The Widower

Marie was waiting for him in an atrium that had been added to the back of the house, looking over a considerable stretch of open ground, with what looked like an athletic track close to the house. Out on the distance, he could see the open moorland.

It was just the two of them over lunch, a spread of sandwiches and tea, Jane having served them before being dismissed, John's eyes following her as she left the room.

'She is quite delightful, isn't she?' Marie said, conversationally.

'At my disposal, she told me. What exactly would that include?'

'Whatever you wish, practically.' She stirred her tea, setting the spoon in the saucer. We do have another sideline in training females who wish to experience the classical domestic side of sexual servitude.'

'Did Lesley ever do anything like that?

'No. She submitted to discipline tasks that required her to scrub floors inside the house, but generally, we've found that someone interested in serving domestically is not interested in becoming a pony.'

John stood up and looked out of the window. He pointed with the sandwich he held in his right hand. 'If I'm right with my directions, isn't Lesley's cottage over in that direction?' He indicated the Moors beyond the track.

'Yes. It's a good 20 miles or so over the Moors to Rose Cottage.' She paused, then carried on. 'Why do you still refer to it as Lesley's cottage. It's yours now.'

'It's not. It's not somewhere I ever lived in, ever saw. It's got her fingerprints all over it, and none of mine.'

Marie changed the subject. 'We have access to the Moors over that way, but most of what we do here takes place either behind closed doors in the stable buildings, or behind the walls.'

'I still don't fully understand what you mean by training..'

'You'll see this in action, John, as we do have a few ponies in the stables at the moment, but essentially, we train the ponies as you would a horse. We train for strength, endurance and speed. We train them to obey commands, to run on a rein, to run in harness. We use discipline and rewards to keep the ponies focused.'

'Discipline? I saw an image of Lesley that looked more like torture!'

'Everything here is consensual. Indeed we interview people carefully before they are accepted, and make sure they understand exactly what they are letting themselves in for. Discipline is a part of that process, and just like a horse needs to be broken in, some of our wilder ponies need a sturdier hand than others.' She smiled at that. 'Lesley and I needed quite a bit of breaking, and Lesley developed a taste for discipline that she never lost.'

'And the rewards?'

Marie chuckled. 'What do you think? A more or less naked woman, often chained..'

John thought back to the times Lesley would come in from a run and fuck him, and the look on his face must have been quite obvious as Marie continued, 'I see you do understand. They get to orgasm.'

'Lesley trained on her own at the cottage, and yet she also came here?'

'Yes. As I said, she got a taste for the discipline, and she couldn't do that to herself. Also, she loved to run the Moors, so often she would warm up at the cottage, run to here, stay a few days, then run back.'

'And what about you? What are you getting out of this, Marie?'

Marie sat back in her chair. 'As Lesley found she enjoyed the discipline, and all that entailed, I found I enjoyed giving it.' She sipped her tea. 'I'm a lesbian John, a dominant lesbian. I found that I enjoyed the idea and then the practice of giving the discipline, and leading the training of the ponies far more than I did receiving it. I just moved into the other side of the equation. Eventually, the whole operation was left to me.'

John had one question on his mind. 'How on Earth do you get...,' he nearly said clients, but then he corrected himself. '... ponies?'

'There's two ways.' Marie held up one finger. 'Firstly, the ponygirl fetish is surprisingly widespread. I have contacts in the main fetish stores in the UK and Europe, and if someone purchased the right sort of gear, the shop will gently question them about their interest, and if they feel there is a good match, they get passed a card and a web address.'

'Then there are the people like Lesley and I. The tearaways, the troublemakers. Those with a talent for running but who won't knuckle down and apply themselves. If they are lucky, someone they know will point them in this direction, help them to turn themselves around.'

'Like your old Gym teacher...'

Like Miss Haine...' Marie nodded. 'I looked her up in the files once I started working here. She knew what this place could offer us, as it had done the same for her.'

John nodded and finished his tea. 'How many ponies do you have in the stable now?'

'Three actual ponies, including one regular visitor, and one new arrival that we are just starting to break in, and then there is Jane, of course. Not a pony, as I said, but someone who has a service fetish.'

Marie stood, and smoothed down her jodhpurs. 'I think we've talked enough. Time to show you the business end of things.'