Chapter 6: My Week with Flica

As the night drew to a close, and the stars painted patterns in the sky, Flica and I stood together, the past and present converging in a powerful embrace. We were not just mother and daughter; we were two souls bound by a journey that had come full circle.

“Give me your dress, Spirit.” Danica held out her hand, so I pulled the dress over my head and handed it to her. “For the next seven days for all intents and purposes, you are a ponygirl and will be treated as such.” She tossed my dress over her shoulder and attached a three-foot chain to my collar and the other end to Flica’s. “You two will be chained together for the entire week. You will bathe each other, feed each other, and do everything together until Spirit goes home next Sunday.” Then she led us to the shower and told us to bathe and then get something to eat. “An extra set of troughs have been added to your stall, Spirit. After you eat the rest of the night is yours.” Danica then turned and left the barn closing the doors behind her.

“I am told you are my mother,” Flica said turning to me, “that you raised me and trained me until you left when I was six.”

“Yes, sweetheart. I gave birth to you when I was fifteen in the stall we will be sleeping in. I was forced to leave when you were six so that I wouldn’t be a distraction to your training. My name was listed on your birth certificate as your mother and the father was listed as unknown.”

“Do you know who my father is?”

I bowed my head in sadness. “Yes, I do but only his first name. His name is Jason and he was a groom for the ponies in this barn. I was hanging from the cable in the shower when he raped me. The ponies that were bathing me were not allowed to interfere with a free person.

“Jason was arrested. Fortunately, he confessed so I didn’t have to testify in court. He got ten years for statutory rape, that is sex with a minor under 16.”

Flica and I finished our showers and walked naked back to our stall. Because of the chain connecting us, my troughs had been moved to the wall to the left of the door, and another set mounted next to them. I sign with our pony names above our troughs. Out of respect for Flica’s training and the fact I would be treated the same I wisely chose not to use my hands. Especially since Danica was watching.

I ate about half of my hay before putting my face into the water trough. I drank a good portion of the water before returning to finish my food. I learned long ago that if you don’t finish the food you get punished then you get less food for the next random number of meals.

After we were done eating I went back to my water trough and drank as much as I could get out of it even trying to lick the water up. I was still thirsty. Flica and I sat on the straw pile and talked for a few minutes until I started getting very sleepy. I leaned against Flica and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up some time later.

Sunday

“Mmmmm.” I moaned. Flica was kneeling next to me eating from her trough that was placed on the floor next to me. Something about me felt off. My nipples hurt a lot, more so than when Danica pinched them. And the sides of my head felt cool. I reached up to touch my head and felt that the sides had been shaved off leaving only a strip of hair about two and a half inches wide (just guessing). The back of my head was shaved too. Only the strip on top was left. At least she left it long. I began to panic and tried to sit up. That was a mistake. A massive wave of dizziness and nausea swept through me.

Flica tried to hold me down when Danica spoke, “Don’t try to get up yet. It will take a few more hours for the sedative to wear off, my newest little ponygirl.”

“What did you do to me, you bitch?” I asked with a lot of venom in my voice.

“Under the circumstances, I’ll let that slide. I did betray your trust and drug you, then I had your head shaved into more of a ponygirl mane. Your nipples were pierced with titanium rings and welded shut. The way the rings were inserted causes the nipples to remain stiff. Now you don’t have to worry about the pain of the clamps and you can still wear the bells.

“I’m not going to apologize for this. I will confess that I really wanted to do this back when you first started working here. I have always wanted to see your nipples pierced and your head shaved into a mohawk. With your hair as short as it was back then, a mohawk is all it would have been. It wasn’t long enough to be a mane. Now that you have let it grow out it makes a beautiful mane. The hair that was cut off will become your tail. The guy that makes them will have it here tonight so you can start wearing it after your shower this evening.”

I lay there hoping my head would clear soon with tears running down my face. I rolled away from the gate and cried. When Flica finished eating she lay down beside me and wrapped her arms around me. I put my arm on top of hers, held it to me, and kissed it.

I must have dozed off again. When I woke this time I could at least sit up. Flica was asleep so I nudged her to wake her up. When both of us were standing and noticed by Gary the groom, he called the main house and told Danica we were up.

After he got off the phone he brought two handfuls of tack to our stall. “Spirit, I know you are Lisa, a free woman but I have to treat you the same as Flica if I want to keep my job. Your ‘FREE WOMAN’ collar has been swapped out with a standard ponygirl collar and your boots are the same boots the others wear. There is nothing about you that will let anyone know you are, in fact, a free woman.

“These harnesses and bridles have little plates on them with your names engraved. On the harness, the plate is in the middle of your chest. On the bridle, there are two plates, one on each side of your head. The blinders are permanently mounted to limit your vision to straight ahead. Now that your hair has been cut into a main it can be threaded through the bridle and down your back. Your tail, when you get it, will be a butt plug with a flat rod that fits between your cheeks and runs up toward a strap crossing your cheeks. Then reattaches to the straps to hold it in place. This gives the illusion that the tail is higher on your ass like a real horse. Until your tail arrives you will train with just a regular plug.”

He finished putting my harness on then kneeled behind me and had me bend forward. He inserted the lubed plug, ran the strap between my legs, and pulled it tight before fastening it to the belt in the back. Next came the bit and bridle. He pulled what was left of my hair through the back of the bridle and fastened it behind my head. Then surprise, he put leather restraints on my wrists and locked them behind my back. He was done after he put similar restraints on my arms just above my elbows, threaded a length of leather strap through the loops, and locked them together. When he was done with me he did the same to Flica. With our collars still chained together I had no choice but to follow along.

We were led outside to a wide sled where we were met by Danica and Mr. Marshall. Mr. Marshall hitched us to the sled in tandem. Flica already knew what to do so Mr. Marshall stood on my side and directed me with commands and a riding crop. I was doing much better by the time we stopped for the day but man, the backs of my legs really stung and were covered in red welts. None of them broke the skin but that didn’t make them hurt any less.

We were told to sleep in our gear and we wouldn’t be allowed to shower tonight. Our bits were removed so we could eat and replaced when we were done. I was exhausted and fell right to sleep. I don’t know how long Flica stayed up before going to sleep.

Monday

We were awakened earlier than the other ponies and told to be quiet. We were led straight outside and hitched to the carousel. We walked around in circles tapping our knees on the crossbar. We got a short break and then turned to walk in the other direction. We did this until just after sunup. We were taken back inside and allowed to eat and pee. We were given an enema before our plugs were reinserted. After we were done and our harnesses tightened we were led back outside and hitched to the sled again.

Flica was in much better shape than I was and was very patient with me. I was able to pull the sled with eight bags of real horse feed on it. I have carried many of those bags and knew they weighed 40 lbs. each. I’m talking about 320 pounds in addition to the weight of the sled. At first, I was able to make three laps before I had to rest. My legs were cramping. If I rested too long I was whipped on my ass with Mr. Marshall’s crop. By the time we were led back to the barn for lunch my feet (hooves) were dragging.

Flica was sympathetic to my condition and gave my legs a massage. In the afternoon we were hitched to single sulkies. We each had about 200 pounds of weight in the seat and we were told to run around the track until we couldn’t run anymore then walk for two laps. Flica smoked me. We did this non-stop until dinner. We were never allowed to stop, the walking was our (read ‘my’) rest period.

Again, I leaned on Flica as we walked (if you can call dragging my feet walking) back to the barn. Tonight Gary removed our tack so we could shower. After we ate our tack was put back on us and we had to sleep in it again.

Tuesday

We were awakened early again and followed the same routine. Carousel until breakfast, sled pulling until lunch, then single sulkie pulling. I could tell I was adjusting to the heavy training. I was able to go a little further than yesterday, not much just an extra lap, almost. This afternoon we pulled a sulky in tandem, again working on synchronization more than speed. Mr. Marshall sat in the seat and guided us with the reins and verbal commands. We both got our share of stripes on our butts as we walked and jogged around the track.

We didn’t get to shower this night but our bits were removed while we ate. I wondered if we were kept in the harnesses as an excuse to keep us from talking. I was hurt and disappointed that we were deprived of the chance to get to know each other some more. Danica is being such a bitch about all of this. I thought part of the reason I was here was to meet my daughter and get to know her. We can’t get to know each other if we’re not allowed to talk.

I was able to stay awake a bit longer and was able to get somewhat comfortable next to Flica before the lights were dimmed.

Wednesday

Today we did something different. We still got up before sunrise and did the carousel before breakfast. This time I heard Mr. Marshall mutter that he thought these early mornings were stupid. That he’d be glad when this week is over and Danica is done with her stupid games. One week of training will change nothing. Wearing the harnesses and being forced to sleep in them just to keep them from talking is just mean. It was just as I suspected. Danica was doing this just to be a bitch. What does she have against me? In all of the years I have known Mr. Marshall, I have never heard him complain about anything, at least not where I could hear. That makes me think he said this on purpose just so I could hear it.

After breakfast, instead of pulling the sled, we had to carry two bags of feed on our shoulders and walk around the track until our legs were too weak to hold us up. Mr. Marshall was there with a short whip to motivate us. I feel more on equal footing with Flica when I see her struggling too. Then I realized some of the exercises were things she had never done. She is used to pulling a sulky with a single driver. Pride and love welled up in my chest.

After lunch, we spent several hours in a tandem sulky working on synchronization as well as running. We got the whip if we lost sync while we were running, or if we failed to respond to the reins in sync. Needless to say, we had a lot of welts when the day was over. At least this was shower night. Flica massaged my legs again tonight but this time I returned the favor. We slept very well cuddled up against each other.

Thursday

Ah! The end is in sight. The fourth early morning. If I am guessing even close based on how long it takes for the sun to come up I estimate we are getting up between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. This morning we were hitched to the tandem sulky and a feather was attached to our bridles. We were led to the parade grounds and were run through the motions as if we were on parade in front of a crowd. This time we were whipped if we looked down or looked around. I should have remembered that from my time with Danica when I was younger. That was the last time I looked down.

When I noticed the sky starting to lighten we stopped. Mr. Marshall attached blindfolds to our bridles and started the whole routine over again. I think we did better without the distraction of seeing what we were doing. We had no choice but to trust the reins, which we weren’t doing because we were trying to guide ourselves. Mr. Marshall ran us through the parade course until I could feel the heat of the sun on my naked body.

The next time we stopped and the blindfolds were removed we were back at the barn. We were unhitched and allowed to eat. Flica and I took ourselves inside and drank most of our water before we started eating. Mr. Marshall refilled our water while we were eating.

Since my showers were irregular and I was kept in the harness 24/7 I never got the sunscreen. When my harness was eventually removed I could see how much deeper my tan was and the lighter tan where the harness covered me. Even my face had the tan lines left behind by the bridle straps. Hopefully, it won’t take too long for those lines to fill in. I can cover my body but not my face. Not that it really matters. I suspect that Danica and Mr. Johnson have been sharing updates about me. I wouldn’t put it past her to be sending him pictures of my naked body in harness during my training, even though I haven’t seen her since Sunday.

Gary cleaned our harnesses and bridles while we were showering and eating. I could tell I was in much better shape than when I started. I require fewer and shorter breaks and I am less exhausted at the end of the day and can stay up with Flica. She started rubbing her head against my body and head. I knew this was how horses showed their affection for each other. I felt a tear fall from the corner of my right eye and I rubbed my head on her as well. I am glad we got along and that we seemed to ‘click’ with each other. I will be sad when I have to return home. I know I will cry myself to sleep for a few days.

Friday

This morning Mr. Marshall ran us harder than he had all week. He ran us through everything we had done all week and wouldn’t allow us to rest except during meals. He told us that this would be our last full day of training. Tomorrow afternoon two other teams were coming in to race against us. Danica wants to evaluate the results of five days of intense training. You’ll get to sleep in tomorrow and just work to stay warmed up.