Chapter 31

Somehow I managed to wake first the next morning. Not wanting to miss a golden opportunity, I tickled Lanita awake. She was easy to reach since she was sleeping on my chest, and when I stopped and she caught her breath after the laughing, we were all awake.

"That was mean Daddy," she said, though she didn't really sound like she was telling the truth.

"I'm so sorry, but I love to hear you laugh. From now on I'll try to make sure you are already awake before I start tickling you."

"Why don't you just promise not to tickle me ever again?" she asked.

"Because tickling you is too much fun to stop completely."

"You were right mother. Men do have such silly ways sometimes. At least you have one that is a good hunter," she said, and then we all laughed.

After a trip to the privies, Lanita and I headed for Nosey and Buttercup. Nosey helped close the distance by herding Buttercup toward us. Since the horses usually stayed across the river at night now, Buttercup was the only one Nosey had to look out for. I hoped he wasn't becoming too bossy.

"When are we going to look for more cashda, Daddy?" Lanita asked, after we'd made it to our log sofa.

"I'm not sure. Maybe one of your mommies will tell us while we're eating," I said.

"Well I think we should practice on the thaka today and then go tomorrow," she said.

"Then you women should put your heads together and decide. I'm here to serve," I said.

"Oh Daddy, you know they'll do it anyway you want to do it," she said.

"They have so far, but you are supposed to be asleep when we're doing that," I said.

"Daddy, that wasn't what I was talking about," she said, and looked indignant.

"Oh. You meant they'd let me decide when to go looking for more cashda?" I asked.

"Of course I did, and you knew it. It was a good joke though, even if I'm much to young and innocent to know what you were talking about the first time."

"Well, I hope you're not too young and innocent for a good breakfast, because here it comes. Maybe we can talk about our cashda hunt after we eat."

And that's exactly what happened. My brain trust, with Jekaycey's help, decided that tomorrow morning would be a good time to take our trip. They even decided that another day of cowgirl practice would probably be enough, but as normal, things changed.

When we arrived at the ranch, Jortah was glad to see us. I saw that he had Candace in the capture pen by herself and it wasn't long before I found out why. All the prospective mounts were already leading by now and none of them had been in the pen yesterday.

"Something is wrong with Candace. She is acting very peculiar. Buster, Red, Bob, and most of the male donkeys and Shetlands also seem to be very interested in what is going on with her," Jortah said, when we'd reached the pen.

"Candace is horsin'," I said.

"What is that?" Jortah, and damned nearly everyone else asked at the same time.

"Candace is announcing to the world, via her scent mostly, that she is ready for one of the males to get her next foal started," I said.

"Huh?" Jortah asked.

I spent the next thirty minutes explaining the equine estrus cycle to everyone on this side of the river. Mostly they were amazed. Of course after the first few statements most of the loner guys, and Denac did a lot of blushing about it, since I explained the difference in the way mares and women went about it. The women didn't blush; they were mostly trying not to laugh at the men.

"But what should we do about it?" Denac asked.

"I think the rest of you should try to practice for your upcoming cowboy duties while I cross the river and have a few words with Caloe," I said.

"What does mother have to do with it?" Katia asked.

"I just want to make sure that she wants me to tend to the stock as I see fit. I feel like she will, but I don't want to cut her out of the decision making process," I said, and took off back for camp.

As I'd expected, Caloe didn't give a rat's ass about the details of which horse or donkey screwed which horse, or donkey, or Shetland either as a matter of fact.

"I have no opinion about this, Carl, and no way to even form an informed one. Until you just mentioned it I didn't consider such to even be a question, much less an option. Do as you see fit with anything about our livestock, as long as it doesn't harm Nosey that is," she said.

When I reached the ranch again I saw that my mates, Denac, and even Lanita and Nosey were busily making the thaka herd do maneuvers. At least I had Jortah and Jonalton and the guys to help arrange the mare rape. That didn't mean they had any idea of what I was up too.

"Now that I know it is all normal, can't we just turn Candace out again?" Jortah asked.

"If we wanted Buster to do the deed we could, but it would be dangerous for all the male donkeys, Red, Buster, and all the male cashda, Shetlands, and donkeys," I said.

"Why would it be dangerous?" Jonalton asked.

"Because some, even many of them would fight each other for the privilege of mating Candace. It is their normal behavior in the wild," I said.

"But it doesn't look like any but Buster, Red, and the other quarterhorse stallion could even get the job done. The rest are not tall enough," Jortah said.

"Yes, but they don't know that and they aren't thinking ahead. They want to try; it is in their nature.

"Besides, I want the largest donkey to at least try. If it can get the job done I want it to. I want it to try with all the female Clydesdales and with at least some of the female quarterhorses. I want some mules," I said.

"Then how will we let it try without all the fighting you talked about?" Jonalton asked.

"By putting it in the pen with Candace," I said.

Even that wasn't as easy as it should have been. The biggest donkey had been taught to lead and had even been ridden by a couple of the younger boys in camp. That didn't mean he was thinking straight today though. I ended up having to rope him before we could get him to cooperate. He changed his tune though when he finally realized he was going to be put into the pen with her.

Of course he had to be roped again a little later, because Candace wasn't actually receptive to the idea yet. She'd just come in during the night, just started her estrus. I'm sure that the donkey would be happy to get some early practice but Candace didn't see it that way. She'd let him know that there'd be no sexual congress today by kicking the shit out of him right away.

"What is wrong now, Carl," Jortah asked.

I gave another little horse-fucking lesson then and told them we'd try again tomorrow. Of course this put our cashda gathering expedition on hold, but it couldn't be helped. I wanted to take time to teach Jortah, Jonalton, and most of the other guys how to run a breeding operation.

We went back to our normal chores then, kinda. I let Denac and the girls keep driving the thaka around in an orderly circle while the guys and I caught the rest of the male horses and donkeys. They'd all be spending the next few days across the river, hobbled and grazing if we weren't riding them. I even spent some time riding Bob, the other quarterhorse stud. He seemed every bit as good as Red and he caught on fast. I wished I knew which of the mares had been his mother.

I hobbled him before lunch and I was glad that Denac and all our prospective drovers rode over to eat. I clued Denac in that Buster needed to spend the night over on this side of the river, to keep him from trying to get in with Candace.

I spent some time that afternoon with Caltort and the wagon makers. Caltort's current wheel-making efforts were the most critical and he, Jagbac, Bruca, and Charlton were doing a great job. Jagbac and Charlton were working on felloes while Bruca was busily making spokes. Caltort was concentrating on hubs. They were the hardest of course, but he was making good headway.

"Exactly how will we keep them together, Carl?" Caltort asked.

"Once we have them assembled we will heat the rims and it will cause them to expand. We will put them on the wheels while they are hot and when they cool they will keep everything together," I said.

"But how will we handle the hot rims?" he asked.

"Very carefully," I said, and Caltort gave me such a look.

"Guess what, Daddy," Lanita said, the next morning when I opened my eyes to see her snuggled up on my chest.

"I don't have to guess, I can feel it too. I'm sure we'll see who the candidates are after we get dressed and outside," I said.

"I don't understand you sometime. Most men never know until the pair finds each other," she said.

"I'm just smarter than the average Daddy," I said.

"You are that. You are very clever about a lot of fun things. I'm glad I have you now," she said.

"Well, lets see if we can wake the others and get them outside," I said.

"We are all awake, my mate, we are only pretending to be asleep so you can have your morning conversation with Lanita," Katia said, and then the three of them laughed at Lanita and I.

"Good then. See Daddy, mommies can be trained too," Lanita said, and then squealed with laughter as her mommies ganged up on her for a tickling frenzy.

As soon as we were outside we saw Nosey. It was easy to see he and Jeffry had been lording it over the rest of the stock, since they and Buttercup were the only ones that weren't hobbled. All the horses and Shetlands were taking it well, but some of the other donkeys seemed to have their panties in a wad about it. I decided we could let all the donkeys wander and Lanita and I removed their hobbles after our visit to the shitters. By the time we were done with that chore breakfast was ready and we rushed to our log.

"What will we work on today, Carl?" Denac asked, as Lanita and I arrived.

"I think Lanita wants to practice being a cowgirl again today," I said.

"You are right. I think I have it down now, but the rest of them can use some more practice. That doesn't hurt my feelings either, though, because it is much more fun than hanging around the camp all day," Lanita said.

"It sure is. In fact I like it much better than cooking," Katia said.

"I think I will too, as soon as my butt stops being sore," Nita said, and Jekaycey agreed with her at once.

After breakfast was done and the bowls were cleaned we saddled up. As soon as we mounted and started to leave we had to get right back on foot. All the donkeys were intent on going with us and that wouldn't do. We didn't need any of the males over there causing trouble. We had to hobble them again. They were none too happy about it either, especially since the females came with us. Strangely, Nosey stayed with them.

When we got to the pen I could see that Candace was feeling a lot closer to her male friend today. It was a little sooner than I would have expected, but mares all operate on their own internal clock about things like this. When we let the donkey in with her this time there was more squealing and less kicking and within twenty minutes he'd talked her into it. She turned her ass to him with her tail held out of the way. I was glad that Lanita and Jeffry had been the first to ride off. I don't know why, but I was.

The donkey was barely tall enough to get the job done, but he managed it. I'm pretty sure that he was even happier about it than I was.

"Is that all there is to it?" Jonalton asked.

"Pretty much. He will need to mount her at least every other day until she stops letting him, though," I said.

"It looks like he wants to try again any minute now," Jortah said.

"I'm sure he does. In fact I wouldn't mind a little private time with Jekaycey right now," Denac said, and laughed.

"Well neither of you donkeys need it today. We might as well let the four-legged one take a shot every day though.

"Do you think you can see to it Jortah?" I asked.

"I don't see any problem. We'll just let him in every morning and then take him out when he's done," he said.

"That will probably do it. If any of the other mares come in, just treat them the same way, especially the Clydesdale mares. I want Sir Longears to have a crack at all of them," I said.