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“Yes, sir,” Tam drawled. “I’m just here if you need anything. Can I get you somethin’ to drink? Sweet tea? Lemonade? Water?”
“I’ll take some water,” he said, starting toward the horse trailer.
Tam grabbed a bottle from the cooler at her feet and followed him. She handed it to him and said, “I’ll be takin’ the vitals on Barely Audible too. Mister Chappell is here to assist with your horse during the covering.” She indicated Blaine, who also wore a smile on his face. He should, too, because getting Barely Audible to stud was a huge feat.
He’d won the Triple Crown only three years ago, and Tam suspected he covered a lot of mares in the spring and summer.
“Blaine,” Wayne said, grinning for all he was worth now. He shook Blaine’s hand heartily and even pulled him into a quick embrace, clapping him twice on the back. “How are you?”
“Great, Wayne,” Blaine sad. “How’s your father?”
“Oh, he’s still kickin’. Yours?”
“About the same,” Blaine said. “We’re going to take Audible to the breeding shed and do the tease,” he said. “We’ve got Brand Spanking New who’s looking great from our ultrasounds waiting, and we’ll see how they like each other.”
“Too bad Never Going Home isn’t in heat,” Wayne said. “I know Audible likes her.”
Blaine chuckled, and the two of them opened the horse trailer. “She’ll probably be ready next week,” he said. “But you’ve got quite a busy schedule with him.”
“I swear, all we do is drive and cover. Drive and cover.”
Tam rolled her eyes, thankful no one could see her, as the two cowboys had stepped inside the trailer. Wayne wasn’t just driving and covering. The horse did all the work during the covering anyway. He was certainly taking some money to the bank in between all of that.
All for something that literally took less than a minute.
Still, when Blaine emerged from the trailer with the tall, dark bay, Tam’s breath caught in her throat. Barely Audible was a stunning specimen of a thoroughbred horse, and he definitely knew it.
He looked at her as he walked by, already tossing his head. He knew exactly why he was here, and she hoped he liked Brand Spanking New. She was a bit of a fussy horse, and when Tam met Duke at the door of the breeding shed, he looked up from his brood mare notebook. “She’s ready. Let’s have him go in on the side. We’ll just see how she reacts to him.”
Tam gestured for Blaine to take the stud to the side entrance, and she peered past Duke. “Is she being difficult?”
“A bit,” Duke said lightly. “She didn’t like Gravestone, which is odd, because they’ve mated before.” He looked back at his notebook. “If she doesn’t take to Audible, we can bring over The Mayflower.” He frowned at his book, which had a variety of letters and symbols in it that only he understood. “I’m ninety percent certain she’ll ovulate in the next forty-eight hours.”
“You had Brand New scanned, though,” Tam said. “And she won the Belmont. Mayflower only won the Oaks.”
“I know,” Duke murmured. He turned back to the beautiful gray horse in the shed. “All right, New. You’ve got this one, okay? He’s a great horse, and you be good now.”
Brand Spanking New just eyed Duke like he’d told her she’d have to eat something rotten. Definitely difficult.
Audible entered the shed on the side, and he lifted his head instantly. His upper lip came back, revealing his teeth, and Duke grinned. “He’s ready.”
The horse went all the way to the six-foot wall that kept him away from the mare. She tossed her head too, and Spur murmured something to her and held her in place. She nickered, and he said something else to her.
Duke rounded the horse to stand next to Spur, and Tam just enjoyed being there. Blaine looked anxious, as usual, and she really wished he’d learn how to relax. This covering was going to go fine; Tam could tell already.
They’d already covered two other mares that morning, and after this, they’d all get a break. Audible stretched toward Brand New, trying to bite her. Everyone let him, because that was classic breeding behavior for a horse.
Brand New turned her back on him, squatted, and urinated. Spur grinned, and Duke clapped his hand against his clipboard.
Even Tam smiled, because Brand Spanking New had just told Barely Audible she liked him and he could come on over and get the job done. Maybe she wasn’t so fussy after all. They still moved slowly, waiting until Brand New lifted her tail before Spur nodded at Blaine to bring the stud around.
He did, and with Duke, Spur, and Blaine there to hold reins and make sure everything went smoothly, Barely Audible covered Brand New. The whole escapade took about five minutes, and Tam wondered how much Wayne Harvey made from that exchange.
He walked back to the horse trailer with Blaine, the two of them talking and laughing. Tam stepped over to Brand Spanking New and ran her hand down the side of the horse’s neck. “That was great, New,” she said. “Maybe you’ll get a fast foal from him.”
She smiled at Spur and Duke, and then she followed Blaine back to the horse trailer.
“…thanks so much,” Blaine said. “We’ll call you again.”
