Chapter 5
“What the fucking hell is that?”Clark asked in shocked laughter when he saw Reid pick up some very long contraption. He sputtered his shock when Reid answered.
“A stallion condom.” Reid threw his head back and laughed when he saw the look on his friend’s face.
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I kid you not. Have you read the paperwork on Riceman Stallions yet?”
“No, I’ve gotten as far as the original Erin’s second journal. As of right now, they had broken off from the rest of the convoy, for lack of a better term. Harem hasn’t even left her yet.”
“Okay, I don’t know how much Erin’s told you about the on-line stud business, but we have to work around Tom’s schedule.”
“Who’s Tom?”
“Me,” came a voice from behind them. Clark whipped around and studied the man who had entered the barn behind them. He liked that he came forward with his hand extended. “Tom Stolls, the vet. I took over the practice from my grandfather.”
As they shook, Clark frowned, trying to see if he remembered the vet from when he grew up here. When he didn’t, he shrugged. “Clark Riceman.”
“Erin’s brother?”
“Yes. I’m out of the service now, and returned just yesterday.” Clark shook his head and chuckled as he pointed to the apparatus Reid was handling with gloved hands. “Apparently, I have a lot to learn. It’s been a long, long time since I worked the ranch.” At Tom’s frown, Clark laughed. “I was eighteen when I left to join the Navy, I’m thirty-one now. I’ve only returned a handful of times, and the last time I was here was six years ago. However, before you judge me, I was in constant contact with Erin whenever I could.”
“I’m not judging, but what do you mean by whenever you could?”
“I was a SEAL.”
“Ah, did you work with Reid here, or the others over at Broken while in the Navy?”
“Yes, I was their Lieutenant. We were all on the same team.”
“Good for you. Now, Reid, I’m sorry I had to run out on you earlier. The call was because someone was having trouble foaling, and wanted me there to make sure the foal would be okay when it was born. So far, it’s a perfectly healthy filly.” He looked at Reid proudly. “Winter’s foal.”
“Cool, I’ll mention that to Erin.” Reid laughed and turned to Clark. “Winter is one of our stallions that, according to Erin, was used the old-fashioned way.”
“I hate to ask, but what do you mean by that?”
Both and Reid laughed. “The mare’s owner brought her here to be bred.”
“Ah, I understand.” Clark laughed. “So what is this thing?”
“What Reid said,” Tom chuckled as he went to the sink and washed his hands. As he dried them, he explained. “We have a fake mare set up, and we scent it so the stallion thinks she’s in heat. As he mounts her, or rather, it, we stick that over his shaft. He does his business, but instead of impregnating a real mare, or wasting his seed on a fake, we collect the sperm in that tube. Don’t worry, I have to put something like a condom in the bottom. When we take the horse away, I gather the sample, label it, and store it.”
“How many mares can you impregnate with that one sample?”
“One. We don’t want to weaken the sperm with using one sample multiple times. In the old-fashioned way, if the mare is ready, and they do it, it only takes one mounting for her to get pregnant. We might be doing things differently, but we don’t want to modify or mess with the chances of a horse getting pregnant. I don’t know if you’ve talked to Erin about how much people pay for this sample.”
“I’ve seen a receipt.” Clark shook his head. “If you don’t mind, can I just stand back and watch? I don’t want to fuck anything up until I know what I’m doing.”
“No problem. Believe it or not it’s easier on the stud if there aren’t a lot of people around. I’ve kept it to a minimum with Floyd, Virgil, myself, and either Reid or Lloyd. You can stand behind the glass and observe, or in the corner of the room.”
“I’ll stand behind the glass. I don’t want the stud to have performance anxiety if he sees a stranger.” Clark’s comments caused the others to laugh. He looked up when Virgil entered pulling a cord. He hurried forward to help him, then burst out laughing when he caught sight of the business end of a female horse.
“Really?” He looked around in shock.
“Yep.” They all laughed at him. When Tom gave the signal they were ready, Virgil took him over to where he had a good view of everything. Then he let out a whistle and Floyd came forward, leading a stallion. Clark gave a small whistle when he caught sight of him. He was beautiful, but he knew he had never seen him before, because he looked to be about four or five years old.
Twenty minutes later, Clark walked back inside the room, and laughed. “Damn, I need a cigarette after that.”
The others laughed right along with him, but then Clark scowled at the others.
“What’s wrong?”
“Is Rin going to sell that stallion?”
“No, why?”
“Then why did you collect his sperm?”
Tom turned from what he had been doing, and after he placed a vial into a smoking machine, Clark quickly realized was the smoke from dry ice, the vet answered him, “I went to Erin a few months ago. I have vet friends across the pond.” At Clark’s confused look, he grinned. “England, France.”
“Ah, that pond.”
“Yes, that pond. Anyways, my vet friend said one of his clients really wanted to breed his mare with one of Erin’s horses. But he didn’t want himself, nor Erin to go through the hassle of bringing either animal to the source. What with the laws, and how long they would have to be quarantined once they got there or here, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. That’s when I told him, my vet friend, that Erin had been known to gather and freeze the sperm of her stallions. He talked it over with his clients, and they sent me a list of stallions they wanted. I conferred with Erin, she agreed. That one we just collected from is on the list.”
“Is it really worth all this hassle?”
“I don’t like to talk finances with outsiders, but since you’re Erin’s brother, you’re going to learn sometime. My fee for what I just did, and for every stud we do this to is fifteen hundred dollars.”
“Holy shit, isn’t that steep?”
“Yes, and no. What you don’t see is that once I get back to the office, I not only have that sperm I just put in the freezer, but I also took a couple of swabs from it before I froze it. Back at the office, I will run certain tests on it, to make sure he doesn’t have any genetic problems. Those tests are part of my fee. When any vet or horse enthusiast contacts Erin through the website, she contacts me, and I get in contact with their vet. That’s one of the requirements on the website, they have to give their vet’s information.”
“I can see where that would come in handy. What do you do with the reports? Has there ever been anything wrong with any of the samples?” Clark had so many questions running through his head, he felt like it might explode. He shook his head when he realized he had a lot of reading in his near future.
“When I talk to the other vet, I tell him of the reports I’ve run. When it gets closer to the time, I send them a copy of that report. Only a copy, the original goes to Erin.”
“Okay, so what happens when everyone’s on the same page?”
“I overnight a sample to that vet, then it’s in his hands. Once I receive the signed copy that he received the package, Erin’s Way is out of it. Again, I don’t talk financials, but the sample I just took, though I’ve run tests before, I will run them on this fresh sample. At the end, this will be going across the pond.” Tom paused and made sure Clark was looking directly at him. He nodded when Reid stepped closer to the other man. “The fee for that sample is two hundred thousand US dollars.” Tom smiled when Reid reached up to catch Clark when he stumbled.
“Holy fucking shit, are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
Clark looked at Reid and saw his grin, then he stepped away when he felt he had his feet beneath him. “Holy shit, I’m going to have a lot of reading to do over the next few days.” He looked between the two men, then cocked his head to the side. “How often do you do this?”
“Since this past spring, we’ve done this a dozen times. But, you’ll have to talk to your sister. She’s going to be collecting it from all of the studs, because there’s someone over in Maine that wants a sample, but doesn’t want to bring his mare here.”
“So, she’s doing this domestically, as well as abroad?”
“Yes.”
“And,” Reid said with a grin as he took the cleaned apparatus from the sink where it had been washed and sanitized. “She’s going to need someone to help run that website. Lately, she’s been up past midnight trying to answer questions coming in from ranchers all over the world.”
“Damn.” Clark shook his head and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the four men work on the studs. By the time the last one was brought in, he was the one manning the extra-large condom. When they led the horse away, he looked at Tom and Reid. “Hell, if men’s condoms were that stiff, there would never be any sex to be had.” The men looked at him in shock, then burst out laughing. By the time they made it into the house, Clark had a better understanding of what his sister had done for the ranch. You couldn’t see it from the outside, but the inside workings were outstanding from what he’d seen so far. He made a vow to have everything read by the end of the following week.