The first few months of pony life were traumatic and multifaceted for the new ponies. They lost their self directed thought and reasoning becoming ever more pony instinctive in their actions. Rather than think in terms of doing something they reacted to the stimuli, however it was presented, and they learned to stop thinking in regards to how to affect their environment and became part of the scene - the pony scene. A pony did as directed in training, responding to positive as well as negative reinforcement, mirrored other ponies in their respective herd, and accepted completely the loss of personal control in all things. Periodically they had human thoughts but the majority of their thoughts were animal in recognition and response. Time to water - accept the nozzle, bladder full - pee wherever you were and with whoever was around, being a mare in season - accept the servicing of a stallion, presented a mare - cover and mount, and always seek to be obedient and compliant. Deborah joined this same scene but obviously in a different role as she completely embraced the concepts of pony ownership along with the power and control she now exercised.

At the 45 day point all three had an appointment with the vet where they were anesthetized and while unconscious had their hand sleeves and boots removed. Their toe and finger nails were removed, the wounds medicated, and sleeves and boots reattached. They awoke feeling their toes and finger tips sore but unable to discern why and after a few days the soreness went away. This solved grooming logistics for their handlers so that only infrequently would the boots and hand covers have to be removed and usually only for replacement.

At the 120 day point Butter was in season and was mated on two consecutive days by Stoney and two and half weeks later while peeing and shitting one morning Jo passed a pregnancy test strip through Butter's stream. The color of the treated paper strip turned positive blue and Dr. Bob was called for and who a few days later confirmed that Butter was indeed in foal and she was put on a new regime of vitamins and supplements to support a successful pregnancy. Stoney knew nothing of this but wondered when he would be led again to the corrals holding the brood mares and knew he would do it again if presented a mare. His stallion maleness would demand it and drive him to it.

Of course, Dickie at the 120 day point, in anticipation of a sale requirement, was castrated and became a gelding. Not knowing his ultimate fate he obediently accepted being led to the vet barn and recognized that he was going to go through another vet examination. Once in the medical room he accepted being locked face first into the X frame examination mechanism but this time his hooves were pulled very wide and secured tightly. Then surprisingly Dr. Bob pulled out a steel hand cutter tool at Dickie's front and cut the cock and ball piercing rings, cut the ball sack ring, and then removed them pulling the rings completely off. This was quite uncomfortable, borderline painful, as the cut ends were sharp and burred from the cutting but quickly Dickie no longer sported a cock and ball lock rings. While Tina prepared something out of his sight, Dr. Bob moved behind and lifted Dickie's tail exposing the back of the ball sack, then with medical tape secured the tail to one side of his rump. Next Dickie heard an electric humming sound and vibrations to the back of his exposed balls. Lots of confusion was evident in Dickie as two patches of skin at the back of his balls and the base of the sack were shaved clean of pubic hair. Something cold, wet, and which felt like antiseptic was applied to his ball sack against the sound of something like metal bowl being placed on the floor. Dr. Bob worked quickly with professional skill, without appearing in haste, and using a small scalpel opened Dickie's ball sack with an incision just behind one ball and worked the testicle out of the sack and into view. The scalpel sliced the testicle free dropping it into a metal bowl on the floor and Tina handed the vet a heat cauterization gun that stopped the bleeding veins and closed the semen vascular ducts. For Dickie's part he felt the sharp pain of the scalpel and cauterization and whimpered into his bit but did not yet know what was happening. The second testicle was removed and Tina took Dickie's balls for disposal while the vet closed the sack with stitches that would dissolve over two weeks. For his part Dickie did not at first understand what happened and it would be two days before he realized his ball sack was empty --- permanently. In a week Dr. Bob checked back on the two newly gelded ponies and pronounced them fit for transport to their new owner to complete their sale. The next day the newly geld ponies were loaded in horse trailer, designed for human equine, and delivered to their new owner and life as draft work ponies.