Pony Play, Old and New Fringe Florida-style

A good friend who read my book “Fringe Florida: Travels Among Mud Boggers, Furries, Ufologists, Nudists and Other Lovers of Unconventional Lifestyles,” passed along this photo of an exotic dancer from the 1890’s.

Not sure of the provenience, but it’s a safe bet the pony girl wasn’t in Florida, at least not at the time. There were less than 400,000 people living in the Sunshine State then. But if you read my book, you will find that Florida is a hotbed of pony play these days.

Some semblance of pony play has been around for centuries. An ancient frieze implies that Aristotle was into it with his wife Phyllis even though some scholars believe the image to be only metaphorical. The antiquity shows Phyllis riding on Aristotle’s back as if he was a horse. The pose was recast by several other artists over the centuries including a wood engraving and a brass pitcher that I was able to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York while researching the book.

Of course, with digital photography there’s no shortage of images of pony play including this one of Florida’s International Pony Play champs, Foxy and Sherifox.