The elves had stopped in the tack room as they entered the stable and selected bridles for the new fillies. As the elves approached them the four girls knew what was coming. They had spent the past two weeks surrounded by other girls and women, all of which had been bridled most of the time. The four girls certainly knew what bridles looked like and that the elves were carrying bridles, and that these bridles were meant for them to wear.
Each elf had selected one of the girls to bridle. Rolf, obviously after his success of the previous afternoon headed for big Cynda, and Prindor and Latkin had selected the sisters Madi and Lyra respectively. Randor had already locked eyes with Katryn and was smiling as he approached her with the bridle that she was to wear. Katryn stared back at the elf, and he could see the muscles in her body tighten with anticipation. “Oh you little devil, you’re not going to make this easy on either one of us, I see,” he said quietly while observing her demeanor.
The elves were preparing to put bridles on the girls which currently had no reins attached. They first just wanted the girls to become accustomed to having something strapped around their heads and in their mouths that they could not, themselves, remove. After a few hours, reins of appropriate length would be clipped to these bridles in order to begin the actual training of the girls.
The bridle used by most elves consisted of a curb style bit with two sets of rings. The headstall is attached to the upper set of rings, one located on each side of the girl’s face, which were offset from the mouth bar by shanks just under about a half inch long. The headstall consisted of half inch wide leather straps with one loop that went vertically from the ring on one side up and over the girl’s head just in front of her ears and down to the ring on the other side of her face. Another leather strap went across her forehead and completely around her head at that level buckling in the back. Where the two straps cross each other on both sides of the head they were sewn securely together. A third half inch strap went from the same bit rings directly behind her head also buckling in the back. The tightness of the bit in the girl’s mouth was adjusted by this strap. A fourth strap was often fitted and adjusted snugly under her chin. Reins are attached to the lower set of rings which are located at the ends of inch long control shanks which hang down from the mouth bar providing a mechanical advantage to pull the mouth bar down and back when the reins were pulled back. When a bridle was fitted with a chin strap, pulling back on the reins pulled the chin strap tight. With particularly wild or difficult girls, a light chain could be substituted for the chin strap which would really command her attention when tightened.
The mouth bar itself was only an eighth of an inch in diameter making it really fairly comfortable for a girl to wear for long periods of time once she had become accustomed to it. The bits that Randor preferred had mouth bars that curved to the rear of the girl’s mouth so that it contacted her teeth in the region of her molars and was flattened slightly both top and bottom to protect her teeth. As compared with a straight mouth bar this design could be fitted more loosely for even greater comfort and still be impossible for the girl to spit out.
With wild girls, many trainers used straight mouth bars and adjusted them rather tightly pulling the sides of a girl’s mouth back constantly into an almost smile like expression. They believed that the discomfort of the added tension made their girls more responsive to the bit. Unlike some girl trainers who tended to employ tactics of pain, force and intimidation to break a wild girl, Randor used a much softer approach. To him a bit was not a device with which to apply pain to a girl to force her to her rider’s will. To him a bit was a tool through which a rider communicated with his or her mount. Just as he saw spurs as devices through which a girl was instructed to start or to increase her speed, the bit told her which direction to go, and when to slow down or stop.
As far as guiding a girl’s direction with the bridle, there are two distinctly different methods, mouth reining and neck reining. Of the two, mouth reining was far simpler to teach to a wild girl as her rider simply pulls back and out on one rein in the direction that he or she wants the girl to turn. This simply pulls the girl’s head in that direction. However, this requires that the rider use both hands on the reins, holding one and releasing tension while pulling back and out on the other.
Neck reining is more subtle and can require additional time and patience to teach a girl, but has the advantage that the reins are held in one hand. As the reins pass from the bit to the rider’s hand, they contact the sides of the girl’s neck just above her collar. To turn a neck rein trained girl her rider simply moves the reins in the direction that he or she wants the girl to turn. This puts pressure on the opposite side of her neck gently pushing her head in that direction. The girl responds by turning away from that pressure and in the direction her rider wishes. What makes neck reining more difficult for a wild girl to learn is that the rider’s movement of the reins to put pressure on her neck also tends to pull the bit in the opposite direction. Training a girl to neck rein requires teaching her to respond to the gentle pressure on her neck rather than the pull on her bit.
All wild girls that were trained at Randor’s learned neck reining. Whenever he took in already trained girls for their owners, he always tried to teach them to neck rein if they did not already know how as he believed it to be a mark of a well trained saddle girl. Girls trained to neck rein when being ridden also had to be trained to mouth rein when hitched to draw a vehicle. However, most saddle girls that had been trained to neck rein seemed to be able to handle the change to mouth reining when being driven instead of ridden with little or no difficulty. Those that mouth reined were already accustomed to taking their direction from the bit, whether hitched or mounted.
It was not too uncommon when a mouth rein trained girl was sold or traded for her new owner to want her re-trained for neck reining. Once a girl had been ridden for a few years the signals from her bridle and bit tended to bypass her consciousness, and her responses became automatic without any real thinking on her part. Teaching such a girl to now respond to light pressure on her neck when her bit was giving her an opposite command required a complete re-learning on her part.
However, with great patience Randor and Latkin both had remarkable success in accomplishing such re-training. This produced a small but not insignificant source of income for the business.
For an elf, bridling a trained girl was an easy task. With the girl on her knees, the elf simply stands directly in front of her and, as the bit is presented, the girl promptly opens her mouth to accept it. With the bit in her mouth, the girl bows her head forward to give the elf access to the back of her head. After lifting her hair clear of the back of her neck, the elf would then buckle the bit strap adjusting the tension to keep the bit securely in place in her mouth. After further placement of her hair, if necessary, the elf would then buckle the head strap adjusting it for a snug but comfortable fit. Over time, the sweat from her head tended to stretch and form the leather straps of a particular bridle for a perfect fit on the girl wearing it, increasing her comfort. Girls were only animals to elves, so they had no concern over hygiene in swapping bridles between girls if that was convenient for them. However, since girls often wore their bridles for many hours at a stretch, comfort was a factor that the elves did consider, so preferred to use a single bridle on a specific girl.
For some reason unknown to the elves, being bridled for the first time was quite traumatic to most wild girls. Being bridled certainly forced a girl to accept the fact that things in her life had changed and would never be the same again. Starting with their capture they had been forced to accept chains, collars and devices that limited their movement. Up until this point, however, most girls continued to think of themselves as captives, and accepted that their captors would use such devices to secure them and prevent their escape. A bridle, though, with its bit that went in their mouths was for the purpose of controlling them. This forced them to realize that as far as the elves were concerned they were animals and their training as such was about to begin. As a result most had a strong urge, conscious or otherwise to resist being bridled for the first time.
Rolf was very eager to get Cynda out of the stable so that he could see how she moved in her various natural gaits to see if his early evaluation of this big chestnut filly had been correct. Still confident from his success with her of the previous evening, he walked right up to her as she knelt on the stable floor next to the post where she was tied. As he reached out to stroke her head and brush some straw out of her beautiful brown hair, Cynda took a good look at the bridle he was carrying and leapt to her feet almost knocking Rolf to the ground. Without taking her eyes off of the bridle in Rolf’s hand, Cynda pulled away from him as far as the rope between her collar and the post would allow, and stood there breathing hard and shifting her weight nervously from one foot to the other. As weight shifting was a necessity for kicking, Rolf kept his distance as he thought about what to do next.
Rolf was not in great danger from Cynda’s feet as they were bare and had been since leaving Bothar’s, yesterday. The same was also true for the other three girls. Shoes for girls were not needed anywhere in the elves’ village as all rocks or anything that might injure a bare foot had been removed long ago. This economy of this village had been based on training girls and some males for saddle and draft use for over a thousand years, so virtually all the elf citizens showed concern for the safety of these animals. The elves considered it a necessity to toughen the feet of all wild girls or males. Training them barefoot on soft or smooth ground certainly accomplished this, especially during the first few months. However, great care was taken to avoid stone bruises which often took time to heal, delaying the process.
Even barefoot, though, a big girl like Cynda could still deliver a painful kick to an elf given the difference in their size and strength. Rolf had not been present at Bothar’s to witness just how intimidated Cynda was by a whip, and had left his in the tack room. Also, he really wanted to follow Randor’s example and try taming this big chestnut rather than breaking her. Latkin, though, saw Rolf’s hesitation and knew that it was necessary for the young elf to establish his position of control early on if he was to be successful with this filly. Latkin tossed his whip to Rolf and said, “Here, you may need this to get her attention. Let her see it as you approach her. She has to learn right away who is in charge.”
“Thanks, I’d rather not use it if I don’t have to, but…” Rolf said with some reluctance although he knew that hesitation was not what he wanted to show this big filly right now.
“She showed me that she is very whip shy at Bothar’s, yesterday,” replied Latkin. “I only gave her two light stripes and you would have thought I had beaten her the way she carried on. However, if I were you, I think I would go ahead and let her feel it at least once. She has to learn that you will use it if she doesn’t obey.”
“You’re the expert,” replied Rolf as he walked boldly up to Cynda and holding the whip in his right hand, grabbed the big filly’s lead rope with his left about a foot from her collar, and pulled down forcefully. Cynda’s attention had been focused on the whip, so she did not attempt to kick Rolf, but still refused to kneel for him. With that, Rolf gave her one good cut with Latkin’s whip, leaving a pink stripe on her right hip that wrapped around her right buttock. Cynda initially jumped from the pain, but then almost immediately fell to her knees with her head down, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Give her a little time,” whispered Latkin. “You need to let it sink in that you are the boss, no matter what. Once she starts to relax a little, go show her that you’re still her friend, and I think she’ll let you bridle her.”
“OK, thanks again,” Rolf answered, and just stood where he was for several minutes.
When Cynda’s sobbing finally began to slow, Rolf hung Latkin’s whip on his belt and began stroking Cynda’s head with his right hand while holding her lead with his left now right at her collar. In response, Cynda began nuzzling Rolf’s chest with her head then, bending her neck even farther down, began kissing and licking Rolf’s hand where he held her rope. At that point it was obvious that Cynda had a master and both of them knew it.
While allowing Cynda to continue licking his left hand, Rolf stopped stroking her head and reached down with his right to pick up the bridle from where he had dropped it. He then used his left hand to lift Cynda’s face to look at him and presented her with the bit. Cynda starred into Rolf’s eyes for nearly a minute before reluctantly opening her mouth to accept the bit. Rolf eased it into her mouth gently, working the bend in the mouth bar between her back teeth, then buckled the bit strap snugly behind her head. He then tilted her head forward to buckle the head strap. There was no chin strap on this bridle as that could always be added if additional control was found to be necessary. Cynda was now bridled, and given the limited movement allowed her hands by her harness could not reach either of the buckles behind her head. She was well aware that she would wear this bridle until it was taken off of her.
Randor, Latkin and Prindor had all stood back and watched to see how Rolf was going to do handling the big chestnut filly. All of them, especially Latkin, smiled with approval.
“I think she’d let you ride her right now, if she was ready,” said Randor. “We probably should wait, though, until she has strengthened more from her diet and physical training. We don’t want to risk having her pull a muscle by rushing things.”
“No, I sure don’t,” replied Rolf. “I even hated having to hurt her a little like that with the whip. I sure wouldn’t want to hurt her worse by trying to ride her now. I’ll get plenty of chances to ride her after she is stronger.”
“Well,” said Randor. “On second thought, you are fairly light and she is big and pretty strong already. I noticed bringing her here that she was second only to my little strawberry here in being able to take the pace as we kept speeding them up every day.”
“Why don’t you go get some reins and take her outside and see if she will let you ride her bareback? I think she wants your approval so badly that as long as you don’t seem to force her, you can do it. Don’t let these others see you try in case she decides not to let you on her back but, if you can, ride her around outside long enough for her to get used to it, then ride back in here. If the other three see you on their big friend, here, it may go a long way towards taking some of the resistance out of them,” Randor instructed Rolf. “Also, as long as you keep her to an easy walk, you’re not going to hurt her any.”
“As long as you think it will be alright, I would sure like to try,” Rolf said to Randor.
“Here Latkin, thanks for the help and the use of this,” Rolf said to the old elf as he tossed him his whip. “If she’ll let me get on her I don’t think I want to use the whip again, today, she hates it so.” If she needs a little encouragement, I’ll just use the ends of the reins.”
Rolf started toward the tack room only to have Cynda try to follow him. Of course she was still tied to the hitching post and could only move a few feet. When stopped by the rope, Cynda again began to cry. “Take her with you,” said Latkin, so Rolf untied her lead and led her away. She even tried to go into the tack room with the elf, but he held out his hand with his palm toward her and she stopped and waited. Rolf came out of the tack room with a pair of four foot reins which he clipped to the control rings of Cynda’s bridle and untying the lead rope from her collar led her out of the stable by the reins.
“Don’t try having her lift you from her knees, though,” called Randor. “Her legs might not be quite ready for that yet. Try taking her over to the sales platform and see if you can get her to stand there while you get up on it and see if she will let you just slip on to her back from there.” Randor was starting to have second thoughts about his idea, but decided to go ahead and let Rolf try. “Don’t worry, I won’t” called Rolf from the yard outside the stable.
“She’ll probably just toss him off and he will just come back leading her,” he said to Latkin and Prindor under his breath. “That’s probably OK as Rolf is a tough kid and won’t get hurt and, besides, these others won’t know what happened out there. If he does succeed it should have a real calming effect on these three. Anyway, let’s all go to the door and see if we can watch without his seeing us. I want to see how he handles her.”
Once outside, Rolf led Cynda toward the sales area. In front of some bleacher-like seats for prospective buyers was a flat wooden platform a little over a foot high and ten feet on a side where girls being sold were displayed. Rolf led Cynda to this platform then turned her to face away from it. While stroking her flanks and lower back, he lifted himself onto the platform behind her. At this point, Cynda tried to turn to face Rolf as she didn’t really want to let him out of her sight. He slipped the reins over her head and held them from behind her stopping her from turning farther. Cynda was standing right next to the platform, but facing away from it at a shallow angle. Rolf gripped the reins with his teeth and proceeded to reach over to gently stroke her head and shoulders with both hands.
After several minutes of gentle stroking, Rolf could feel the tension drain from Cynda’s muscles. At this point, still holding the reins in his teeth he placed one hand firmly on each of the big filly’s shoulders and stepped off the platform to sit on her back just above her wide hips. Cynda did not seem very surprised over what Rolf had just done to her. Although she was not quite ready to admit it to herself, this was really what she had hoped would happen. For the first time in her life she had a rider on her back, and decided that it really wasn’t so bad. She shifted her feet back and forth a bit then hollowed her back even more than normal to take the elves’ weight more comfortably. Rolf had resumed the stroking of Cynda’s head, shoulders and her neck above her collar. For several minutes Cynda just stood still with Rolf sitting comfortably on her bare back. Both were actually waiting to see what the other was going to do.
After allowing Cynda several minutes to accept the situation, Rolf switched the reins from his teeth to his left hand, still stroking her head with his right. He then stopped stroking Cynda’s head with his right hand and, instead, reached beneath him to give her a couple of good friendly slaps on her right buttock. Cynda shook slightly with each slap, but continued to stand where she was. Rolf then took the ends of the reins in his right hand and using them like a crop, gave Cynda a single light stroke with them in the same place. This time Cynda got the message and began walking straight ahead carrying Rolf on her back.
Rolf allowed Cynda to carry him almost to the fence surrounding one of Randor’s many paddocks. At this point he knew he should turn or stop her rather than allowing her to make that decision, as he needed to maintain control. He knew that the easiest way to turn her would be by mouth reining her in either direction. However, not wanting to start her out with what he considered poor training and bad habits, Rolf decided to try neck reining her. Holding both reins in his left hand, he moved that hand out to the left. At the same time, he took his right hand and while stroking her right cheek gently pushed her face to the left. Surprising Rolf, Cynda turned to the left.
As far as she was concerned there was nothing for Rolf to have been surprised about. Although lacking somewhat in basic self confidence, Cynda was a very bright girl. She saw the fence coming up and knew that she only had three options. She could turn right, turn left or stop. She had been waiting for her elf rider to give her some sign of which option he wanted. She had felt the pressure of the reins on the right side of her neck, but the bit was pulling her to the right which confused her. “Thank goodness,” she thought to herself, “he finally decided which way he wanted me to turn. He sure waited ‘til the last minute. I thought he was just going walk me right into that fence.” Cynda wanted so desperately to please this young elf that she would probably have tried to jump the fence with him on her back if he had wanted her to.
For the next ten minutes or so Rolf rode Cynda back and forth and around the stable yard. Then he tried pulling back on the reins, and Cynda obediently came to a halt. To start her again Rolf only had to give her a single gentle slap on the rump with his hand, and off she went. After another ten minutes of gentle riding, Rolf turned Cynda back toward the stable. However, when they approached the open door, Cynda stopped, and refused to go any farther. Even a couple of smacks with the ends of the reins would not budge her, so flipping the reins back over her head, Rolf just slipped from her back. Without hesitation, Cynda allowed Rolf to lead her back in to the stable. “Well, that was outstanding for her first day. I’m not going to push my luck, now. I wonder, though, why she didn’t want me to ride her back into the stable,” thought Rolf to himself. Cynda, of course knew the answer. She desperately needed this elf’s approval, but there were still limits. She just wasn’t ready to have her friends see that she was already allowing him to ride her.
As Rolf led Cynda back into the stable, Latkin called out jokingly, “Well it looks like she wasn’t as ready as we thought. Wouldn’t she let you mount her, or did she let you get on then pitch you off?
“It was the strangest thing.” Rolf answered. “She let me get on her back with no problem and ride her all around the yard out there. She was even responding to the bridle almost like a neck rein trained girl. It was just when we started to come back in here that she balked. She planted her feet, and refused to go any farther. I even tried whipping her several times with the reins, but she wouldn’t budge. However, once I dismounted she let me lead her right in as if nothing was wrong.”
“We know, we watched you almost the entire time,” said Latkin. “You did a great job with her.”
“Anyway”, said Randor, “There’s no way of knowing what goes through an animal’s mind at a time like this. It’s got to be very traumatic for them. Anyway, congratulations, Latkin is right. You did an absolutely outstanding job with her. We were all impressed.” Latkin and Prindor both nodded their agreement. Randor went on, “Actually getting a wild girl to let you ride her the first day here is almost unheard of. I want you to take personal charge of this one from now on out. You will be responsible for all of her training. She’ll be your first if I recall correctly.”
Turning to Latkin and Prindor, Randor added, “I hope that both of you will help our new trainer here with his training plan and schedule for the big chestnut. Don’t do it for him, just see that he gets started correctly. I expect to get a top price for her when she is ready for sale this Fall,” he grinned as did Latkin and Prindor.
Rolf had just been promoted to the position of full trainer, and could barely contain himself. He turned to Cynda who was standing behind him, and gave her reins a gentle downward pull. The big filly dropped to her knees, and Rolf began stroking her head and shoulders. Cynda responded by nuzzling his chest leaving a big stain from the spittle that had dripped out around her bit and of which she was completely unaware. A bond was obviously forming between the two.
As they had gathered earlier to come to the stable to bridle the four new girls, Randor, Latkin and Prindor had been discussing the four fillies as Rolf listened attentively. Prindor was saying, “I was out giving Lacie an early morning run when I ran across Lani and Rena taking the two buckskins to town to show them off. Lani mentioned how well the two new blacks are matched, and that we might make more selling them as a buggy and light carriage team. I really hadn’t thought of that as I’m always more of a saddle girl type myself, but she may well have something. Those two are both rather slim hipped you know.”
“There are lots of slim hipped girls that make very good mounts,” Randor replied. “Just look at your little palomino, Lacie.”
“Lacie’s special,” Prindor replied. “She gives her all in everything I want from her, other than water crossing,” he added, smiling and shaking his head. “Also, her custom Bothar saddle sure set me back a bunch. However, before I got it for her she would start to play out after about six hours of hard riding. Now she can go all day just like your Vixin.”
Prindor went on, “The problem is that a lot of our customers won’t spend the extra for a custom made saddle, and then they come back and complain to us when the girls we sell them don’t seem to have the stamina they expected. It’s always with slim hipped girls like those two blacks that we get those problems.”
“I think that you may have a good point,” Randor answered. “Latkin, what do you think? After saddle breaking them should we spend the extra time to train those two as a carriage team? Most importantly, do you think we can make more money on them that way? Remember there are a lot fewer customers who can afford to buy a matched pair than can buy individual girls.”
Latkin replied, “The two blacks do look a lot alike. Their coloring, faces and body types are quite similar. They appear to be the same height, but that doesn’t mean that their legs and their strides are the same length, and that’s what really matters in a good team. Just look at Bothar’s little identical twin Wegins if you want to see a perfectly matched team. In harness the two of them move like one girl. I think we need to measure them before we go down that road. If they have the same stride length, I think that Lani’s idea is a good one.”
The other two nodded their agreement. Latkin’s many years of experience with girls was a great value to the organization. Randor, Lani and Prindor had so far only considered Lyra and Madi’s heights which were identical. However, for a team to be able to really work together with perfection, length of stride was what counted. Length of stride was a function not just of overall leg length, but also any differences in thigh and calf lengths between a pair. The elves had decided that careful measurements would be the first order for the two blacks before deciding whether or not to spend the time required to train them as a team.
While Rolf was out riding Cynda, Latkin and Prindor while watching also turned their attention to Lyra and Madi and began discussing them as a potential team. “I can just see some rich elf sitting in his buggy all puffed up with pride and those two prancing down some street in a wealthy neighborhood in some big city,” said Prindor.
“I can just see the pile of money we could make if we find that right customer,” replied Latkin. “That is if they really match up like we are hoping.”
On his way into the stable, Latkin had picked up a measuring tape along with the bridle he had for Lyra but said to Prindor, “Let’s get them bridled and calmed down first before I try to measure their legs. I got kicked by Randor’s little strawberry, yesterday, and my chest still hurts. I don’t have any intention of getting kicked again, today.”
As they finished watching Rolf the two began walking to where the two sisters were tied. Latkin then decided he would try bridling the older filly first before proceeding with measuring her. He had noticed that she appeared a bit too nervous about the bridle for him to want to get down on his knees in front of her to measure legs right now, and made that suggestion to Prindor who was currently in something of a stareing contest with Madi.
“If we can’t get them calmed down after they learn that their bridles don’t hurt, we can always hobble them while you take your measurements”, Prindor commented.
“That’s probably not a bad idea, but let’s see how the bridling goes,” replied Latkin.
Latkin laid the bridle he was carrying for Lyra on the ground where she could see it, and walked slowly up to the nervous filly. He reached his right hand out slowly to stroke her head, and she shied away, so Latkin tried again with the same result. However, the old elf was patient and after several more tries. Lyra allowed him to stroke her head and neck. Then Latkin gave the girl a real surprise. With his left hand he drew a berry, of the same variety that had cost the girls their freedom, from his pocket and held it out to the girl in the palm of his hand. Lyra looked back and forth between the berry and Latkin’s face several times before her hunger for sweets won out and she accepted the berry from his hand, quickly devouring it.
Latkin began stroking Lyra’s head with both hands, now, and rubbing the back of her neck above her collar, then moved down to her shoulders. He could still feel a tightness in her muscles, so began to massage her shoulders first gently and then more vigorously, as Lyra began to relax a little. As Latkin continued to work on Lyra’s shoulders, he looked the filly over carefully, and glanced briefly at her sister. They were both truly beautiful animals with coal black hair, deep blue eyes, fairly large breasts and long strong looking legs. Both were about five foot eight or nine which was an excellent height for saddle girls, but they both did have slim hips. Using regular saddles on them was going to require cinching them rather tightly or relying too much on support from their shoulder straps. Putting more of a rider’s weight on these girls’ shoulders would cause them to adopt a more upright position rather than bending slightly forward and hollowing their backs to put the weight over their pelvic bones where it belonged. Neither option would be very comfortable for the girls for extended riding.
As Lyra began to relax, Latkin gave her another berry, then a third. Finally he stopped rubbing her shoulders and neck, and stepping back, picked up the bridle from where he had laid it on the floor. He saw the filly tense and start to stand up. Latkin hung the bridle over his shoulder, and again offered her a berry. Lyra locked her eyes on the bridle, but couldn’t help but see that berry in the elf’s open hand, so she decided to remain on her knees for now or, she thought to herself, “at least until I get that berry.” The attraction that sweets held for humans, and especially young female humans, on this world was very strong due to their rarity. Lyra accepted the berry from Latkin’s hand, and again allowed him to stroke her head with his other hand as she ate it. As she was eating the berry, Latkin slowly took the bridle off his shoulder, and held the bit out to Lyra. She started to open her mouth to accept it, but changed her mind and shook her head from side to side.
“Holding out for more, I see,” said Latkin which, of course Lyra could not understand. “I had you figured for the smart one,” he chuckled.
Latkin took the last of the berries from his pocket, and held them out to the filly. She looked first at the berries, then at the bit he was holding in his other hand and finally right in Latkin’s eyes.
“Go ahead and take them, girl, but then you are going to let me bridle you with no more nonsense,” he said in a firm tone. Again, Lyra could not understand the elf’s words, but his tone was unmistakable. She stared at him for almost a minute then lowered her head to gobble up the berries. After chewing them briefly, Lyra swallowed then, after a brief hesitation, opened her mouth for the bit. After buckling the bridle on her lovely head, Latkin resumed stroking Lyra and rubbing her neck and shoulders. After a minute or two, the filly relaxed and began nuzzling Latkin’s chest.
Lyra’s acceptance of the bridle took her younger sister Madi by surprise. It also took the fight right out of her, and as Prindor presented the bit she opened her mouth for him, but began to cry. Prindor deftly bridled the sobbing Madi, and when finished, began to rub her neck and shoulders then her upper chest including her large breasts. Madi was at first startled by the young elf’s touch there, but as a warm feeling began to enter her body, she just leaned her head back and closed her eyes. When in the village the Elders had touched her breasts it had never been to sooth and relax her. Quite the contrary, when the Elder that she had served most often grabbed her breasts it was generally just to hold on while he pleasured himself by entering her from behind in either of her orifices, bringing her either pain or nothingness. What she was feeling now was totally different, and she hated it when he stopped.
“Here, girl, you certainly earned these this morning,” said Prindor as he held out a handful of berries to the newly bridled filly.
Madi did not understand the elf’s words any more than her sister had understood Latkin, but she knew that she, too, wanted those berries. The problem for her, however, was that she now had a bit in her mouth that she could not remove, and she was frustrated. Prindor understood and took a single berry and held it in front of Madi’s mouth. When she opened it, he pushed it behind her front teeth. Madi quickly learned that, although she could not bring her teeth together to chew due to the bit, she could close them well enough to pop the berry open, get the sweet juice and swallow the thin skin whole. One at a time, Prindor fed Madi his entire pocketful of berries.
“Now would be a good time to measure the legs of these two,” Latkin said as he got Lyra to her feet.
He began by stroking her belly then moved one hand between the filly’s legs gently stroking here there. She started at first at the contact of his hand there, but soon relaxed as a pleasant sensation began to flow through her body. She stood still with her eyes closed as the elf took the tape and carefully measured her calf and thigh lengths separately. Madi had watched her sister’s obvious pleasure and was already on her feet when Latkin walked over to her. The old elf went through the exact procedure with the younger sister with similar results.
“Randor” he said, “it looks like you caught yourself a really well matched team in these two. I still want to confirm it with actual running stride measurements on the ground, but I think that they’ll step together perfectly.”
“I thought that might be the case just looking at them, but I’m glad to get your expert opinion. I always prefer a team that matches naturally. I just don’t like having to use ankle or shoe weights to force stride lengths when it isn’t absolutely necessary,” Randor replied.
Only Katryn was left to bridle and Randor had been working on her almost since the four elves had entered the stable without her knowing it. After their initial exchange of stares, Randor had been completely ignoring the little strawberry filly while he had watched the other elves’ progress with the other three girls. He had talked quietly with them as they worked never once even glancing in Katryn’s direction. By this time Katryn’s jealousy was beginning to boil. She knew that this was the elves’ leader and up until now he had seemed to have taken a special interest in her, but now it seemed as though she did not even exist. She had risen to her feet several times only to return to her knees expecting that her movement might warrant at least a glance in her direction, but to no avail.
After bridling Lyra, Latkin waited stroking the filly as he watched Prindor’s progress with Madi. About the time that Prindor had completed his task with the girl, Rolf had returned leading Cynda.
Randor looked at the three bridled girls and said to Latkin, Prindor and Rolf, “Take these three for now and put them on the training carousels. I want them to get in a good run to loosen them up good before noon. I asked the handlers to leave places open with the more experienced girls. That will keep them up to speed.
“What about your strawberry?” asked Latkin.
“I’m going to try bridling her now when she is alone and doesn’t have the others to show off for,” he answered.
“Good idea. That might work better with her. I watched her out of the corner of my eye while I was bridling this one,” Latkin said, referring to Lyra whose lead rope he was holding, “Your little red has sure been tense this morning. Watch out for her, though, she does behave a lot like Vixin did when she was still wild.”
The other three elves walked from the stable each leading one of the fillies. They were being taken to the training carousels. These were exercise devices to which the girls would be connected, overhead by a light chain and clip to their collars. The girls would be made to run round and round turning the carousel. Of course, there would only be one new girl attached to a carousel with generally five girls much farther along in their training, so the carousel would force the new girls to keep up. The experienced girls would, of course, all be wearing weighted training saddles, but would still set a pretty quick pace for the new girls. A pair of young helpers with long willow switches worked each carousel to make sure that the prescribed pace was kept by all the girls.
Finally, Randor turned to look at Katryn who was now kneeling at her hitching post. He grabbed the bridle from where he had hung it on a hook, and approached the little filly. Katryn took one look at the leather straps and metal in his hand, and jumped to her feet, backing away as far as her rope would allow. Randor slung the bridle over his shoulder and unhooked his whip from his belt. He did not want to have to use it, but he did not plan to get kicked, either. He grabbed the now taught rope and pulled down gently at first, but then harder. Katryn’s first response was to pull back, but remembering the stinging welt across the backs of her knees from yesterday, decided that kneeling was probably the better choice. She slowly dropped to her knees and sat back on her heels. In this position, Katryn’s eyes were almost level with Randor’s and they locked gazes.
Randor took one of the berries he was carrying out of his pocket and offered it to Katryn in the open palm of his hand. Defiantly, Katryn turned her head to the side and refused the berry. Randor held it there for several seconds then put it in his own mouth and ate it. Katryn turned her head back to again stare at Randor who proceeded to take all of the berries out of his pocket and eat them one by one while the filly watched. When he got to the last one, he again offered it to Katryn who slowly lowered her head without breaking her stare into Randor’s eyes, and took the berry into her mouth and ate it.
Randor laughed, and reaching out with his hand tousled Katryn’s beautiful light red hair. She allowed him to do this, but never broke her stare with him. “You little devil, you’re going to resist me at every single step, aren’t you,” he said, but of course she could not understand a word. “I wonder if you might be somehow kin to Vixin. You both came from the same human village, and she was just like this when I started with her. What a pain she was! Worth every long hour, though,” he mused.
After running the fingers of his left hand through Katryn’s short hair for a few minutes, he gently took hold of a handful and while holding it slipped the bridle off of his shoulder with his right. Taking hold of the bit, he held it in front of Katryn’s mouth. She looked briefly at it then back into Randor’s eyes then even though it pulled her hair she turned her head to the side as she had when he had offered her the first berry. Randor let Katryn feel the pull in her hair just enough to know he was still holding on but not enough to cause her any real pain. As soon as Randor would take the bit away Katryn would turn her head back to again stare into Randor’s eyes.
They repeated their series of actions several times with Randor increasing the tension on Katryn’s hair each time, and Katryn determined not to give in to what was now beginning to hurt. She knew that she could always stand up and, although the pull would hurt even more, he would be forced to release her hair or be lifted off his feet. However, she did not want to do this, but not because of the pain it would cause her. She wanted to defeat this elf at his own game.
Randor elected to change the game. He put the bridle back on his shoulder and began rubbing Katryn’s neck and shoulders. After several minutes of this he shifted his attention to her breasts then ran one hand down her flat belly and then reached between her legs. When the elf first touched her there Katryn started, but then as he gently rubbed her, the feeling she had yesterday when she saw the young male drawing the buggy began to flood back into her body. Her breathing deepened but she never took her eyes off of Randor. After a minute he removed his hand and stood up. Once more he presented the bit to Katryn, and this time she slowly opened her mouth and accepted it. She even lowered her head to allow him to buckle both of the straps of her bridle. Randor untied Katryn’s rope from the post and led her outside to join the others at the carousels.
As she was being led from the stable Katryn thought to herself, “I don’t know what it is but he always just seems to know how to get to me. Maybe Cynda is right, if he tamed that woman he rides, what chance do I have?”
“Well,” her mind went on, “living with the Elders was truly awful. So far this has not been as bad, but I still don’t like the idea of being ridden by someone, so he’s still going to have to work for it. I’m not giving in without fighting him all the way.”