Page 25 of Dragon Her Heels

“That depends entirely on you, honestly. What is your methodology for your studs? Are you keeping them as studs to further the breed? Are you keeping them as studs due to temperament and personality? There are many reasons someone might want to keep a colt intact. Some do it to preserve rare genetics or to pass on good health traits.”

“Good health and temperament are important. While I’d love to contribute to thoroughbreds as a breed, I don’t think I have the caliber of horse required for that.”

“Alligator Bait is the caliber of horse required to better the lines.” Lucifer approached the colt, who remained listless in the pen. “You should have color testing and DNA testing done on this little one.”

The feed store employee returned with a pack of papers, which he offered to me. I pointed at the red cow. “I’ll be taking her off your hands, too. Just take her papers to the front with the bill of sale to save yourself another trip,” I requested. “I’ll buy a halter for each one and a lead line.”

“Go pick them out, and I’ll take the tags to the register with the bill of sale,” he replied, offered me a grin, and headed to the cow pen.

I tucked the papers under my arm and went to do as told, and Lucifer followed. Inside, the Devil caught sight of Isaac and waved.

The incubus bounced over, and Ashley, who had a wicker basket that moved on its own, joined us.

The basket had a lid, which kept its occupants inside.

“I see your shopping is going well,” I told Ashley, giggling over having corrupted the woman.

“I didn’t know the feed store sold pets! Isaac helped me pick a pair of guinea pigs.”

The Devil offered the woman a smile. “This store is testing a new model and is one part pet store, one part feed store, and one part livestock reseller. Their livestock reselling is complicating things for them, but the owner likes animal rescue, so thought he’d use the extra space to give livestock a second lease on life. I’m helping Crystal acquire a trailer for her acquisitions, so don’t worry about space. You’ll be able to transport anything you want in about an hour. Isaac, contact my vet about color and genetic testing on Crystal’s new animals, please.”

The incubus vanished with a pop and a flash of silvery light.

Huh. I hadn’t known Isaac could teleport.

I wanted to learn how to teleport.

Oh, well.

Lucifer introduced himself as Lucy to Crystal, who fell for the Devil’s charms and showed him her new guinea pigs, a brown one and a black one. While he kept my neighbor company, I headed back to the tack section, snagged a blue halter suitable for a little baby and a halter suitable for a cow, hoping I guessed the size right. I snagged two red lead lines as well.

The tall, dark, and handsome had moved on to the grooming equipment, and on my way by, I pointed at my favorite premade kit, which included everything a horse needed to be healthy, happy, and clean. “That one is excellent bang for your buck and works as a great starter kit for a new horse. You can replace pieces you don’t like down the road.”

As my colt would need his own grooming kit, I grabbed one for myself and hauled it to the counter, adding it to my pile and having the lady working the register add the halters and leads to my order, leaving the purchase tags with her before strolling back to the livestock pen.

As I’d need to test the temperaments of both animals, I went to work getting them situated, pleased the halters fit. The cow handled her haltering with grace while the colt put up a fuss, requiring me to give the poor baby his first lesson in understanding pressure and accepting when a human held the line he wasn’t going to be getting his way.

I had a long way to go transforming him into a stallion prospect.

While it took me twenty minutes, I got the colt standing for me and was able to wrap the lead around his rump to secure better control over him when walking with him. The next time I saw my parents, I’d thank them for having sent me to a working farm to learn how to ride horses, as they’d allowed me to lead their sinfully cute foals around and learn the trick to moving them without risk to myself or them.

With the employee’s blessing, I led the colt through the store to the register, careful to keep him away from anything he might break. The tall, dark, and handsome spotted me with my new acquisition, and burdened with more than he likely needed, he joined me at the register. “And here I thought I was being bad. You went and bought an entire new horse.”

“It’s a peril in this feed store. They have a pen in the back for livestock sales. I snagged the only horse they had, and once I have everything checked out, I’m going to be clearing them out of pullets.”

“We only have quarantined pullets right now,” the woman informed me, confirming the Devil’s intel.

“Even better. I’ll take the whole lot of them off your hands. It’s not your problem if I can’t get them back into good health, and they have a better chance with me than here.”

“I’ll call the boss,” she replied, snagging the phone and summoning Mr. Grinnold, the store’s owner.

I’d met him a time or two, and I liked him well enough.

While we waited, she worked on ringing everything up while the kid brought my new cow over and kept her contained. When Mr. Grinnold arrived, he chuckled at my pile of stuff and the animals. “Please tell me you’re not going to try to move a whole cow in your car, Crystal.”

I grinned at him, liking he acknowledged I absolutely would have put a cow in the back for the drive home. “I bought myself a new truck this morning and a friend has a line on a loaner trailer for me to get everybody home. It’s the shiny one out front if you want to go have a look. I hear you have a bunch of sick pullets.”

He nodded. “The whole lot of them has bumblefoot, and while I’ve had the vet out, it’s not looking promising for them due to their age.”