This is a test. As you’ll find out, it’s a test in more ways than one.

For the next few weeks, I would like to share a little bit of my life with you. It’s a story that you won’t find in a veterinary text, but I think it might help save a few foals’ lives. In Spring 2007, the excitement and joy of a newly-arrived foal turned into the heartbreak and struggle of watching the helpless little filly get rejected by her mom. But the story doesn’t end there–in fact, that’s only the beginning. Have you ever heard of inducing lactation in a mare that doesn’t have a foal? The idea seemed sort of crazy to me. Have you ever bottle-raised a baby on milk-replacement formula? Do you know about nurse mares and nannies, and the bond between a mare and her foal?