Lucinda was alarmed to find that the events had already restarted. None of the ponies were left in the room and the two punishment stands had gone. In their place were a set of small jumps and what looked like traffic cones arranged in a pattern. Charles had noticed Lucinda's entrance and stopped his delivery. 'One moment ladies and gentleman, we'll be ready to start in a minute.' He folded his arms and looked at her. 'Bastard!' thought Lucinda. 'I'll show you' She sent thanks to wherever her deportment mistress, Miss Reid, was today and remembered the mantra she'd drummed into all of her 'gels'. 'Shoulders back, waist in, head up, eyes straight ahead, one foot in front of the other and walk, walk, walk,' with the tap of her cane on the floor. Lucinda added, 'and wiggle your pretty little pony butt.' She hitched her bag up onto her shoulder, fixed her eyes on Peter and sashayed the length of the room between Charles and the row of tables before him. The thought of all those eyes watching her and the knowledge that her nakedness was covered by the skimpiest of skirts made her tingle with excitement. As she neared Peter, Charles turned to commence his announcements and a final wicked thought came to her. She reached into her bag and extracted her panties then let them trickle through her fingers onto the table before her mesmerised lover as she executed a beautiful turn, sat down and crossed her legs. She smiled sweetly at the dozens of faces watching her and half nodded to Charles with a 'Pray continue' look. 'Thank you' he said before he could catch himself, and went on to announce some domestic arrangements and details about future meetings. Peter surreptitiously slipped the panties off the table. 'What's got into you?' he whispered, 'are you OK?' 'I'm great thanks. Is there a problem?' she batted her eyelashes innocently. 'Er, no. Not at all. You seem somehow different. That was a very sexy entrance, you made quite an impression by the way.' Lucinda grinned and nuzzled his face with her cheek. 'I'm practising' Peter kissed her. 'So you're sure then?' 'Absolutely. One hundred percent.' She added, 'I was also propositioned by a sweet young thing in the loo.' 'You're kidding?' Lucinda produced the girl's card from her hand bag and showed him, 'Her name's Catherine.' 'Shit!' he murmured. Peter played with her panties. 'And these?' Lucinda shrugged, uncrossed her legs and parted her thighs. 'I forgot to put them on again.' He looked at the card and then to her, 'You didn't?' She wondered what he was on about then laughed. 'No!' She took his wrist, placed his hand up her skirt and whispered to him, 'Tonight, my precious. This is all yours.' He gulped and started to stroke her but she firmly removed his hand, 'Later, lover boy. We have a show to watch' With that she turned her attention to the arena.

It was the turn of the circus ponies. They skipped out side by side and executed opposite laps of the arena before coming to rest next to Charles. 'The jumps and obstacles form a course which the ponies have to complete. Like their equine counterparts, they compete against the clock and accrue penalty times for any faults. Additional points are awarded or deducted for poise, style and general demeanour.' The two ponies strutted their stuff and jumped over poles and fences then weaved and turned in the tight space. As they jumped over the fence nearest her, their tiny skirts rose and Lucinda noticed that, like her, they also wore no undergarments but she failed to identify precisely where their chains were attached. After a ripple of applause, the panting cross pony was led away and blinkers attached to his partner's bridle. The grooms then cleared away the jumps but left the cones in a zigzag down the centre of the room. Charles explained, 'These particular blinkers completely blindfold the pony. You'll notice that she has had her reins attached and it is only via these that she will know where to go. Her trainer will guide her through the course and, in a normal session, reward or punish her appropriately.' The groom locked her wrists together behind her back in the arms folded pose Lucinda had seen earlier. The girl worked the bit in her mouth until she was satisfied then tossed her head a couple of times and pawed, or should it be 'hoofed' the floor. One of the grooms took up the slack in the reins and clicked his tongue. He guided her via the cones and back again until the audience clapped as the course was eventually completed. She was rewarded with words of praise and slapped affectionately on the rump.