How do you get your pony fix when you're alone?
This is a question I get asked every so often, and I think it's worth discussing because it's something we all face at some point: you're in between trainers, or perhaps you're simply alone in the house for a long weekend, and you find your mind wandering to thoughts of bridle and harness.
So what do you do? One option is to do nothing and try to think about anything except how wonderful it would feel to have a snug leather harness on your body, a bit pulled far back in your mouth, your hands helplessly bound in hoof mitts and locked to your harness.
This generally works.
But not always. There are times when the desire becomes too much to ignore, and you have to do something about it.
Some of you may be thinking, "no big deal, just slip your pony hood on and gallop around outside."
Well, yes and no.
To understand what makes for a satisfying solo pony scene, we first need to look at what makes for a satisfying partnered pony scene.
If stepping out of your human persona and letting loose by playing a horse is what draws you to ponyplay, then yes, slipping into some pony gear and romping around is the perfect way to indulge in pony play by yourself.
However, for some of us it's a bit more complicated than that.
What draws me to pony play is not the ability to set aside my human persona and whittle away a Sunday afternoon pretending to be a horse, bucking and snorting in the lazy late summer sun.
That's just not my thing.
It's totally fine if it's yours - there's no wrong way to play - but that type of scene simply doesn't get my blood pumping, nor does it send a shiver of anticipation up my spine and set butterflys loose in my stomach.
See, I don't want to be a horse. I want to be made to be a horse.
Let me explain.
During pony scenes, I always remain a human (literally of course, but also in mindset). Generally, I don't try to think like a horse, and I don't willing try to act like a horse. The appeal of pony play to me lies not in role playing an animal.
Rather, for me the fun is in having my humanity forcibly stripped away: being dressed up, tacked up, and treated like an animal even though I know I'm a human.
This creates a headspace that I savor.
It's a headspace where I know I'm a human (that's still how I think of myself and perceive the world), but I'm no longer treated as a human by others around me. They treat me just like they would treat a horse (very often worse).
Not only do they ignore the fact of my humanity, they openly flaunt their denial of it by adorning me with a tail, ears, and hooves; by taking away my ability to speak and by speaking to me only with the reins, crop, or simple phrases uttered in a condescending tone (e.g. "good/bad boy").
Oh, and that smirk that appears on my trainers's face as she fastens my tail, or that look of feigned puzzlement she throws my way when I strenuously object through the bit, or that evil little smile that appears on her face as she holds my reins in one hand and sensually fingers the crop with the other...these things all clearly communicate to me that no only does she know full well that I'm a human, but she wants me to know that she knows. She wants me to know that she is going to enjoy training me all the more because of it.
For me pony play is the perfect mix of dehumanazation, the mild humiliation that accompanies my drop in station from human to livestock, and physical bondage.
Pony tack epitomizes the fetish for me: it serves as physical bondage to restrain and control me, and it adds to the dehumanization because it is the very same tack a bio-horse would wear, and it controls me in exactly the same way it would a horse.
This is the core of what draws - and binds - me to pony play, so how do I emulate this without a partner to helplessly restrain me in pony tack before running me ragged on the lunge line?
Well, it's actually not that difficult. At first glance, you might think that these aspects are more difficult to achieve when alone than say, simply letting your inner animal out for a trot. However, practically speaking they're not that different. While the mental space you inhabit in each of those two types of play are polar opposites, those difference are, quite literally, all in your head.
It's no more difficult to imagine yourself compelled to be a beast of burden as it is to imagine yourself a happy horse in an expansive field. The only element that might break the illusion of the former is the only practical difference between the two types of self-play: physical bondage.
It's hard to imagine being held against your will and transformed into a human equine for the enjoyment of others without it.
It's pretty easy to put yourself in bondage. Once you're all tacked up, you just need to restrain your hands and possibly hobble your feet. Both of which are reasonably easily taken care of by lockable cuffs. However, it's even more fun if you can squeeze your hands into a pair of latex hoof mitts to add to the overall feel of being transformed into a horse.
This is difficult, especially if you have the correct size hoof gloves (and not a size too large), but definitely possible with a little ingenuity and perseverance. However, do remember that you will have to get yourself out once you're done having your fun, so please have a release mechanism or a way to contact someone else in case of an emergency or if you can't release yourself.
Once you have you have your feet hobbles and you hands in hoof mitts, you then need to lock them together behind your back and/or to your harness keeping your keys at a distance, or, better still (assuming you have an emergency release and ability to contact someone in case of emergency) set to be released at a specified later time (make sure you have a couple failsafes), your bondage is inescapable for a set time.
This solves 99% of the solo pony scene for those of us who enjoy forced pony play. Once you're restrained in pony gear, it's a cinch to let your mind run wild about how you were taken and are being held against your will and forcibly trained as a horse. I like ti struggle against the bonds and feel the restriction of the hoof boots forcing me onto my toes, the forced flexion is uncomfirtable even when I'm not putting weight on them.
Similarly, having my hands trapped in fists inside the mitts makes me feel so helpless, and knowing that the latex mitts are shaped like horse hooves gives me that feeling of dehumanization and humiliation for which I love pony play.
The other 1%, the training, is admittedly a little more tricky. More often than not, my solo pony scenes don't involve much actual training. They're actually just self bondage in pony gear.
Though, to be fair, many of my partnered pony scenes are actually just bondage in pony gear (with a little bit of grooming, leading, and vet exams), so they actually mirror each other pretty well.
However, for those times when I want more than to just hobble around in hoof boots until it's time to release myelf, there are some self imposed training scenes I have employed.
Unparterned training scenes can be a little hairy. You have nobody to plead with, bargain with, or safeword to. There's nobody who will take sympathy on you and ease up or release you early. This makes them inherently dangerous. Very dangerous, and I definitely recommend that you don't try them.
That being said, the easiest solo pony scene I have setup (but perhaps one of the most dangerous) is the treadmill. A treadmill is easy to program to go as fast or as slow as you like, and it can cycle through a sequence of walking, trotting, and cantering to mimic a pony's lunge work.
One of my go-tos for solo ponyplay has been to don harness and bridle, lace up the hoof boots and attach them with a pair of hobbles with a chain short enough to prevent me from escaping the treadmill belt by spreading my legs and standing on the rails.
To prevent myself from escaping the training by slipping off the back or jumping off the side, I'll attach myself to the front of the treadmill by attaching a clamp to each of my nipples and connecting them to opposite corners at the front of the treadmill (left nipple clamp to right corner and right nipple clamp to left corner) with twine.
My thought here is that with enough force the twine will snap saving me should I trip in my hooves (as opposed to being dragged by the bit and breaking my neck had I attached myself via reins, though I'll admit to having tied myself by the reins on a few occasions when I was willing to take the risk knowing I had no choice whatsoever to obey the machine and remain moving on the treadmill at whatever pace it chose to set), but that the force to break the twine will cause a huge amount of pain that I would not willingly subject myself to just to avoid running for 30 minutes (or whatever amount I set beforehand).
Thus far, this type of solo scene has worked well to force me through my paces and had not yet (hooves crossed) resulted in disaster.
Anoher favorite of mine is using a bucket as a couterbalance to keys to my harness and cuffs, requiring me to drink a some water through my bit - or if I'm feeling especially masochisitic, equine senior, or other grain or hay - until the bucket is light enough to allow the counter-weight with my keys to fall and allow me relase.
Finally, I'll also use a customized shock collar that will shock me unless I whinny every so often (I'm putting together final schematics for this collar so that you can make one for yourself with only ~$50 worth of supplies). This is especially humiliating for me, which is why I don't go this route too often.
Overall, there;s quite a few options for self pony play. Self pony bondage is relatively easy to accomplish in broad strokes. Adding hoof mitts makes things more challenging. Further adding training adds more diffciulty and more risk, but if you're willing to accept the risk, added difficulty and have an emergency release and contact setup, it's quite feasible.