Is my mini pregnant?

Question
 Hi,
I have two questions for you!
 1) My moms yearling mini stallion got out with my two year old mini mare, my mare got fat in a short amount of time so how could I tell if she is pregnant?
 2) When my moms mini yearling is with our 28 year old Quarter horse Sadie he tries to nerse off of her.The thing is she lets him!!!So now we have to keep those two apart, is that the right thing to do and if not how could we stop this bad habbit ?

Answer
Hi,
The only way to confirm a pregnancy is to have a vet come out and do an ultrasound.  Minis don't (shouldn't) start to gain weight and have their bellies "drop" until the last trimester of pregnancy or so.  Make sure that you confirm pregnancy so you know what to be feeding your mare; you don't want her on a broodmare diet if she is empty because she will get overweight!  Another thing you could do is tease her to a stallion and watch her reaction to see if she is still coming into heat.  If she does come back into heat several times, she is most likely not pregnant.  But keep in mind some mares do come into heat when pregnant.
As to your problem with your QH, separating them is best, but if this isn't going to be a practical solution over time, you can try muzzling the mini.  As long as neither horse is getting hurt by this "nursing", and muzzling and separating don't work well, I would leave them together.  Your yearling is probably just remembering his mother; over time he should "grow up" and grow out of this habit.  He also could be bored, so make sure you have something for him to play with.  Some minis like to be entertained with balls, salt blocks, and most of all, food!
Let me know if this helps!
~rb