They give a whole new meaning to terms like “horseplay,” “horse riding” and to the call, “Gentlemen, mount your horses!” but all obvious jokes aside, folks who are into pony play take it pretty seriously.

I found this out when I met a group of male pony and animal-play enthusiasts, a fetish subgroup of people who get their sexual kicks by dressing up as ponies and being “trained” by their masters.

“Some people get so into the role play that they won’t sleep with their ‘ponies’ because to them that’s bestiality,” Lucius, who assures me that plenty of women are into pony play as well. A magazine they have with them called Equus Eroticus (www.equuseroticus.com) backs this up.

It is full of pictures of men and women in bits, harnesses and hooves pulling carts, and trainers riding or “showing” their “ponies.”

Or donkeys, as in Lucius’s case. That’s his thing. He even sleeps in his donkey outfit, complete with hooves, tail and a fun-fur foam donkey head he made himself.

Lucius doesn’t get too philosophical about how he got into it. He wasn’t obsessed with “playing horsey” as a kid or anything. However, he was always intrigued by transformation as a child. But while other kids dressed up like pirates or superheroes, he dreamed of becoming a donkey.

He got married a couple of times and tried to make a go of a vanilla relationship but he couldn’t make his donkey desires go away.

The combination of role play, bondage, domination and submission is what makes pony (or donkey) play appealing, Lucius tell me.

“If I’ve got a bit in my mouth and I’m wearing hooves that take away the use of my hands and I’m standing on hooves with no heels so I’m up on my toes, it’s a concentrated effort just to walk,” he explains. “Then someone will tell me to lift my legs higher and it’s such a physical effort that it takes your mind into another place.” That place is what people in these circles call your “pony place.”

And that’s the real appeal, he says.

“With other role play there is still a connection to the real world,” Lucius explains. “But with pony play, you’re giving up all your human attributes. If you want to communicate, you can only whinny, nudge or scrape you hooves.”

Lord Morpheus, the guy who invited me to this gathering, says his interest in pony play is probably a result of having spent too much time in the tack room back on the horse farm where he grew up.

That’s where he also learned that a good horse trainer knows you have to treat horses well. “You have to be firm but kind,” he tells me. His skills have transferred nicely into pony play.

Pony play isn’t always sexual, he explains. “Some ponies just like to be taken to their stall and put to bed,” his Lordship tells me. Or, for a real treat, if his family goes away, he’ll take his ponies for a little on-site training. “I get them to do jumps or just trot them around.”

Of course, riding your pony is also part of the fun.

There’s even a store called Water-Hole Custom Leather  (water-hole.com/ponyboy.html in Connecticut that makes custom pony-play gear like “plug tails” (a horsetail with a butt plug on the end) and bits and saddles that can be worn by human “ponies.”

If our conversation hadn’t already raised a few eyebrows at the next table, Lucius pulling out his custom designed strap-on tail (“made with real horse hair!”) and showing me his favourite bit undoubtedly piqued some interest.

Pony play is nothing new. Rumour has it Aristotle loved to be ridden like a pony by women. And, according to one pony play website (there are many), examples of human ponies are scattered throughout history, many of them British, not surprisingly given that land’s equestrian heritage. “England in the 16th century used young girls used as ‘ponygirls’ to draw coals out of mines because they were small enough to fit in the mine shaft,” the website says.

Despite it’s roots in history, most people’s reaction to the practice is a little less than ordinary. Okay, let’s be honest, most people find it pretty weird.

But as Lucius puts it, everybody is weird. “And the guy who is at home with his wife of 28 years and does nothing but missionary position every second Thursday is weirder than anybody,” he adds.

You heard it hear people, straight from the horse’s, okay, donkey’s mouth.