Katryn and the girls had, again, been awakened by Randor’s handlers as dawn was just breaking and taken out to the trench to relieve themselves. It was another fine mid spring day with a light ground haze and the promise of being warm and sunny. Although still somewhat disconcerting, this ritual was losing some of the humiliation it held for the four, especially as they noticed that it didn’t seem to bother the numerous other girls that they saw there. The four were beginning to subconsciously accept the animal nature of their lives as they now were.

When the four had finished, the handlers had checked to see if they required any cleanup as the elves had done when they were on the trail. With their hands held as they had been on the trail with their chains and were now by their harnesses, the girls were certainly incapable of handling that task themselves. In the past week the four had begun to notice that their bowels had become remarkably regular and only required relieving once a day and only in the morning shortly after awakening. This seemed to be true for all the girls in the facility and explained why the four had seen virtually no evidence of waste anywhere on the grounds. They also noticed that their wastes, like those of the other girls at the trench, were rather dry eliminating the need for cleanup. This explained how the two mounted girls that they had seen the day before could relieve themselves without their riders dismounting.

Bladder relief, however, was something that was required by all girls several times a day due to the large quantities of water that they drank as they were exercised. In most cases this was done whenever and wherever the need arose, the exception being the training carousels. When being run on carousels during their breaks for water, girls were removed and taken to an adjacent area for bladder relief. This area consisted of a large pit filled with sand for such relief as otherwise with six girls training, a carousel path would quickly become a smelly, muddy mess. New girls learned quickly to hold their urine when on the carousels. They also learned to use the waste pail which was located in their stalls.

The girls would soon learn that today’s training would be different from that of yesterday and would concentrate on beginning to develop their running speed and endurance as opposed to building their strength. This practice of alternation would continue throughout their months of training as the elves had long known it to be the most effective method for building and perfecting all of the physical characteristics that they desired in their mounts. Also, today they would be saddled for the first time.

Following their relief visit, the handlers took Katryn and her friends back to their stable and fed and watered them. While the girls were eating, the handlers proceeded to groom them as they had the day before and would each day of their training. This grooming began with a quick brushing of the girl’s bodies to remove any straw or dirt that they might have picked up while sleeping. Next came a thorough brushing of their hair, or “mane” as girl’s hair was called in the elves’ language, and fastening it up into a high pony tale located to clear the straps of their bridles. All four girls had shoulder length hair which had been prescribed by the elders of their village. Most elders wanted girls’ hair to be long enough for them to hold on to for control when they were being used, but not long enough to get in the way of their daily work in the shops and fields.

The length of a girl’s hair or mane was, seemingly, a matter of personal choice on the part of her elf owner. Most elves kept their girl’s manes a bit longer than shoulder length and generally fastened it up in a classic pony tale when riding or driving the girl. At that length it could also be braided into either a single or twin braids and used as a bridle for casual riding. Others preferred short manes kept in short page boy or even pixie type cuts which required much less in the way of grooming. Unless a girl’s mane was quite long to start, Randor’s practice was to let them grow throughout their training period. This way the choice of mane length would be that of her buyer when a girl was sold.

The final stage of the girls’ grooming was the application of a light oily lotion over their faces and entire bodies as had been done with them daily since their capture. This lotion, in addition to giving them a beautiful tanned appearance, also protected them from the sun. It did not come off when they sweated, but only when the elves washed them with plenty of soap and water at the end of the day.

By this time the girls had finished eating, so they were bridled for their days work. Katryn again refused to accept her bit from her handler so was left for Randor to attend to when he arrived.

Just as the handlers were finishing with the girls, Randor and Latkin rode in to the stable on Vixin and Berin who appeared to be a pair of very relaxed mares. Shortly thereafter Prindor arrived aboard Lacie, who also seemed quite content. She, too, had also enjoyed a visit Glynda’s since her return from the raid where the girls had been captured. They were followed shortly by Rolf riding the “big chested” black maned girl who was now fitted with proper supports for her large breasts. She seemed a bit jumpy as she had not seen a stallion for over two weeks. Randor had plans for the black and the other girls that he would be selling next week that included a visit to Glynda’s place the night before their sale. Relaxed and contented girls always seemed to bring higher prices.

All four of the elves mounts were shod with light leather ankle high shoes with studded soles designed for the serious running they would be doing today. From their body movements it was clear that the four were anxious to get started. Randor, Latkin and Prindor all simply ground hitched their thoroughly trained mounts, while Rolf tied the black to one of the spare hitching posts.

Before he entered her stall, Randor noticed that Katryn’s bridle was hanging on a hook just outside the stall door and she, unlike the other three, was not bridled. He laughed out loud as he took the bridle from the hook and, tossing it over his shoulder, walked in to her stall.

“Little Red,” he said. “I see you are being ornery and wouldn’t let Ani bridle you again this morning. I guess it’s just no fun for you to match wills with anyone but me. Well, I guess that’s alright. I enjoy it as well. It certainly brings back memories.”

Out of his field of vision, Vixin shook her head back and forth slowly while her bright green eyes followed the elf.

Katryn just stood in the middle of her stall and stared at the elf. Even though the barred stall doors could not be unlocked by them, wild girls were usually kept tethered with a lead rope on their collars as well. This precaution prevented a girl from attempting to bolt when her stall was opened, and also made it easier for an elf to immediately take control of her upon entering the stall. The lead rope was normally tied to a ring set into a wall and was long enough to allow the girl to reach any part of her stall. This ring was generally located at a convenient height for an elf to reach which put it usually about waist high on a girl.

When Randor looked to the ring to untie Katryn’s lead rope, he quickly noticed that it, like her reins the day before, was untied and lying on the floor. This fact surprised and startled him at first, but when he turned his gaze toward the filly he quickly realized that he was not in any danger from her. Although Randor preferred not to consciously consider it, inside he knew that Little Red was smiling slyly at him and her green eyes were twinkling. However, shaking his head and smiling himself, he simply walked over to her, took hold of the rope and pulled down gently telling her to kneel.

Katryn resisted kneeling while locking eyes with Randor. He maintained his downward pressure on her lead and just kept repeating, “Down girl, down girl.”

After almost a minute, Katryn realized that she could no longer maintain her stare with his penetrating eyes so, tossing her head as if to say, “Oh well, as long as you understand I’m doing this on my terms,” she knelt for him.

Randor quickly presented her bit to the filly, and with only a brief hesitation she resignedly opened her mouth to accept it. Rather than pulling her head down to buckle the straps of her bridle, Randor stepped behind the kneeling filly to accomplish the task. He then began to rub her neck and shoulders as she sat back on her heels. He then massaged her back until he could feel her tight muscles begin to relax. He moved his attention down to her lower back and hips further relaxing her.

At the same time that he was relaxing the girl prior to her day’s exercise, Randor was also measuring her to determine if any of his many saddles would fit this filly properly. Due to the many different girls that passed through his facilities Randor had, over the years, collected saddles to fit a wide range of shapes and sizes. However, he had some concern for Little Red because, although her small waist and comparatively wide hips gave her an ideal shape for riding, her small stature would likely make fitting her precisely somewhat difficult.

Randor was always concerned about the health and comfort of all of the girls that he trained, and took great care to make certain that all or their tack fit correctly. The fit of a saddle was especially critical as a poorly fitted one definitely caused a girl to fatigue more quickly which slowed her training. At worst, bad saddle fit could cause saddle sores which halted a girl’s training entirely until the sores healed. Randor’s facility was developing a strong reputation for selling girls known for their strength, speed and endurance on long hard rides. Developing this capability in a saddle girl required that she be trained accordingly. In their last month or so of training it was not unusual for Randor to have his girls ridden twenty or thirty miles at least once every few days with a lot of that distance being covered at a fast pace. To be able to handle this level of intense training, a girl’s saddle had to fit her very well.

When he sold his girls, Randor made it extremely clear to their new owners that they could only expect top performance from their new girl with a perfectly fitting saddle, and referred them to Bothar. The vast majority of Randor’s customers accepted his judgment and immediately took their new purchases to Bother’s for a custom fitting. Naturally, Bothar paid Randor a commission for his referrals, but the results were such that few complained. A sort of understanding was growing in the saddle girl business to the effect that “if you can afford a Randor trained girl, you can afford one of Bothar’s saddles for her”.

For many saddle makers fancy decorative appearance and the comfort of the rider were the primary seatures and fit and comfort for the girl of secondary concern. Top quality saddles like Bothar’s were designed to fit nearly perfectly with the comfort of the mount as the primary consideration. They, of course, were also quite comfortable for the rider; the combination of which allowed a girl to be ridden hard for long distances.

In addition to comfort, a primary requirement for a good saddle is that it locates her rider’s weight precisely on a girl’s back so that it is supported with a very minimum of muscular effort. This, of course, means that it is really the girl’s bones that support her saddle and rider not her muscles. Well designed saddles accomplish this by placing the rider’s weight directly over a girl’s hips so that it is supported by the pelvic bones and through them into the hip joints and on through her legs to the ground. Fitted with such a saddle a girl uses very little muscular effort in supporting her rider when just standing still. Virtually all the strength of her superbly developed muscles is used to move her and her rider.

Riding two legged animals such as girls presents a unique challenge. The rider’s feet and legs most be kept clear of those of the mount. This is done partially by training and conditioning saddle girls to assume what was referred to as a “riding posture” when mounted where the girl’s rump is pushed back and the lower back hollowed until closer to horizontal. The hang of the stirrups from the saddle along with how they are used are also important factors in keeping a rider’s feet and legs clear of the thighs and knees of a mounted girl.

Elves’ bodies were proportioned in a similar way to those of humans, however being less than half the size of humans, the legs of elves were short by comparison. Dropping straight down, stirrups did not need to hang far below the sides of the saddle to be a comfortable fit for most elves when riding. However, in a straight drop position the girl’s thighs or knees could hit her rider’s feet especially when running. As such, elves generally rode with their feet in the stirrups but held either forward or back. Feet forward was a comfortable position and most frequently used when the girl was being walked or paced. When a girl was being run, elf riders tended to bend their knees back to bring their feet back even with their mount’s flanks. This position kept the rider’s feet well clear of her rapidly moving legs even in long strides. Also, in this position the rider’s spurs were wellpositioned should the rider deem it necessary to apply extra encouragement to the running girl.

Good riding posture, where the girl’s lower back is hollowed until it approaches the horizontal, contributes to centering the rider’s weight over her pelvic bones even when ridden bareback. Human females unlike most human males have the ability to assume such a posture naturally, and trainers like Randor took steps to significantly develop and encourage that ability.

Katryn and her friends were about to learn that they were going to be saddled this morning. The saddles that would be used today would have the stirrups removed as the girls would not be carrying riders for some time yet. Today, the saddles would be empty but shortly the girls would begin to learn to carry weight in the form of bags of sand attached to their saddles. The weight each girl would carry would be increased as her strength grew until, near the end of her training, she would be carrying as much as three times the weight of an elf.

Even when in a good “riding posture” the fact that a girl’s back was never really horizontal made the use of saddle blankets as cushions between the saddle and a girl’s back impractical as blankets tended to slip or bunch up. Instead a fleece lined pad was attached to the underside of and laced securely in place. Such pads could be removed for cleaning as they quite obviously became sweat soaked on a daily basis. In addition to acting as a cushion the saddle pads were heavily padded into a convex curved shape to help encourage the hollowed back riding posture that the elves wanted their mounts to assume. As her training and diet strengthened a girl’s body saddle pads with greater curvature would be substituted to further stretch her spine to result in a strong flexible lower back and the ability to comfortably maintain a good riding posture.

As their training progressed and the girls began to carry significant weight in their saddles, they would quickly learn that a fully erect posture was not only uncomfortable due to the pronounced curvature of the saddle pad, it was also unstable. Standing fully erect tended to locate the weight in the saddle behind her legs making the girl feel as though she might fall backwards. This feeling of tipping backwards certainly encouraged girls to adapt the good riding posture that their trainers wanted. A good riding posture tended to cause most girls to walk and run more on the balls of their feet rather than coming down heavily on their heels. This, of course, greatly lessened the impact shock of each step making the ride more comfortable for the rider while putting much less stress on the girl’s knee and hip joints.

Most saddles fastened to a girl in the same way. They were heavily padded and contoured to fit snugly around the girl’s lower back and sides under the rib cage and over the pelvic bones and hips, as most of the weight carried was born there. To assure a snug and stable yet comfortable fit all the saddles that Randor used had come from Bothar’s and had some lateral flexibility in the bow and cantle so that the padded support areas could be drawn in to fit perfectly and rest on the girl’s pelvic bones. This flexibility came, in part, from the fact that the majority of saddles used by elves incorporated an open split down the center of the seat. Split seat saddles were especially preferred by male elves for obvious reasons. Female elves could ride comfortably on solid seat saddles and, as such, sometimes preferred them. Solid seat saddles, however, lacked some of the flexibility of split saddles, and required more precise fitting in order to be cinched snugly on the girl’s hips. Good solid seat saddles were, more often than not, custom fitted for a particular mount such as the one that Glynda had recently ordered for Voden.

The thick woven cloth belly band that secured the saddle to the girl’s lower back was pulled snugly across her lower abdomen just below the level of her navel and cinched to the saddle generally on the girl’s left side. This cinched band was located low on the abdomen so as not to restrict the girl’s ability to breathe freely as she needed to when being ridden hard. A pair of inch wide straps also extended upward from the top of the bow at both sides to go over the girl’s shoulders where they widened to several inches, and were heavily padded. These straps ran beneath the chain of her security harness that ran across her back between the girls upper arms. At the front of her chest a single inch wide strap ran horizontally between the two shoulder straps just above her breasts buckling at its center. The shoulder straps narrowed at that point then returned under the girl’s arms to buckle at the sides of the bow.

When a girl was in a good riding posture very little of the rider’s weight actually rested on her shoulders. The shoulder straps coming back under her arms as they did, served rather as a second cinch keeping the saddle firmly on the girl’s upper back without the need for encircling her chest which would limit her ability to breathe hard. Good freedom of breathing was, obviously, necessary for a girl so that she could be run hard by her rider. Most elves enjoyed running their mounts for the pure pleasure of fast riding. Well trained and conditioned girls were quite capable of running hard for considerable distances with their riders aboard. Most actually enjoyed being run hard and especially liked the endorphin rush that followed.

Randor had needed the other three trainers and their mounts today as the new girls were going to be saddled for the first time and taken out to the track to be run on leads behind the elves’ mounts. In his massaging of Little Red’s lower back he had determined that a custom saddle would probably be required eventually to ride her in comfort a few months hence, but believed that one of his smaller saddles would accommodate her little body for now. None of the girls would be carrying any weight today, so saddle sores were very unlikely. All four would be carefully examined for any red marks after today’s training. Their saddle pads would then be modified as needed prior to their next outing two days hence when they would begin to carry weight in their saddles.

As he entered the stable, Rolf had noticed that Cynda suddenly appeared very upset when she saw him riding the large breasted black. The big chestnut filly had quickly jumped to her feet, and pacing back and forth while looking through the bars of her stall, was staring rather malevolently at the black. Rolf noticed Cynda’s distress and quickly tied the big black to a hitching post and walked into Cynda’s stall where he gave the chestnut filly a pair of friendly slaps on her rump.

“There, there, girl, he said. “How’s my favorite girl this morning? Are you ready to go running?”

As he was talking to Cynda he began patting her hindquarters and rubbing her lower back with his right hand while holding out his left to her with a few berries. Although already wearing her bit and bridle, Cynda quickly bent and snatched up the berries and ate them while staring at Rolf as if to scold the elf for riding the other girl.

“That’s OK, girl, I just ride her because you aren’t really ready for hard riding, yet. In a few months you’ll be ready and when you are I promise I won’t ride any girls but you as long as you are with us,” he said, knowing, of course that the filly couldn’t understand a word.

“Besides, she’ll probably be sold next week,” he said, referring to the black. “And I’ll be riding different girls for awhile. You’re just going to have to get used to it until you’re ready yourself. If you’re real good today, you might get to take me for a little bareback ride again this evening if it’s alright with the boss, we’ll just have to see.”

Cynda, of course, just stared at the elf while he was talking. She had no comprehension of what he was saying, but could tell that he was, indeed, talking to her and in a very soothing tone. Rolf then began to pull down gently on the lead to Cynda’s collar and the filly dropped slowly to her knees for him. As he began scratching the filly’s head under her bridle, Cynda finally started to lose the distress she had felt when she had seen him arrive aboard the black and began to nuzzle her big head against the elf’s chest. All, it seemed, had been forgiven.

While Rolf was calming Cynda and Randor was examining Katryn’s back to select a saddle for her, Latkin and Prindor were petting and sizing both Lyra and Madi respectively. Although he was beginning to think of the sisters as a team rather than individual mounts, the older elf had developed a slight preference for the older of the two girls. From his great experience as a trainer Latkin knew that older girls were usually more difficult to train than younger ones at first, but that they were often quicker in learning what their trainers wanted of them. In addition, Latkin knew that any time he was successful in getting the older girl to do what he wanted; her younger sister would generally follow along with little or no resistance.

Before leaving for Glynda’s the night before, Randor had mentioned to Latkin how well the sisters had worked as a team when pulling the sled. The two blacks, probably without realizing it themselves, had stayed almost in lock step with each other during most of the afternoon, with the exception of the race with Little Red and Rolf’s big chestnut at the end of the day. Stepping in unison was something that often took time to teach girls when training them to work them as a team, but the sisters seemed to do it naturally. This definitely impressed Randor, and he made sure that Latkin learned of it as well.

“Well, let’s get them saddled up and out on the track,” Randor said to his crew as they walked to the tack room. “I hope that this doesn’t take too long, but wild girls like these are usually pretty resistant to being saddled for the first time. Latkin, how do you suggest we go about it?”

“I think that we ought to let Rolf see how he fares with the big chestnut,” the older elf suggested as he selected a saddle for Lyra and helped Rolf chose the right size saddle for Cynda. “She seems so eager to please him that he just might get her saddled without any resistance at all. I’ve seen that sort of thing happen before with girls like her.”

“Not a bad idea. If he can get her saddled up without any fuss, he can try leading her back and forth in front of the other’s stalls and they may get the idea that it’s going to happen to all of them and is not worth fighting over,” said Randor. “Rolf, what do you think, will she let you saddle her this morning?”

“I think that she just might,” he replied. “I could be wrong, but I really believe that her agitation this morning was nothing but jealousy over seeing me riding the big chested black. Once I petted her and showed her that I still cared for her, she calmed right down. Sometimes I think that girls have much more capacity for emotion than we give them credit for.”

“You may be right, but I wouldn’t start reading poetry to her just yet,” said Randor, smiling. “All we want to do today is get a saddle on her and get her out running behind you on the big black.”

“Let me see what I can do,” the young elf answered. “By the way, if we don’t wear them out today, what do you think of my riding the chestnut a little this evening like before? She really seemed to like it until we started back into the stable. I still don’t know why she balked then like she did. Could it be that she just didn’t want her friends to see her being ridden?”

“I think you may be giving her credit for more sensitivity than she has but, who knows?” Randor said with some degree of condensation. “However you riding her tonight is probably not a bad idea unless they get too tired from today’s running.”

“They are probably pretty sore from yesterday and we’ll have to take it easy and see if we can work the soreness out of them before pushing them real hard today,” Randor went on. “Let’s see how they fare with today’s training. What do you think, Latkin?”

“I think that the chestnut can take it,” said Latkin. “She’s big and strong and Rolf’s very careful and easy on her. She certainly seems to want to please him so let’s give her the chance. Rolf, I would still be careful about having her kneel for mounting this early. The strength of her legs and especially her knees is just starting to build at this time and the added weight of picking up a rider could strain her, especially since she hasn’t been taught how to do it correctly.”

“No problem, I can always stand on top of something to mount her or one of you guys could give be a boost,” said Rolf.

“Try standing on an overturned bucket or something,” Latkin suggested. “I think that it would be better if no one else is around when you get up on her. So far she’s identifying strictly with you, and I think we can use that to our advantage for now. Eventually she has to learn that anyone may ride her who wants to, but for now let’s let her think she is a one elf girl if that helps us train her more easily.”

The four elves, by this time, had selected saddles for each of the girls and were carrying them back to their individual stalls. With the exception of Rolf, who walked right in to Cynda’s stall carrying her saddle, the others all set the saddles down just inside the stalls as they went in. Randor, Latkin and Prindor all began stroking and massaging Katryn, Lyra and Madi respectively as the girls had all become agitated as they all sensed that they were going to be in for something new this morning.

For an elf, saddling a trained girl was an easy task. With the girl standing in riding position, the saddle was lifted up behind her and settled into the hollow of her lower back. Due to the padding at the sides where it rested on her hips, gentle pressure was often required to seat the saddle on the girl’s lower back. Well trained girls would stretch their bodies and raising their rib cages so that the saddle seated easily around their hips.

Once seated on the girl’s hips the saddle would rest in place while the belly band was drawn across her lower abdomen and cinched snugly. With good split saddles the slight flexibility in the cantle and bow allowed a fit that literally molded the saddle to the girl’s back and hips. It was then a simple matter to have the girl kneel and, drawing the saddle’s shoulder straps under her security harness in the back, bring them over her shoulders and under her arms to buckle to the sides of the saddle. Last, the center buckle of the horizontal strap between the shoulder straps would be fastened.

In addition, it was not uncommon to hold saddles firmly seated on a girl’s hips with a strap running between her legs. Such straps were usually arranged in a “Y” configuration with two narrow straps angling down from buckles attached to the edges of the saddle below the skirt on both sides. There they joined a single strap bottom of the cantle. The three buckles allowed for precise adjustment of the tightness of this strap. This arrangement seated her saddle firmly on the girl’s hips keeping it from sliding around or upward and was particularly beneficial with a saddle that was not a precise fit for a particular girl.

Whether or not a lower strap arrangement was used, a well fitting saddle fastened to a girl’s back very securely. With her hands held as they were by her security harness, a girl could reach neither the belly cinch nor the shoulder strap buckles to be able to remove her saddle. Like her bridle a girl’s saddle would remain on her until it was removed by an elf. Girls each had to learn to accept the reality of this fact, and it sometime took longer for some than for others.

With correct adjustment of the “Y” strap arrangement it was possible for a girl to relieve her bladder with the strap in place which, of course, she generally needed to do several times during a day. The strap, itself, generally ended up getting wet, but many elves did not find this objectionable. Bowel relief, however, was completely impractical with such a strap arrangement fitted, but the regularity most girls experienced as a result of their diet generally eliminated this problem. Following their early morning relief, most girls could be saddled and ridden all day with no further such requirements.

Many elves preferred not to use lower straps. Without such a strap the girl could easily relieve her bladder or even her bowels when necessary without her rider being inconvenienced by the need of dismounting.

Depending on its adjustment, the strap arrangement between a girl’s legs could be used to provide a light pressure in just the right area to produce a mild sexual stimulation to her as she was being ridden. Many elves used this method to reward their mounts for good performance and maintain their contentment particularly on long rides.

At Latkin’s suggestion, Rolf planned to use the lower strap on Cynda’s saddle today, as the older elf felt that Cynda was ready to begin to associate being saddled with pleasure.

“Easy, girl,” Rolf said softly in the lowest voice he could manage. “Let’s show the others just how good a girl you can be.”

Cynda was pacing back and forth in her stall when Rolf returned from the tack room and with her saddle on his left shoulder. Rolf took Cynda’s lead rope in his right hand and gently pulled attempting to coax her to stop her pacing and stand still. Following her agitation at seeing her favorite elf ride up on the black, Cynda offered no resistance, but kept switching her gaze from the saddle to Rolf’s eyes and back.

“That’s alright, girl, it’s just a saddle. You’re going to have to get used to it sooner or later because you’ll be wearing one a lot from now on,” Rolf said to the filly in a soothing voice.

Rolf decided to see if it would calm Cynda’s skittishness to let her see the saddle close up, and actually feel the soft plush padding of the saddle pad that was attached to its underside. He wanted her to see that the saddle was soft and wouldn’t hurt her before he tried putting it on her back. He held the saddle in such a way that her hands, secured at her sides in their cuffs, would touch the softly padded underside. When she felt the soft plush pad, Cynda rubbed her fingers against it and slowly became less agitated.

Cynda knew that she had already allowed this elf to ride her and that, except for some humiliation at the idea, he had not hurt her in any way. She also knew that carrying him on her back had been easy for her as she had always been a strong girl and was growing noticeably stronger almost by the day. She also had known since childhood that elves caught and trained girls for riding and that had become her fate.

Once captured, girls rarely escaped from the elves and those that did found that they had virtually no place to go. Once when Cynda was younger, a girl from her village that had escaped from her elf owner had returned only to be held captive by the Elders and sold to the first Traders who happened along. Cynda had overheard the Traders telling the Elders that they would be returning the girl to her owner, and expected to be rewarded. The girl, it seemed, bore a mark branded into her right shoulder that identified her as elven property. The idea of being branded and so marked had so terrified Cynda that she had never discussed what she had seen with anyone, not even Katryn, Lyra or Madi.

When Cynda and her friends had been captured by the elves, she had noticed immediately that all of the elves’ mounts were marked on their right shoulders as had been the girl she had seen years before. Some, such as the very large and muscular woman ridden by the leader and the very beautiful blonde girl ridden by the young elf bore marks on their right flanks as well. Cynda had been immensely relieved to see that the marks on all of the girls and women ridden by the elves were tattoos and none of them wore brands as she had remembered seeing on the girl years before. Being an intelligent girl, Cynda knew that she and her friends would certainly be marked as well making their successful escape all but impossible.

Cynda’s lack of personal confidence caused her to accept her present condition more readily than her friends, most especially Katryn. She also knew that she desperately wanted this young elf to keep treating her kindly as he had, and not feel the need to use his whip on her to get her to do what he wanted. As such, she decided not to resist Rolf in his effort to saddle her. She simply stood where she was as the elf moved to her left side and somewhat behind her and, lifting the saddle, gently placed it on her lower back then reaching across grabbed the belly band and proceeded to cinch it snugly.

After cinching the saddle to her back, Rolf pulled down gently on Cynda’s lead rope and she promptly knelt. He then drew the padded straps over her shoulders and buckled them to the saddle bow. As he was planning to use a lower saddle strap on Cynda today to provide some mild sexual pleasure, he next pulled upward on her lead rope causing the girl to rise again to her feet. After buckling the two “Y” straps to the sides of her saddle, Rolf then reached between Cynda’s legs and drew the single strap up to the back of her saddle where he buckled it snugly pulling the saddle down on her hips and exerting gentle pressure on her sex. When she felt the pressure between her legs, Cynda’s first reaction was a sudden start. Then as she felt the mild pleasure that her sudden movement had produced, her hips thrust forward involuntarily. Seeing this, Rolf smiled and gave the girl several friendly pats on her wide rump.

“That’s a good girl,” he said. “You just go ahead and enjoy yourself. You won’t get to have fun like that every day, just often enough to make it special.”

Rolf then bent and picked up the long single leading rein that he had also brought from the tack room. This rein was about fifteen feet long and split at one end into two short straps that he snapped to the lower rings on Cynda’s bit. The other end of the rein had a single snap that would be attached to the back of the black’s saddle allowing the elf to ride her while leading Cynda for her day’s exercise. Grasping the leading rein close to her bit, Rolf led the girl from her stall and out into the open center section of the stable where he walked he back and forth in front of the other girl’s stalls letting them see that she had accepted being saddled.

Once she was saddled, Cynda fully expected Rolf to mount her and was waiting for him to make her kneel as she had seen all the elves do with their mounts. She had not noticed the lack of stirrups on the saddle when it had been shown to her then placed on her back. She was somewhat confused when instead of mounting her; the elf had simply led her back and forth in front of the other stalls. After several minutes of walking her, Rolf stopped Cynda at the closest hitching post to the one to which the black was tied. There he tied the big chestnut and left her standing there glaring at the black while he went to help in the saddling of the other girls.

When Latkin returned to Lyra’s stall with a saddle and leading rein, he laid them on the floor just inside the door. Lyra had been kneeling where Latkin had left her when he went to the tack room, but upon seeing the saddle, she immediately got to her feet. Lyra had known since her capture what the elves had in store for her and thought it was about to happen today. She had assumed that the intention of this old elf was to saddle and ride her and had certainly not come to terms yet with the idea. Latkin immediately sensed the filly’s agitation and stopped in his approach to her simply standing in the stall looking her in the eyes. He spoke to her gently, knowing, of course that she could not understand a word of what he was saying. However, in his many years of training girls he had developed the ability to speak to them in a way that was almost hypnotic to even the most highly strung filly. Latkin also knew that Lyra was not highly strung or rebellious by nature but just very uncomfortable about the idea of being made to wear a saddle.

“It’s alright, girl, I’m not going to ride you yet. You aren’t ready either physically or mentally this soon,” Latkin said, his voice literally purring. “I’m just going to take you out for a good run, today, and want you to start getting used to being saddled.

Latkin noticed that Lyra was not relaxing as he had hoped, but was still giving off the body language that said that she was going to resist being saddled. He recognized that at this point that he had a choice to make. He could get a whip and hobbles and, with Rolf’s help saddle the filly by force. Latkin really did not like to train that way preferring gentle persuasion to force when ever possible. However, he did not want to delay today’s training session due to this filly’s obstinacy. Also, he hoped that if he succeeded with the older sister the younger one would likely offer Prindor little if any trouble.

Latkin gave a shrill whistle and Berin, who he had left ground hitched in the center section of the stable, immediately trotted over and into Lyra’s stall with her reins dangling from her bit. The old elf gave a light tug downward on the reins and the beautiful grey knelt immediately at his side. Latkin proceeded first to pat Berin’s shoulders then to give them a good rub. Next he tousled her head and gave her the scratching beneath the straps of her bridle that she so dearly loved. As usual, Berin nuzzled her head against the old elves’ chest as she was being scratched and petted.

Lyra watched the actions of both the elf and his mount for several minutes and began to calm somewhat. Then, suddenly, Latkin gave Berin a pair of very affectionate slaps on her shoulder, and turning toward the stall door, simply walked out leaving the mare and filly alone. He went back to the tack room and spent several minutes there finally returning with a riding whip and set of hobbles. When he got back to her stall, Lyra was standing close to Berin with a look of peaceful resignation on her face. She allowed Latkin to saddle her with no further resistance and soon she too was tied to a hitching post by a long leading rein, and Berin was back where she had been ground hitched before responding to Latkin’s whistle.

Prindor had had a similar response from Madi when he entered the stall carrying her saddle. He, too, had attempted to sooth the younger filly by talking to her, and had met with little success. He was surprised when Latkin had whistled for Berin and stopped what he had been doing to carefully watch the older elf. Prindor also had a special whistled call for his beautiful lithe Palomino, and very quickly she was standing next to him in Madi’s stall. After an exchange of obvious affection between girl and elf, Prindor followed Latkin’s example and left the stall to join Latkin in the tack room leaving Lacie alone with Madi. When he returned, Prindor was able to saddle Madi with no resistance whatever, and lead her from her stall to tie her to the same hitching post with her sister.

When it came to saddling her for the first time, Katryn was about to prove to Randor to be a “horse of another color”, indeed.