Bar None Stables
by Kilogram
Chapter 7
Linda's routine remained the same for her first three days as a
ponygirl. On the fourth day they considered her sufficiently trained so she did
not need constant attention as she walked around the track. That morning, the
trainer took her to a walker where she joined three other new ponygirls. Except
that she did not have the undivided attention of the trainer, nothing had
changed in her routine.
The sixth day began as the previous two had. In midmorning, when the
luscious ponygirls were allowed to stop and rest, Linda could tell something was
going on to her left. She tried to turn in that direction, but the harness and
blinders combined to prohibit her from seeing anything. A couple hours later, at
another break, she knew something occurred again but still could not tell what
it was.
In early afternoon, a man disconnected her from the radiating pole of
the automatic walker. Attaching reins to the ends of her bit, he led her across
the training area.
Linda had no idea where he took her, and certainly could not see
anything but the ground before her.
When he stopped, he tied the ends of the reins to ring on a fence. Linda
could only stand there helplessly until someone came for her.
Her wait was not long. Another man freed the ends of the reins so he
could lead her forward through a gate into the corral. Four trainers, not busy
at the time, sat atop the fence to watch. Watching a ponygirl in motion was
aesthetically pleasing to all.
"Okay, Ponygirl, now it's time for you to start learning how to earn
your keep."
From the movement about her, Linda sensed there were more than three
people there. From the sounds of their footsteps, she knew one was a woman.
A man pulled her forward by the reins and had her turn a little to the
left.
"Back up. Back up. A little more. A little more. There! Stop!"
As soon as the beautiful ponygirl stopped, she saw something descend
before her. Hands pushed her forward so her waist touched something. She felt a
leather strap press against her lower back, forcing her belly against something
cold, something hard.
She felt them do something to the harness on top her head. When the
hands withdrew, she still felt something there. She wiggled her head back and
forth a little, feeling the weight of the thing on her head. After a few second
she realized they had attached a tall plumb to the top of her harness.
"Now, Ponygirl, we are going to teach you how to pull a sulky. You will
not find it difficult. All you have to do is walk and the sulky will follow
you."
They all laughed at this joke, but Linda did not find it amusing. What
concerned her was this device behind her, secured to her body.
She felt the pressure of the object before her change. It was some sort
of metal tube. Someone had climbed into the seat of the sulky, causing the
weight to shift. She felt that change reflected in the metal tube across her
belly.
"You just go forward," said a male voice from behind. That came from the
man seated on the sulky. "When I want you to turn to the left, I will do this."
He pulled on one of the reins that caused the harness to pull her head around to
the left. "The harder I pull, the sharper the turn. If I want you to go to the
right, I do this." Tension on the right rein pulled her head about to the right.
"Left." He pulled on the reins, pulling her head in that direction.
"Right." He forced her head in that direction.
"Now, Giddy up."
Linda started forward. To her amazement, the sulky was not hard to pull.
Sure, she had to work harder at stepping forward, but pulling the sulky was not
difficult.
What the beautiful young ponygirl did not know was that the designers
had created the sulky to make it easy for a woman wearing high heeled shoes to
pull it without hurting herself.
The wheels were slightly forward of the seat so the rider's weight was
directly over the axle. The Ponygirl did not have to lift the rider, only pull
him forward. The actual task of pulling the sulky was made easy by the
countervailing ball bearing disks on the end of the axles.
Linda took a tentative step forward. The weight of the sulky brought her
to a halt. Discovering she had to ìean forward a few degrees, she started the
wheeled carriage moving forward. Once in motion, the sulky became easier to
pull.
The beautiful ponygirl's first route was straight forward. She trotted
from one end of the enclosure to the other, stopping when the driver pulled back
on the reins while yelling "whoa! ." With some difficulty, Linda managed to get
the sulky turned around. With a flick of the reins and the word "Giddy-up" she
was told to start forward again.
Where Linda started and where she ended up being many feet apart. As she
pulled the sulky forward, she had drifted to the right. On the return trip she
drifted across the axis of her original route.
The driver said nothing other than the usual commands to get Linda to
turn around. Drifting from one side or the other was common with new ponygirls.
Even experienced ones had trouble maintaining a straight route without being
able to see some point ahead of them to aim at. The intent now was to get Linda
used to pulling the sulky.
After an hour of practice, they returned the dark-haired beauty to the
automatic walker where she spent the remainder of the day walking in an endless
circle.
The next day they took Linda back to the corral for another session with
the sulky. Midway through the training the driver changed the procedure. Instead
of having Linda stop so she could turn around, he pulled the reins to have her
turn to the left or to the right. Late in the session he began applying tension
to the reins to correct the drift.
That evening, just before halting the walker so the ponygirls could take
a break, the trainers increased the speed appreciably. The sexy animals made
three circuits around the ring at a trot before being allowed to rest.
After another day of training with the sulky, the trainer decided to
advance Linda's training to the next level. Though she could not see them when
she arrived in the corral, a line of barrels stretched across the enclosure.
"This is going to be more difficult, Ponygirl. Ahead of you are eight
barrels. I want you to weave back and forth between them. You don't have to see
them, just follow the directions given by the reins."
Linda started forward. After several feet, she felt tension on the left
reins. She turned in that direction. After several steps, the tension changed
from one rein to the other. She continued forward a few steps until the tension
changed over to the left again.
That was how Linda spent half her day in training. The remainder she
spent in the automatic walker. Each session she spent less time walking, and
more trotting. When the trainer led her from the barn to the walker, from the
walker to the corral and back, he across ran, forcing Linda to trot along next
to him, toe, heel, toe, heel.
Since Linda was more intelligent than most ponygirls, they decided to
accelerate her training. Thus far she had learned the basic functions of a
ponygirl. To the inexperienced eye, she knew how to perform as a ponygirl. Bar
None Stables had the reputation as the greatest trainer of ponygirls. The
products of their training set the industry standards.
Linda's training had only begun.
When she arrived in the corral the following day, they removed the
blinders to replace them with a set of leather blindfolds. A black leather pad
covered each eye so she could see nothing.
"Being a ponygirl is a matter of trust. You have to trust the driver
that he or she will not do anything to hurt you. From now on, they will give you
no orders verbally. The only orders they give will be through the reins."
A flick of the reins, the barely noticeable jerk on each side of the
bit, was the signal for her to start forward. Pressure on the right rein,
pulling the end of the bit back, caused her to turn to the right. The tension
eased so she moved forward. A little tension on the left end of the bit. She
turned a little in that direction. More tension. She turned in that direction.
When they paused to give her the chance to rest, the trainer slipped a
sugar cube in her mouth.
"Good Girl," he said as he rubbed the back of his fingers across her
nipples.
