Gabrielle drifted slowly upwards from a deep well of unconsciousness, her eyes fluttering and her lips curving into a sleepy smile as she savoured the delicious eroticism of the images that had filled her dreams.

Through half-closed eyes she looked without recognition at a fence of tall iron bars and her brow furrowed as her sleep-dazed brain tried to imagine why Matthew would have such an odd thing in his bedroom…..?

Her eyes sprang open and she gave a low squeal of alarm as the thought of Matthew triggered a host of memories.

Instantly she knew exactly where she was…and why…and knew, too, that her thrilling dreams had not been dreams at all, but memories of real events.

Every vivid fantasy that had filled her rest with shamefully-explicit visions of bondage and sexual subjugation, had actually taken place and been faithfully recorded in the memory-bank of her mind, only to be re-played to her as she slept.

She remembered everything…the moment she allowed herself to be bound for the first time… the incredible combination of cropping and arousal that had eventually led her to beg to be trained to serve as a pony-slave…right up to her screams of ecstasy and willing submission to her Master’s hands as she dangled from the hook under the shower.

The hook to which she had secured her own wrists…….

A pink glow of embarrassment flooded her cheeks and she sat up quickly…but as soon as she moved, there was a rattle of chain and she felt weight at her throat.

She remembered that, too and as her hands followed the steel links up to the leather collar padlocked around her neck, Gabrielle shivered, knowing that she was not going anywhere until her Master released her.

And unless he had had a dramatic change of heart overnight, that wouldn’t happen until after she had been re-harnessed and was again helplessly bound and gagged.

Surprisingly, she found herself able to face the prospect quite calmly, even rather looking forward to being at Matthew’s mercy and having to obey him and as she remembered how totally he had dominated her and forced her to surrender to the incredible ecstasy of her own passions, a fierce, hot flame of sexual arousal ignited in her belly.

Ashamed of her immediate response to her thoughts, she tried to distract herself by rising to her feet and examining the loose-box where she had spent the night.

Ten feet square, the rear wall of bricks and the others formed by thick steel bars, its stone floor covered in straw, there was nothing to take a watcher’s eye away from the occupant and Gabrielle quickly realised that there was no way she could hide her nudity from anyone on the other side of the bars.

Without thinking, she moved towards the door, only to be jerked to a halt as the chain to her collar snapped taut with her outstretched hand still a foot or so away from the large padlock which secured the gate.

No matter what she did, her fingers couldn’t reach the lock and as this fresh evidence of Matthew’s determination to hold her captive sank into her brain, her eyes widened at the confirmation that he was completely serious about his plans for her.

He meant to turn her into an obedient, docile pony-slave and although the idea appealed to her more than she cared to admit to herself, Gabrielle was frighteningly conscious that if she allowed herself to submit, there might be no going back.

She wanted to please him and couldn’t deny that her experiences of the previous evening as his harnessed, bit-gagged and utterly defenceless sex-toy, had been the most incredible and intensely satisfying sexual adventure of her entire life.

His uncompromising dominance and ruthless plundering of her body had unlocked something deep down in the furthest recesses of her brain and freed a side of her nature that Gabrielle had not even suspected that she possessed.

A deep vein of submissive, slightly masochistic passion that had transformed her fear into arousal, her humiliation into ferocious need, her despair into unbearable longing and even the pain of her whippings into overwhelming pleasure

And she knew that it would be so, so easy, to surrender to the seductive allure of permanent slavery.

To simply give in to her awakened desires for bondage and subjugation.

To accept her fate and the ecstatic rapture of serving her Master as a full and willing slave.

But, knowing what such a total surrender would mean……did she dare to give herself so completely……….?

Before she could reach her decision, bolts rattled and as she turned towards the sound, she saw Matthew walk through the door towards her, his muscular body clad in immaculate riding-clothes, even down to gleaming black boots and a long, thin crop gripped in his right hand.

He was smiling, but as he saw her standing in her stable watching him, his handsome face creased into a frown of displeasure.

It took Gabrielle two seconds to realise her error, then she gave a weak grin and nodded, putting her arms behind her back, crossing her wrists and spreading her legs to present her body to his gaze as he had instructed her the day before.

“Hmm. Slow, pony-girl, very slow,” he said flatly, “You will have to do better if you wish to avoid punishment. Now, put these on behind your back and kneel in the centre of your stable,” and tossed the handcuffs to the straw at her feet.

Gabrielle looked down at the cuffs, then raised her eyes to his face, “Uh…now look, Matthew,” she said slowly, “We need to talk, darling.”

“Do we?” he replied calmly, “Very well, Gabrielle. Talk to me, then,” and began to tap the crop against his polished boot.

She took a deep breath, “I’ve been thinking about being your pony-girl and I’m pretty sure I can do it. For a while, anyway. But not forever. I mean, yesterday was great and just amazingly exciting, being tied up and harnessed and having to obey you and…and please you and everything…but we’ve both got to be realistic, haven’t we? There’s no way we can play games permanently, even if we both want to, can we? I’ve got a job and a living to make, haven’t I?”

“Hmm,” his lips pursed in thought, then he grinned, “Not today, pony-girl. It’s the weekend, or had you forgotten? We don’t have to think about boring things like your job for almost another forty-eight hours.”

Gabrielle had forgotten and as she saw his grin and jumped to the conclusion that the end of the weekend would also bring an end to her captivity, she giggled in relief, “Oh, well, in that case………” and she sank to her knees to pick up the cuffs.

Fitting the first steel ring around her left wrist, she closed it carefully to a snug fit, then put her arms behind her and fumbled with the second cuff until she managed to get it around her other wrist.

With a deep breath, she squeezed firmly and as the ratchets clicked, fierce heat coiled in her belly to the knowledge that she was at his mercy again.

“Up,” he ordered casually and when she rose to her feet, he unlocked the chain to her collar and replaced it with a leather leash, using it to lead her from her stable, through the tack room and into the main lounge.

Her nostrils twitched to the delicious scent of cooking and she suddenly realised how hungry she was.

She hadn’t eaten for almost twenty-four hours and when he led her over to the table and told her to kneel beside his chair, she obeyed at once and arched her spine to display her body as he flipped up a floor tile and knotted her leash to the ring beneath it.

“Much better, pony-girl,” he said approvingly and Gabrielle flushed with embarrassed pleasure as his eyes drank in her posed nudity, “I’ll fetch breakfast and then we’ll start your training.”

But her pleasure was short-lived, for when he returned, his meal was on a normal plate, while hers was in the steel dog bowl.

Her mouth opened to protest, but as he murmured, “If you’re not hungry, I can always take it away, pony-girl,” she bit back her objections and made herself accept the humiliation, bending low to nuzzle at the food.

Thankfully, he ate his breakfast in silence, not adding to her frustration and shame as she chased her food around the bowl until her lips could fasten on the eggs and bacon and sausage and when she had finished, he simply used his napkin to clean the food smears off her chin and cheeks without comment.

“OK,” he said calmly, “Time to get you harnessed,” and untying her leash from the ring, he let her rise and took her to the tack room.

A delicious warmth rippled through her belly as he began to fit her with her pony-girl uniform and as the basque tightened to compress her already-slim waist and the spike-heeled boots added inches to her height, she watched herself in the full-length mirror, secretly delighted and only a little embarrassed by the way her body was enhanced and displayed by the revealing costume.

She hesitated when he picked up the posture-collar, remembering how restrictive and controlling it was, but as he paused and asked, “Problem, pony-girl?” she reminded herself that she was only playing a game with him and would have to be freed to return to work after the weekend.

“No, Master,” she replied humbly and arched her neck to allow him to buckle the heavy leather around her throat after removing her padlock-collar and leash.

“Good,” he chuckled, “Only your single-glove, hobble and bridle to fit, then you’ll be all set, won’t you?”

With the handcuffs removed from her wrists, she winced and complained as the leather clamped her arms behind her back, “Oof, that’s awfully tight, Matth…Master. Couldn’t you loosen it just a bit? Please. You know I can’t get free even if I wanted to.”

He smiled at her, “True,” he agreed, “But do you want to free yourself?”

Gabrielle felt her face flush, “Well…No…Not really…” she admitted shyly, “I…like being tied up and…and at your mercy, Master. Knowing that you can do whatever you want to me and I can’t st…stop you.”

Matthew nodded, “Me too,” he grinned, “So, as we both like you the way you are, there’s no need to loosen anything, is there? In fact, I think a little extra security wouldn’t hurt,” and before she could react, he grabbed the discarded leather leash, snapped it into the ring on the front of her posture-collar and quickly knotted it to a convenient ringbolt, tethering her with only a few inches of slack.

Fastened in place and unable to turn her head because of the posture-collar, Gabrielle could only tug vainly at the leather and protest as she felt three broad straps tighten around her wrists, forearms and biceps, welding her arms immovably and removing any hope of escape and as hobbles were buckled above her knees and connected with nine inches of thick chain, she shivered to the knowledge of her total helplessness.

“Open your mouth, pony-girl,” Matthew ordered firmly and as his crop flicked across her naked buttocks, she gasped in alarm and her belly flared with instant heat at the unmistakable message.

She was a harnessed pony-girl and if she resisted or disobeyed, a punishment would inevitably follow.

There was no choice and Gabrielle knew it.

The cranked steel bar slipped into her open mouth and as straps tightened around and over her head, she whimpered in anguish and was forced to bite down on the rubber-covered bit.

Incapable of speech, she squealed and writhed as his hands snaked around her body to capture her breasts, his thumbs and fingers rolling and squeezing her delicate nipples to throbbing rigidity as he exerted his complete Mastery over her and forced her to respond.

Fierce arousal raced through her belly as he ignored her futile efforts to evade his touch and when he eventually took his hands away and chuckled, “That’s enough for now, pony-girl. You’ve got work to do,” she whimpered in need and loss, wanting more.

But her needs and wants were no longer the deciding factors of what she got and as Matthew untied her leash and gave a firm pull, she had to follow where he chose to lead her, the chain linking her hobbles clinking musically as she stumbled forward on her towering high-heels.

She hadn’t realised that it had rained hard overnight and when Matthew opened the door and she saw the sodden grass of the meadow, her spirits soared to her assumption that it meant her training would have to be postponed and that she would have the chance to use her feminine wiles to persuade him to spend the day in much more enjoyable activities.

Even fully harnessed and bitted as she was, she was still confident that she could seduce him and once she was in his bed, it would be up to her to convince him that a willing and enthusiastic lover would give him a lot more fun and pleasure than trying to train a reluctant pony-girl.

Her reasoning was sound and her conclusions perfectly valid….but unfortunately, Gabrielle never got the opportunity to put her plan into operation.

Without stopping, Matthew towed her out of the house and across the wet grass towards the much larger building she had noticed the night before, then pushed open the door and pulled her inside.

Disappointed by the failure of her idea, she took two steps and stopped dead, her eyes widening as she saw the thick layer of peat that covered almost the entire floor area and the well-worn track that formed a huge circle around a tall wooden post in the centre.

With her love of horses, she recognised instantly what she was looking at and even before Matthew confirmed it, she knew that the building was an indoor riding arena.

But there were no horses….only her….and as Matthew added cheerfully, “It’s a pity about the rain, pony-girl, but not to worry. We’ll just begin your training in here and move it outside when the paddock dries out,” she realised that not even bad weather was going to be able to help her.

Resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to put up with being trained as a pony-girl whether she liked it or not, Gabrielle made no resistance as he led her to the central post, then lifted a long coil of braided leather rope from a hook and snapped the clip at its end into the ring of her posture-collar before removing her leash.

“OK, pony-girl,” he said casually, dropping the rest of the rope to the floor, “Let’s get on with it. Go out as far as the track and when the lunge-rein is taut, start walking anti-clockwise, making sure to keep your head up, your back straight and your knees lifting as high as the hobbles allow. Off you go.”

Gabrielle tried glaring at him, but he seemed impervious to the angry glitter in her eyes and when she saw his fingers begin to toy with the handle of the crop at his belt, she decided not to push him too far.

He had already proved that he was quite prepared to enforce his orders by whipping her if he decided it was necessary and having felt the fiery bite of the crop, she had no desire to feel it again……even though it had given her an incredibly intense orgasm.

Turning her back to him was a weak, even pathetically futile gesture, but it was the only way she could express her annoyance at him and although she was well aware that it wouldn’t make any difference, it made her feel a little better as she trudged reluctantly out to the track.

The lunge-rein uncoiled smoothly behind her until, as she reached the peat circle, it lifted from the ground and she turned to her left as she felt its slight weight drag at her posture-collar.

Not enough to affect her breathing or balance, the pull was nevertheless highly effective and insistent, its presence a constant, nagging reminder that she was controlled and no longer free to wander wherever she pleased.

It was an extraordinary feeling and Gabrielle was still trying to decide whether she rather liked being restricted it, or hated it for limiting her freedom to a circle bounded by its length, when she heard Matthew call, “Walk on, pony-girl,” and felt a sharp, stinging pain at her left thigh.

She yelped in surprise, twisting her torso to stare at him and as she saw a long, thin coach-whip in his hand, her eyes widened in alarm.

“Walk on,” he repeated firmly, flicking his wrist to send the whip’s thong across her left buttock and Gabrielle squealed in anguish and stumbled forward, her bottom and thigh both smarting from the skilfully-delivered lashes.

Only to receive several more as he ordered, “Head up pony-girl. Keep your back straight. And get those knees lifting. Higher. Higher, I said.”

Tethered by the lunge-rein, Gabrielle was unable to evade the whip by retreating and foolishly attempted to outrun it, her booted feet thudding on the peat and her hobble-chain clinking and rattling as she tried to escape its cruel torment.

“Whoa, pony-girl. Stop, dammit,” Matthew yelled, but panic had Gabrielle in its grip and she raced on, unheeding.

Until her hobble-chain tripped her and she crashed to the floor, knocking the breath from her lungs.

Dazed and winded, she lay in the dirt gasping for air as Matthew hurried over and knelt by her side, his eyes worried as he checked to ensure that she was uninjured.

Then he shook his head angrily, “You crazy idiot. What did you think you were doing? You could have been really hurt. Don’t ever try that again, you scared me half to death.”

His concern was obviously genuine and as the laboured heaving of her breasts eased, Gabrielle flushed in shame and remorse, knowing that she had allowed her fears to get the better of her and that she should have trusted him not to really hurt her.

Nodding her head, crinkling her eyes and mumbling around her bit-gag, she tried to tell him that she was all right and as he frowned and asked, “You’re trying to tell me that you’re OK, are you?” she nodded repeatedly until he accepted her assurances.

“Right then,” he told her firmly, “You’ve learned your lesson, so let’s get you back on your feet and we’ll try that again.”

Her eyes widened in dismay as she realised that he was going to continue her training and he saw her reaction and gave a deep chuckle, “What’s the matter, pony-girl? Surely you didn’t think a little tumble like that would get you out of training, did you? I’m not that soft, or that easy to persuade. It was all your own fault anyway, so come on, get on your feet and hurry up about it.”

With her arms useless to her and her knees hobbled, it was hard for Gabrielle to obey….and the task was certainly not made any easier when his crop cracked across her bottom and as she squealed to the fierce heat, he grinned and told her that he was getting impatient……………

Somehow, she managed it, but not before he had administered two more strokes to her buttocks, turning them a bright shade of red.

Whimpering in pained despair at her undeserved punishment, she hollowed her spine, thrust her breasts forward and spread her thighs as much as she could, hoping her arched body would save her from any more cropping.

It worked, but not quite as she had intended, because he simply smiled and said, “Excellent, pony-girl. I see you’ve remembered how to display properly,” then reached out and captured her nipples, rolling the tender buds between his thumbs and fingers.

She couldn’t hold back a low moan as arousal shot through her breasts and as she fought not to move he nodded in satisfaction, “You see, pony-girl,” he told her, continuing to fondle her, “Training isn’t all about crops and punishment, you know. An obedient, well-disciplined little pony can earn herself nice rewards like this. It all depends on how smart she is and how quickly she realises that it’s in her best interests to try hard to be pleasing. I wonder how smart you are?”

Gabrielle stared pleadingly at his smiling face, her nipples stiff and throbbing with delicious need as he took his fingers away and said, “That’s enough for now, pony-girl. If you want more, then you know what you have to do, don’t you?”

She wanted to scream and fight and stamp her feet in frustration, but understood that if she gave in to the temptation, it would only give him a reason to discipline her again and make her wait even longer for more of his touch.

And despite knowing full well that he was using her sexual excitement and need as a training-tool……..she did want more…………..

Feeling her cheeks flush, she gave a shame-faced nod of agreement.

“Good,” he said briefly and walked back to the post in the centre, picked up the coach-whip and ordered, “Continue, pony-girl.”

The whip cracked warningly behind her and Gabrielle resumed her long walk to nowhere, concentrating her whole attention on keeping her head up, spine straight and knees lifting high as her trainer and Master required………………….