…If the Web is any indicator — and it’s surely as good as any other — ponyplay is becoming ever more popular, though it still appears to be unknown, or at least unacknowledged, by the mainstream. Elizabeth Elson’s Born in a Barn is a model documentary on the subject, a respectful study that pays homage to the subculture without sugarcoating or sensationalizing it. The film works as both a primer for the uninitiated and a celebration for the participants. It looks at several couples and individuals at rest and play, perhaps most notably “Trigger,” a 40-something real estate agent who holds outdoor seminars for enthusiasts, in which he explains that “ponyplay can be foreplay but most do it for power exchange.” Scenes of Trigger, who’s robust but no Atlas, trotting around with women on his shoulders have a quirky sweetness. The varieties of roles, from handler to various “breeds” of ponies and horses, are discussed, as are the kinds of activities that occur in this world, which may or may not include sex. And the roles seem surprisingly fluid, with power exchanges often working both ways without the hard top/bottom dichotomy idealized in SM fantasy. Some players dream of living full-time in “ponyspace” — the film shows “human horse stalls” being built for this purpose — while others treat the whole thing as sexual theater, to be experienced episodically before returning to “real life.” The overriding feeling seems to be the urgent desire to be released from the complexities and disappointments of being human — “The needs of a horse are simple and basic,” says Trigger. The world could do worse than operate on this esoteric group’s “animal principles” of “honesty, loyalty, and trust,” as the dire events that followed this festival on November 2 show.

SF INDIE FEST: Born In a Barn. There's nothing as odd as preparing to laugh at another person's fetish and then finding yourself mildly seduced if not completely won over. Elizabeth Elson's subtly hypnotic documentary, on people who like to pretend they're horses and have other people ride them, succeeds in making the case for pony play. Hosted by a leather clad bear of a guy (Trigger), the film places special emphasis on how pony play provides a sexy safe place for women. (playing at the Roxie on February 9th)

…Born in a Barn
Directed by Elizabeth Elson

I found this documentary riveting. With no questions or commentary from the camerawoman, director Elizabeth Elson, the viewer is left to form their own judgments. I felt nothing short of complete compassion for these people. But I wonder if less sophisticated folks might come away with an entirely different perspective.

Ms. Elson pointed her lens on the subjects and let them chat away, in this case about their fetish for being - or training - human horses: the equestrian fetish. Men, women and couples explain why they enjoy being saddled and ridden, or training their ponies to canter or jump. The films makes these horses and their trainers appear about as "normal" as members of a quilting club or Mason's lodge. They're just a group of folks who get together to celebrate their common interest.

The most interesting, and perhaps distressing, point the movie makes (or at least my personal takeaway) is how solitary having such a specific fetish can be. Trigger relates that finding someone you connect with is difficult, and finding someone who shares your particular fetish is as well. But finding someone who you connect with who also shares your fetish is practically impossible. His future looks painfully lonely, and it made me want to search the world for the perfect horse trainer to keep him happy in oats and hay.

Anyone who harbors a private kink should see this film. Better yet, anyone who claims an inability to understand fetishes should watch it, and learn not only compassion, but how oddly normal fetish freaks actually are.

FILM
Pacific Film Archive
A horse is a horse of course of course, unless that horse is actually a human
dressed with a bit and saddle. Practitioners of ponyplay get their kicks by
doing just that — with a fair amount of prancing and snorting and the
occasional sting of the riding crop to keep things spicy. It is a testament to
Elizabeth Elson's sensitivity as a filmmaker that these steeds and their riders
come off more as sweet Black Beauty aficionados than sexual dark horses.

Born in a Barn has a difficult mission -- to present unusual behavior in a way that does not immediately separate its subject from its audience. It would be all too easy (and fun!) to make fun of folks with unusual interests; to hold them up and make them look stupid. But no - Born in a Barn is actually really sensitive and personal -- you really get to know these folks, and before long, what they do sounds almost ... reasonable. One woman tells an absolutely heart-breaking story about how, as a child, she was completely devoted to horses until she developed an allergic reaction to them. "I thought something inside of me had died that I'd never find again," she says, and immediately everyone in the audience whimpered "awww," because who hasn't lost something incredibly important in their life? We all know what that's like. "And..." she continues, her face lighting up, "...I found it again." Later on, the same woman explains, "I've never felt graceful ... I always through being big was bad, and for me, this makes being big good." You just want to give her a big old hug, she's so damn happy to have found the thing that she loves.

The documentary gives us what seems to be a pretty solid overview of how ponyplay impacts the lives of its practitioners, especially in the case of a husband and wife ponyplaying team. At times, their activities seems sort of fun and sweet -- when she rides him around the house and rubs him down, they both have that look of bliss that two completely in love people get when they're just so glad to be together. Other times, the film takes a step back, and it seems like they might be isolating themselves in a ponyplayish bubble from the rest of society. As they're walking home from a prancing session, their play-garb and bare legs poorly concealed beneath Matrixy trench coats, the wife waves and offers a "hello" to a neighbor who seemingly does not respond. Even their dog, in what may be the most brilliant cutaway we've ever seen, reacts with perk-eared fascination to their behavior. During a Q&A after the film, filmmaker Elizabeth Elson said that the subjects of the documentary rarely allow their fantasy life to intersect with their real life, since reaction would probably not be positive. An audience member commented that whenever she dresses as a pony and pulls a carriage through Golden Gate Park, onlookers are always very friendly and nice; other audience members nodded at this tidbit and murmered, "that's San Francisco." It sure is. We wonder what sort of behavior would finally cross the line and cause San Franciscans to stop being friendly and nice in the face of unusual behavior.

…Which isn't to say that you couldn't laugh at the ponies if you wanted to. After all, they're grown men and women running around and playing pretend like a bunch of weirdos. But you know, we're big fans of weirdos. They're neat. And we bet you a million dollars that there's something extremely peculiar about you too -- you know there is -- so you should only be so lucky as these folks who've managed to carve out a comfy place for their eccentricity. Yeah, the limits they've placed on their own behavior are probably more relaxed than yours ... but when you get down to it, they're just good, kind, harmless folks -- in fact, they can be downright boring -- and Born in a Barn is a fine way to make their acquaintance.