come back for the fun and games.

The event was advertised all round the town and the Contessa had contacted her fellow trainers asking if they would like to attend and enter ponies in the games. All except Rashide accepted. The emphasis would be on fun for everyone, but most of all for the ponies. There would be competitions, swings, roundabouts and rides. The gala would run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; Monday was a local holiday so the Contessa figured that it would give everyone time to recover.

All the animals were made ready by 10 am on the morning of Friday. Some were taken into town to bring visitors to the stables, others were hitched up to various vehicles, from sulkies to Landaus and even the wagonette, so that the public could either ride in them or drive them. Other ponies were tethered so that they could be stroked and petted. Although the stables looked in utter chaos, there was complete order and discipline among the staff. Each knew what he/she had to do, when to give the ponies in their care a break, when to change them so that they didn't get bored etc. All in all everything was running smoothly.

There were stalls where people could buy souvenirs and local produce. They could even purchase mares' milk and a new product, Briocha smooth cheese. This was cheese made from the milk of the mares and named after Du Brioch. Irena was telling Peter and Veronica that it was very healthy as it was completely fat free and that if there was enough interest in the cheese they were going to see whether it was a viable proposition to go into production.

Fire and Storm were enjoying themselves immensely they had run races, including the hilarious three-legged race, where the ponies had to race pulling a sulky each but with a leg joined to each other and children driving them. They had taken members of the public around the stable complex pulling a coach and even gave a shortened version of their prize-winning feat of show jumping blindfold.

The second day was a continuation of the first with the added treat for the public of carrying out 'training' the ponies themselves, under supervision from the staff.

The last day was taken up with the 'pony cross'. This was an event devised by the Contessa's father but built on by her, in which all the ponies could take part, whatever their designation. There was only one rule, no animal must be put a risk of injury, apart from that; anything was allowed. Because of the large number of ponies taking part there were four separate races each with twenty ponies. The course was over five miles, through woods, up hills, down dales, across streams and through a mud field. Speed was not important; it was whether the driver could stay in the sulky long enough to complete the race, especially as all the other drivers were trying to unseat him/her. The ponies, naturally, and many of the drivers came back covered in mud, the young novice drivers proudly telling their parents how they fell out or got knocked out of the sulky. There were a large number of parents saying that the same thing had happened to them when they were young.