I think Val's ugly stage has come and gone, and luckily it didn't last very long. She had a period of about 2 weeks that her pretty red baby fuzz started to fall out, and was replaced by a liver-colored hair underneith. I was afraid my little red chestnut filly was going to be a liver chestnut mare, but now her new big-girl hair is changing back to red. Red hair suits her best, I think. It was especially prominant on her head and legs, you can kinda see the dark brown coloring in some of this post's photos. I'm wondering what color the mane will be next . . . .
Val has also got a new buddy in her "Uncle" Fred. Fred and Val have been hanging together out in the pasture, while Khandle seems to wander and graze blissfully by herself. Nice to have a baby sitter, I'm sure.
 |
| Val with Fred in the background |
 |
| You can see the liver coloring on her face in this photo. |
She's almost 4 months old now, and can be weaned at any time. From what I've read, most weanings take place about 3 months because the owners want to get the mare back to work, but in the wild, most babies aren't weaned until the next foal is born to the mare. This puts weaning in the wild at about a year. I like to try and keep things as natural as possible when dealing with animals, so I'm in no hurry to wean Val based on this information. I figure if wild babies stay with mom for a year, they probably benefit from that time in learned behaviors and nutrion, so I'm thinking I'll let Val stay with Khandle through the summer at least.
 |
| Khandle on her own . . . |
 |
| Khandle with Val and Fred |
Recently she made a new friend when my good friend Melissa came to visit, and Val was her wonderful, charming self.
No comments:
Post a Comment