How horses usually sleep

Many animal habits and habits are incomprehensible to people, so it becomes interesting why this happens and not otherwise. For example, one of the most amazing and interesting facts that is interesting to many people: how horses sleep, lying or standing.

How do horses sleep

The horse still sleeps standing

The horse is most often seen exclusively in the upright position, hence the question of the body position of the horse during sleep arises in people. It was noticed that during a nap, the horses close their eyes and raise one hind leg. it doesn’t react, only sometimes it moves its lips and ears.

Why does the horse sleep while standing? On the one hand, this is a typical body position during sleep for horses, but they are more likely to sleep, but not sleep soundly. Why is this happening? All when the horse is in an upright position, due to its unique structure of the knee joints, it distributes its entire mass into four legs and practically does not feel what it is worth.

A condition where the horse has a slightly arched back arch, slightly lowered head, tail to the floor and slightly sagged th lower lip indicates that the horse is in a half-sleep.

Why do horses sleep standing exactly in the afternoon? They just always want to be on the alert. It is embedded in their DNA.Horses are children of the steppe and wide fields, and since there are always enough predators, even in a state of “sleep” they should be safe.

Safety

How the horse sleeps , standing or lying, depends on the situation, which she herself evaluates. Much depends on its location. Being in an open area or in a room where she is uncomfortable, the filly will stand. All her instincts will be constantly on their guard, prompting at what point it is necessary to flee and hide away from danger, which in the wild can appear at any second. An animal is able to leave a drowsiness immediately.

If the horse slept on its side, then it would take him time to get up. In addition, in this position the horse is in danger and can become easy prey for the predator. An animal can sleep on its side only if it feels safe and knows that it is not in danger. Most often this happens already in the stable.

Sleep on the side

In order to be able to understand how the horse is sleeping, you need to pay attention to a number of factors. Even with a good dynamic of standing horse sleep, sleep on one side is necessary. Sleep on the side is considered the highest quality, and only in this position can the horse sleep well and rest. To do this, he must make sure that he is in a safe area. Only after the steed is completely sure that everything is safe everywhere, he will lay on his side with a calm soul.

A sleeping horse on its side cannot achieve complete relaxation if it does not know that it is not in danger. If the horse does not sleep on its side for a long time, this threatens with great overwork and even exhaustion.

It is very difficult for sleepy horses to navigate what is happening and to escape from danger. That is why each animal should have its own safe place in which he will go to sleep every day or night. A sleeping steed can accidentally butt in a person’s sleep. When exactly to sleep, day or night, it does not matter. A horse is such an animal that does not care where or how to sleep. The main thing is that she can get enough sleep and get her daily sleep rate.

Sleep Norm

According to experts, the time frame for a horse’s sleep is very different from human sleep. It depends on how the horse sleeps and how long it will rest. Horses sleep standing or lying down depending on the level of fatigue and a sense of security. An animal in the supine position is enough to fully recover even a couple of minutes.

1. If the animal is very tired, then the maximum time that it can oversleep is 3-4 hours. But when the horse is standing, he can doze from 15 to 20 hours, but even so sometimes he is not able to completely fill the lack of strength. A steeply awakened horse can be aggressive, because it does not understand what is happening.That is why experts say that at least once every two days (a maximum of three days) the animal should sleep lying down. This position is the most advantageous, since the entire balance of the animal and its energy are replenished in this way.
2. An interesting fact is that a horse from a state of drowsiness can instantly regain consciousness and be fully alert, therefore, even if the horse sleeps for 16 hours a day, once an hour for 10 minutes the animal will go out of sleep, which means that his sleep is not so strong, which is very bad for the horse. A sleeping horse does not feel danger. A horse that doesn’t get a normal sleep and cannot regain its strength that was spent during the day becomes lethargic. The animal has a constant malaise. And one day it may just fall off its feet and not get up. A sleeping horse is the easiest prey.
3. Besides the fact that they are always in danger, there is another reason why the horses spend a small amount of time in a dream. Horses have a large body weight, but their bones are thin, and it is precisely because of this that they cannot be lying down for a long time. In addition, if a sleeping horse lays longer than 6 hours, this will lead to pulmonary edema. That is why the maximum time a stallion can spend lying down is four hours. Dreams can be seen in the same way as humans. If you ever see a sleeping horse, watch it.Her pupils will move back and forth, like a person’s, which indicates that at the moment the horse is watching his dream. Everyone wants to rest after a hard day.
4. Sometimes you can catch it when the horses run in a dream. It is at this moment that the legs are actively moving in animals. What dreams the horse sees remains a big mystery.

If you have a horse, observe its behavior. If you notice that the horse never sleeps on its side and always sleeps while standing, this may indicate that it does not feel safe. In this case, it is important to try to change the conditions of his life and find a reason that may cause concern to the horse in order to solve his problem. It is required to observe how horses rest, how they move. For a sleeping person, rest is the most important thing. A sleeping horse is a rarity.