The Widower

John looked around, noting how familiar and yet unfamiliar the scene was. There was Vicki, preparing the flag that would signal the off. There was Marie, sat in her sulky, checking her grip on the reins that would control Joanne. In front of his own sulky, Luci, the sun glinting of her oiled skin. So like the first time, and yet, so unlike it.

He'd prepared Luci himself, washed her, brushed her hair, plaited the ponytail that her hair was in. He'd oiled her, harnessed her, pulled the straps around her body, kissed her before he inserted the bit.

She was fidgeting a little in front of him, almost pawing the ground. 'Easy, Pony... Soon we'll be racing...' She was impatient for the off, and from the way his heart was beating in his chest, so was he.

Vicki raised the flag, and he grabbed the reins in one hand, the whip in the other, took a deep breath.

The flag had just started to descend, but both he and Marie reacted, whips snaking out, and both crying out. 'Go on, pull!'

-*-

John and Luci had worked out a plan in advance. Even though they had run the course a couple of times on the last few days, this was still the section of the competition where Joanne had the advantage.

As they approached the moors, he had Luci slow a little, falling behind Marie and Joanne, before falling in line behind them, leaving enough of a gap that John could react, could follow the lines the other sulky took.

When they reached the stables again, John knew he could give Luci her head. A quick flick with the whip and pull on the reins, and he had Luci pulled to the side, shadowing the other air until the reached the track.

'Go, Luci!'

She didn't need the additional flick with the whip, but he used it anyway, and Luci pulled alongside Joanne, matching her now stride by stride. He turned to look at Marie, who was grining from ear to ear, matching his own face. Dear God, the two ponies were magnificent!

Another quick flick of the whip, and Luci lengthened her stride, slowly pulling ahead of Joanne, until she was clearly ahead of the other pony. John knew she had plenty to spare , but he wanted to save energy for the second race, so he kept her on the same pace, until the pair of ponies crossed the finish line, Luci ahead to the end.

John pulled her up, then jumped out, running his hand through her now sweaty hair. 'Good, Luci..Good girl...' He popped out her bit, removed the head harness entirely, whilst Luci slowly brought her breathing back to normal, her oil and sweat slick chest rising and falling.

'John...' Vicki called his name, and he turned, caught the drinks bottle she threw at him. He opened up the valve then held it for Luci, who drank from it eagerly. Close by, Marie was doing to same to Joanne.

'Do we need to do the next race, John? You've honestly got us beaten.' John.could see Marie wasn't entirely joking about this. Joanne was still breathing heavily, and looked more flustered than he had known her to be before.

He glanced over at Luci, who was still quivering with excitement. He knew they had to do the next race.

'Take your time, let Joanne recover. We'll be back in an hour.'

-*-

Marie turned at he sound of a sulky approaching, and smiled. She wondered if John was going to do something for the final race, and she wasn't disappointed.

He'd changed the harness on Luci, going from the lighter harness from the cross country to the wide harness he's been using on her for the track training they had done. Her head was in a half hood, covering her eyes and ears entirely, the ponytail threaded through a hole in the back of the hood. The head harness had been put on top of that, and John had gone back to the check rein, hauling Luci's head back.

When they drew to a half, Marie walked over, circling the pony and sulky, then held out her hand to John. 'You're a lucky bastard, you know that don't you? I've not seen a pony like this since...well, since Lesley....'

John smiled, and hopped down from the sulky. 'Not quite done yet. Just a couple of things to complete the look.'

He reached for Luci's right breast, rolling the already hard nipple in his fingers, before fixing a clamp on it, screwing the mechanism down until Luci audibly gasped. He worked quickly, and it was just a minute until the left matched the right, a chain hanging from the two clamps.

Marie could sense John was going to go all the the way with this, and sure enough, he reached into his pocket again. Marie watched as he lent in, talking calmly to Luci. 'One last thing, pony. You know what it is...'

He stepped back, and Marie saw now that he had hung a weight from the chain. She watched as Luci's breathing changed, became rapid, then eased back again, as John continued to talk to her. 'Good girl... You can do this...'

Finally, John turned back to Marie, who was still focused on Luci's chest, the weight rising and falling gently with each breath. 'Shall we race?'