Oh dear, Evie has a drinking problem

We decided to wean Evie off her mom completely this weekend. For the last month or so we have tried to prepare them both for their 'separation' by giving Evie her own stable to eat in a couple of times a day, letting her stay longer in her own space every time, and by allowing her to be with Naloma during their time in the meadow and at night so she could still drink Naloma's milk. Evie feels completely at ease in her own stable now, so the only thing that concerned us about Operation Weaning was that Naloma's udders have to dry up. Without getting inflamed or sore. Which means we have to give her plenty of exercise so she will 'walk off' her milk. Both Evie and Naloma stayed very calm and weren't upset at all by being apart from each other for such a long time, but Saturday morning Naloma's udders nearly exploded. So much milk to give and no foal to suckle. We now have to keep them apart for the coming weeks, not sure for how long exactly, could be 4 to 8 weeks, to prevent Evie from trying to drink and starting up the whole milk production factory again. This is also an excellent opportunity to let Evie getting used to being alone outside or in her own stable, without the other horses being in the neighbourhood. A case of excercising them apart from each other and letting them run around in our paddock/manege on their own.

(Hubs is getting his exercise too now. He's wearing his riding gear by the way, hence the tight trousers. Isn't Evie getting BIG?)

Naloma's udders seem to dry up nicely now. There is no longer a danger of explosion. They feel soft and a lot smaller already. This morning we brought Willem to our paddock so he could run around a bit and roll in the sand and whatever else makes a horse happy and we put Evie in the paddock too. She and 'uncle' Willem like each other, but this was the first time without Naloma being around. They chased each other a couple of rounds, all in good fun, and then Willem stopped to nibble on some leaves. At that point Evie had gotten all thirsty and saw something dangling. She positioned herself next to Willem, her behind pointing towards his front end, and tried if the 'bar was open'. You should have seen Willem's face. Astonished. Bewildered. Perplexed. Blank. Evie was a bit dumbfounded too, I have to say. Luckily Willem is a friendly guy and when he had recovered from the initial shock, he explained to Evie that his dangly bits have a different purpose than her mother's, by gently pushing her aside with his hind leg. Life is a learning process. Even for a horse.