They are the sneakiest little buggers when you're trying to wean them. I took Grace away for a month and she was right back to nursing as soon as I brought her back, and she was over a year old then. THEN I tried a spiked noseband on her halter. Well that didn't work either. She figured out how to hold her head so that the spikes would more or less lay down and wouldn't stick. She was at least 18mths old before Truly finally weaned her herself. I'm sure it would've been sooner if Truly had been having another foal right away. I checked Bluebell's udder the other day and even though she has a huge bag and I saw Hope sticking her head under there like she was nursing, I didn't get any milk out when I squeezed, so I think she had stopped giving milk in preparation for the new baby. I had wondered if that would happen and was worried if it didn't if there would be colostrum for the new baby when it was born. I guess it's like what Deaconjim says to RoS about worrying over things that God's already taken care of. Horses were having babies long before people came into the picture.
It took us a long time to get Dot weaned. We moved them down to the pasture, and I think Belle took care of it herself, even tho she still had milk.
Becky