Is this a reference to something that happened on the shows?

Oh, yes - it's in the Armageddon Now two-parter, where Iolaus goes back in time to save Herc's future. After he fails and Alcmene dies, he gets to a timeline where Xena is a cruel Empress, and one of the scenes we see briefly is one where Gabrielle, a slave, is protesting her reign. If I remember right, Xena orders her legs to be broken, and Iolaus is in the scene too, trying to get to Xena and steal the Chronos stone. It was quite a horrific moment. Of course, later on that timeline doesn't exist anymore, so it never happened...but still.

And hey, I'm glad you got the download to work, yay! I hope you had fun with it. :-)