Carla could feel his breath.

      She couldn't see him, of course. Baroness Wilhelmina Bilbrew liked her ponies fitted with the ultimate in blinders -- a hood which covered their eyes completely. Carla couldn't even peek out down between her nostrils and cheeks, the hood fitted so well. She was efficiently blinded, all because the Baroness wanted to ensure that her harnessed animals responded to the most subtle rein signals, rather than what they could see. Rein training took months in the Bilbrew stables, but the ponygirls learned the most important signals extremely fast. They had to. But even after the training, the hoods stayed on perpetually.

      Carla had spent the past thirty-seven months in darkness, for this reason. It was a trust issue, teaching the poor filly to be completely dependent on her grooms and riders. In the same fashion, her arms had been affixed behind her, elbows touching, wrists tucked in against the crack of her buttocks, tucked under the seat that was her artificial tail. They gave her daily electrostimulants to ensure that her muscles didn't atrophy, but she wasn't otherwise permitted any arm movement. And really, the electrostimulants were only administered "in case" the Baroness ever needed her ponies to have use of their arms. Chances are, that wouldn't happen.

      The hot breath of her admirer migrated from her cheek to her right breast. She knew that her harness and trappings left her mounds exposed -- all except for the nipples protected by silver pierced-on mini-cones -- and that he could touch her at any time. Quite often, her handlers did. And with her arms pinned, she could do nothing to stop it. Even if she tried to pull away, she knew she'd pay the price with a cropping on her ass and thighs.

      She couldn't tell when her lower regions were about to be inspected, though. Any time she was being examined there, the viewer's eyes were usually further away just due to height differences, so there would be no breath felt upon her. In fact, the only thing obscuring her nether reaches to anyone even at a distance was a small tassel which dangled precariously over it. It took no effort to sweep that tassel to the side. It often bounced or swayed out of the way of its own accord, anyway. Who knew? Perhaps someone was looking at her pussy right that moment....

      The tassel was diabolical. It covered nothing, it simply teased the eye, and drew attention to her nakedness. Too, if she simply marched whenever being driven or rode, it would sway from side to side. But if she galloped with a little spring in her step, it would slap against her clit and labia, and after awhile would create a powerfully exciting experience. Needless to say, most of the Baroness' ponies developed a sprightly, prancing gait. But aside from the four days' maintanence per month, the little mound was always exposed to the open air.

      She heard some footsteps crushing dried leaves, nearing her and her unseen inspector. "Carla's a pretty little mare, isn't she?" It was a female voice, approaching. Carla had heard that voice once or twice recently, as a visitor to the stables.

      Her admirer's hand rubbed her flanks as he turned to answer the visitor. "I don't know why the Baroness even puts this one in the auction every fall. The opening bid is always too high for any reasonable man to try to buy her."

      The female voice snorted, amused. "She doesn't really want to sell her, that's all. It's tradition that all of the animals on the compound be made available, but Carla is one of her favorites. She's not going to let her go without a fight."

      The comment gave Carla a warm feeling. Even in her interaction with the Baroness, there had been no indication that the cold-seeming woman had felt this way. In a twisted way, she felt joyous at the affirmation.

      At the same time, she felt a little preturbed by the way they were discussing her. It was if she weren't sentient at all -- just an animal with no thoughts or feelings on the matter. It was how she was always treated, being told only the things she needed to know. It was impossible to reply or ask questions, too, with the bit in her mouth, held fast by a barbell stud which passed through the bit and her pinned pierced tongue. She had been reduced to the level of livestock, trained, bound, saddled up in an impossibly narrow corset-harness and kept blind and ignorant of the world beyond her hood. It was the life she had signed up for willingly -- and even welcomed -- just over three years ago.

      "The Baroness must spoil this one rotten," the male voice speculated, his wandering hand skimming up the crack in her ass to the plug lodged in her rectum. Over the past few years, she had been gradually worked up to the largest plug size available in the stables, and she had become accustomed to wearing it for the better part of the day. Recently, though, her usual plug was replaced by another -- it was of similar girth, but was mercury-filled, and the liquid inside it would swish with even the slightest movement, creating a creepy sensation, as though the plug were wiggling aroung inside her. When his finger touched her anus, she jumped slightly, and the jiggle within the plug almost created the illusion of his finger entering her, there.

      "Oh, she does," the female voice replied. Carla would have been more than eager to argue with her. She felt that the Baroness was incredibly strict and even cruel at times. But she was unable to make a sound. "She does spoil them. That's why I've just been hired on at the stables here. I'm the new Veterinarian, here to enforce some new, stricter discipline. That plug you just fingered there, that's one of my designs. It's more diabolical than it looks, trust me. The new poodles that Regina and Victoria are leading around the estate are also my handiwork."

      "Really? They're amazing. The muzzles look extremely effective. But how did you truncate their legs at the knee?" The man's hand circled around Carla's front to trace little idle circles in her pubic hair. She shivered at his words but was half distracted by the touch, debating whether to spread her knees to encourage him to continue his ministrations lower. But she knew this new woman would probably punish her for it.

      "Oh, I'm a surgeon, as well as an engineer. Anything that I can envision, I can build. Like for these fillies, here. They've got some bad habits that need to be curbed, badly. Many of our ponies get all hot and bothered from the racetrack, and masturbate themselves on a post or each others' legs. This one's particularily bad for rutting all the time. And then it takes the edge off their energy when it comes time for racing. Well, in the coming week, we'll be fixing that...." A finger plunged into her pussy, and retreated covered in Carla's juices. Then, it returned to her intimates, tickling her lips and circling the hooded center of her ecstasy. The touch was gentler, and Carla decided it was the woman's hand invading her orifice. "See what I mean? She's creaming already."

      "What do you plan to do with her?" A crunching of leaves indicated that someone else was joining them, but it was the first man who spoke.

      The Veterinarian laughed. "Well, I've developed a little marble that attaches itself to this little ball of flesh, here." The finger circled Carla's clitoris, eliciting a moan of pleasure from the ponygirl. Instantly, the sound was punished by a shock administered by the piercing in her tongue. Even moans and whines were forbidden. "It'll prevent her from feeling sensation there, and deliver punishment if it detects that she's becoming too excited from other stimulation." Carla whimpered in alarm, causing her to receive another punishing shock to her tongue. Suddenly, she realized what form of punishment this diabolical new witch in Carla's life was referring to. The thought of being shocked in so intimate a place terrified the pony, and tears welled up in her eyes.

      "Isn't that cruel?" the first man asked. The second remained silent, probably studying the pony and appraising her.

      "Not at all. It's just more advantageous. If we keep our herd horny but frustrated, they'll have a lot more energy to channel into other things -- like racing. Carla's a great runner, when she doesn't exhaust herself. We'll be helping her meet her potential."

      "That is, if someone doesn't buy her at the auction, today," the new man joined in.

      "True, true. Well," the woman sighed, "I must be going. If you like, you can bid on this mare when she goes on the auction block at 4:00 today. But be prepared for a fight from the Baroness. Meanwhile, if you're checking her out, be sure to make her prance for you. She's got great legs."

      A crunching of leaves signalled the new Veterinarian's departure. The two men continued putting Carla through her paces, fondling her, tilting her head to check out her features, making her prance in place. Her heart was leaping. They had to bid on her! They had to! Someone had to buy her and save her from the alternative...!