People who have rarely seen horses often think that these noble animals prefer to sleep standing up. In fact, the sight of a horse lying on its side and immersed in deep sleep is usually accessible to those who are involved in horse breeding or use horses in their work. The question of how a horse sleeps, standing or lying down, is not so simple. Therefore, it is worth first deciding what we are talking about.
Many have observed this picture when a horse is standing, but its eyes are closed. At the same time, she waves away annoying insects and barely moves her ears. It is this state that people mistake for sleep. Why does a horse sleep standing up?
In reality, the horse only rests in this way. At such moments she is in a dormant state. This can be called superficial sleep. These animals inherited the skill of dozing for hours from their wild ancestors.
As a rule, drowsiness is accompanied by the following external signs:
Standing sleep can be observed at moments when horses are grazing. When some of them are frolicking merrily or nibbling grass, another group of animals freezes and thus rests. Horses can remain in this state for 12 hours a day.
Despite the fact that horses and mares spend most of their lives standing, they have learned to relax in this body position. At the moment of falling asleep, their weight is evenly distributed on all limbs, the knee joints and ligaments are blocked. After that the muscles begin to relax. The horse does not feel its weight in this position and can take a nap, disconnect from external stimuli and relieve fatigue.
Horse colors: mousey horse- what is he like?
Being in a standing sleep state, animals have the opportunity to wake up easily. At the same time, if nothing bothers them, they can sleep for long hours. It was this condition that became the source of the myths that horses sleep standing up.
You must understand that the drowsy state of an animal and real deep sleep are very different things.
You can see which animal sleeps standing up, like a horse, without leaving your region. Many people who love take Sunday walks with children in the parks, you probably saw how a close relative of horses, a pony, sleeps. There is a whole list that lists which animals sleep standing up. Of these we can mention:
- Cows;
- Goats;
- Giraffes;
- Elephants and others.
Why does this happen
Standing sleep comes from the wild. Since a state of deep sleep often leaves any animal defenseless against predators, horses try to rest in this way.
When a horse needs to really fall asleep, he lies down on the ground, usually on his side. Getting to your feet quickly while in this position is very difficult. A V wildlife a predator attack can happen at any moment. Therefore, to be on the safe side, horses rest while standing. They have to be constantly on guard. This explains why horses sleep standing up.
In case of danger, getting out of a dormant state is much easier than getting up, interrupting deep sleep.
There are situations when a horse cannot fall asleep while in its stall. For her safety, people build partitions to separate her from her relatives. This puts the horse into a state of anxiety and does not allow him to fall asleep lying on his side. This behavior is driven by instincts. After all, if an animal senses danger, you need to be ready to immediately take off and run as far as possible. This is exactly what her wild ancestors did.
How to make a horse cart with your own hands
But despite such safety measures, the horse, like other animals, needs proper rest and sleep in a horizontal position and complete relaxation. There is an intermediate option sleep for horses. He assumes that the animal lowers its chest to the ground and tucks its legs under itself. When it stands up, it only lifts the front part of the body. At some point the horse sits, but then rises sharply back bodies.
How horses really sleep
Scientists claim that the most natural sleeping position for a horse is lying on its side. You can verify this by observing the behavior of foals. Because they feel completely safe with their mother, they fall asleep easily by lying down on the ground. Adults, when there is confidence that nothing threatens them, also sink to the sand or grass, lie on their side and fall asleep.
Horses, like people, are capable of dreaming and snoring. Their limbs may twitch in this condition. But unlike humans, they don't need 8 hours a day to get a good night's sleep. Usually we are talking about 3 or 4 hours. And there is an explanation for this.
These beautiful animals thin bones And large mass. If a horse is left lying on its side for more than 6 hours, it may develop pulmonary edema. Therefore, real horse sleep does not last long. Per day it turns out that it takes about 12 hours to nap and a few hours of deep sleep. This is quite enough to relax and restore your strength.
Everyone has probably heard sayings like, “sleeps like war horse”, which hint that horses sleep standing up. Yes, and we have all seen horses sleeping while standing more than once.
So what happens is all horses sleep standing up?
Horses sleep little and not soundly. At the slightest rustle, the animal awakens in order to escape. Therefore for them big advantage- sleep standing. First of all, old or sick horses rest this way because they have difficulty getting up. Younger horses sleep mostly lying down. However, animals of the same group never sleep at the same time.
At least one of them keeps a standing watch and alerts the others in case of danger. First, the horses raise the front part of the body, and then jump up sharply, throwing up the hind part.
The horse can actually rest while standing thanks to the unique “locking” mechanism of the knee joint, which allows him to remain on his feet for a very long time and at the same time relax the muscles as much as possible.
During standing sleep, horses even dream (rapid sleep phase), but in order to have a good rest and relieve muscle tension, the horse must lie down.
The main thing is safety!
Complete safety is the main condition for sleep for a horse. But her and her owner’s ideas about safety may not always coincide. A person believes that a horse in a closed stall is completely protected, but an animal in this enclosed space sometimes cannot get rid of the feeling of isolation from other horses and restriction of freedom, and this, according to the horse’s understanding, is fraught with danger. This is probably because the horse in the stall, left alone, takes upon himself both the duties of a guard and responsibility for his own life.
The best sleep is on the “side”
And yet, standing rest for a horse is just an imitation of sleep. In peace and security, she, like people, prefers to rest “on the side” to standing with her eyes closed, one might even say, “throwing her hooves away.” And scientists suggest that in order to enter the deep phase of sleep, a horse must lie down. Like humans and many other animals, horses have two stages of sleep: non-REM sleep and rapid eye movement sleep (deep sleep). More often than not, REM sleep occurs when the horse lies on its side rather than when it lies on its chest.
How long do they sleep?
It is believed that the average person needs an average of eight hours of sleep per day. During this period, horses spend approximately four to fifteen hours of their time standing, and only a few minutes to several hours lying down. Only part of this time are the horses actually asleep, the rest of the time being brief moments of slumber lasting a few minutes each. Total time An adult horse's sleep ranges from a few minutes to a couple of hours a day.
Colorful dreams in the meadow
When people sleep, they sometimes dream. The same thing probably happens in horses. If you observe, through the closed eyelids of these animals, you can notice the movement of the eyes up and down, and the horses also move their legs in their sleep, as if they were trotting. I have heard from small children the question of whether horses have headaches, but who can answer that without a doubt? And we can only make assumptions about whether horses dream. They probably see it. It’s not for nothing that people even created a poetic image of a sleeping horse - an image of the bright, unattainable and beautiful. When you think about him, the mysterious white horse from the cartoon \"Hedgehog in the Fog\", which ends with the question: \"How is the horse doing?\".
Do horses sleep? This question haunted people who were in love with this graceful animal for a long time. And this is not without reason, because not many have been able to see a recumbent horse in deep sleep. The question logically arises: “How do horses sleep: standing or lying down?”
The opinions of scientists who observed them for a long time settled on the fact that horses sleep, but in different ways. For a person to fully restore strength and energy, 7-8 hours are enough. Even-toed ungulates rest much longer: up to 6-15 hours. But their sleep is completely different.
Owners of horses have repeatedly had to watch them stand for a long time with their eyes closed, flinching at the slightest noise and swatting away insects with their tails. They can remain in this position and condition for several hours. But this is not a dream - this is a half-asleep rest. Their complete deep sleep lasts from two to four hours.
Horse rest
It is very rare to see an animal lying serenely on its side or in another position in a state of sound sleep. The reason for this behavior is explained by the fact that in the past horses were wild and lived according to the laws of the wild: whether they were predators or mammals, they were fed or saved by their legs. Therefore, you need to constantly be on alert so as not to become a victim of wolves or other “lovers” of horse meat.
Sleeping soundly stallions
Instinct still forces horses in camps to gather in a herd and rest there, surrounded by their relatives. Some watch and guard sleep, others rest, standing or lying down. So they take turns guarding each other’s sleep. Moreover, the position in which stallions and mares rest is on their legs bent at the joints. The head is half lowered. The guards are awake and standing at this time. They remain in this position until they sense danger and warn the herd about it by neighing.
Interesting! The pose on half-bent legs is very convenient from a safety position. Feeling a threat or hearing a suspicious noise, the horses quickly pull them forward, push off with their hind hooves and quickly take off. This habit was preserved among them and passed on from their ancestors, whose teacher was nature itself.
Sleeping half asleep on your feet
How do horses sleep when they stand on their feet for a long time without getting tired? Zoologists have already studied and explained this mystery of nature. On average, an adult weighs four hundred kilograms. The legs and hooves of animals are under such weight of the body both while walking or running, and during sleep. Why don’t they get tired and withstand such a load?
Horses half asleep
Nature has decreed that when standing, horses evenly distribute their weight across all four legs, the ligaments in the knee joints are tightened and allow them not to feel this load. In addition, they relax all the muscles and slightly bend the lower back. Horse hooves are designed in such a way that the entire weight of the body is taken by the arrow (or connective tissue, having a soft base, shock-absorbing points when walking and running and distributing the load on the hooves). So horses, during the evolutionary process, were able to learn to rest, graze, and save their lives.
Sleeping on your side
Horses have a deep sleep phase when they can relax and fall asleep lying on their side. So deep that in their sleep they begin to snore like a person, shaking their legs or head. During these 3-4 hours they are completely restored horsepower. But they can afford such a vacation only if they do not feel any threat from the outside.
The situation is different with foals. Being surrounded by adult horses and in the presence of their mother, they feel safe and can lie on the grass and sleep carefree. The feeling of security gives them the opportunity to rest as much as they want. They can be seen more often than adult mares and stallions sleeping soundly on their sides.
Important to know! Another reason that horses cannot sleep for a long time, no more than 6 hours, on their sides is due to their massive weight and small thickness of ribs. When resting while lying down, animals feel a strong load on the lungs, which leads to their swelling. If the horse rests for a long time in a position where the horse lies on its side on damp, cold ground, it can get pneumonia.
Horse dreams
Sometimes horse breeders pay attention to the fact that their pets hardly sleep in the stall, lying down. This can be seen at a stud farm, when you quietly walk between the stalls or stalls. There the stallions stand with their eyes closed, their ears and eyelashes twitching slightly. This way they relax and doze off. If the stall is dry and spacious so that you can lie down and get up freely, then the animal will feel comfortable. But when a horse is alone in a stable, it feels discomfort from loneliness. It's enough for him to stay fresh air or in a herd in a pasture surrounded by other horses. This will help improve your animal's sleep.
They dream too
Another question worries lovers of these beauties: “Do they dream?” Judging by their behavior, when they fall asleep soundly and deeply, dreams come to them. Horses either shudder in their sleep, then “run away,” then snort or neigh quietly. Sometimes they can snore, but this is a property of a purely physiological nature: snoring appears under pressure from the body on the lungs. Scientists suggest that horses dream in color because their vision is colored.
Sleep is necessary for every living creature. For what? By resting in our sleep, we restore our strength and receive an additional charge of energy to continue our life. In animals, as in people, sleep comes when the body requires rest. But everyone sleeps differently: people lie in bed, dogs and cats, as well as all representatives of their species, rest curled up, and horses spend most of the day on their feet, half asleep.
Note! If horses live at home and rest in a stall, then they can sleep either on their side or while standing. It all depends on the situation. In herds, horses rest in their sleep as the wild nature “taught” them. If an animal is healthy, energetic, well-groomed, it means that it has excellent nutrition, good care and healthy sleep.
What a delight the circus riders are when they ride out, sitting or standing on a horse! Every owner of a miracle horse who competes at the races experiences no less joy. Even communication with a simple hard-working horse who plows the land and carries water in the village evokes respect and reverence for him.
One day my daughter watched enough Western cartoons and TV shows dedicated to horses and asked me: “Mom, how does a horse sleep?” To be honest, at first I was confused. The fact is that we are city dwellers, we do not have our own agriculture and barnyard. That is why I could not give a clear answer to my daughter. Shame on me, friends! So let's figure it out interesting question together.
How does a horse sleep?
To answer this question it was enough to open any book about the life of horses! Here's what I found out. Mostly horses sleep standing up, but not always! No wonder my instinct warned me that not everything here is “pure”! The fact is that for proper rest you simply need to take a nap for at least a couple of hours while lying down. This will allow them to gain strength for the new day. But still, their main sleep occurs, so to speak, on their feet.
Why does a horse sleep standing up?
"Mechanism" of action
And it's true! Why? To answer this question, you must first understand how they do this. After delving deeper into the relevant literature, I found out that their unique bone structure helps them sleep standing up! The fact is that the bones and ligaments in the legs of horses are designed in such a way that they become blocked very easily. It is thanks to this that complete relaxation occurs while the horse is dozing. Her muscles relax, and her overall body weight "suspends" quite securely on the locked limbs.
Why standing and not lying down?
I reported above that the horse sleeps standing up during most of its rest. But why? It's simple! The fact is that it is simply inconvenient for our artiodactyls to rest for a long time in a supine position. After all, these are quite heavy and massive animals with huge muscles, which cannot be said about their fragile bones... If horses lie in the same position for a long time, this will lead to the animal being injured.
Self-defense
Having delved into the works of some scientists and naturalists, among whom was the well-known traveler Przhevalsky, I learned not only how a horse sleeps, but also how it, roughly speaking, “came to such a life”! Scientists believe that this is a common habit that over time developed into a defense mechanism. The fact is that horse speed is their main “self-defense technique” in the wild, and a standing position during sleep can keep the animal in “combat” readiness. In other words, if they are in danger, they can immediately run away! There is probably no need to explain that in order for any animal with long and thin legs (antelope, camels, gazelles, cows), in order to be able to rise from its supine position, you need to spend significantly more time than others!
Mutual assistance
So, we know that horses doze lying down for a short time. But even for this insignificant period of time, they need some kind of guarantee that there is no predator wandering nearby, ready to dine on them... Their brothers act as such “insurance”! When horses keep in herds, they guard each other in turns: while one is sleeping, the other stands nearby, and vice versa.
And finally
That’s the whole answer to the question of how a horse sleeps, friends! Now I can tell my child absolutely and confidently about this! All you have to do is wait for your daughter to wake up... Good luck to you!
Anyone who had the opportunity to observe the graceful animals at least a little could see a standing horse in a sleeping state. The animal's eyelids were closed, the lower back was arched, and the legs were steadily positioned parallel to each other. The head and tail are relaxed, as are the ears. The question naturally arises: do horses really sleep like that?
In fact, in such a state the horse is dozing, that is, the brain and muscles do not completely relax and are ready for action at any moment. This behavior has developed at the genetic level since the times when wild herds were constantly threatened by predators.
The best sleep is on the “side”
And yet, standing rest for a horse is just an imitation of sleep. In peace and security, she, like people, prefers to rest “on the side” to standing with her eyes closed, one might even say, “throwing her hooves away.”
And scientists suggest that in order to enter the deep phase of sleep, a horse must lie down. Like humans and many other animals, horses have two stages of sleep: non-REM sleep and rapid eye movement sleep (deep sleep).
But this does not mean that sleeping on your side is not necessary. On the contrary, only he is complete for this creature, while a standing horse is more likely to simply rest and restore its strength. Best option- make sure you are safe and lie down.
It is believed that otherwise the deep sleep phase cannot be achieved - which means that if the animal does not lie down, then it simply risks not getting enough sleep. It is difficult to escape from a predator when you are sleepy. Therefore, horses sleep lying down only if they are confident in their safety - and this is quite difficult to verify, especially if there is no herd of relatives around who can warn of danger if it arises.
More often than not, REM sleep occurs when the horse lies on its side rather than when it lies on its chest.
Horse dreams
Sometimes horse breeders pay attention to the fact that their pets hardly sleep in the stall, lying down. This can be seen at a stud farm, when you quietly walk between the stalls or stalls. There the stallions stand with their eyes closed, their ears and eyelashes twitching slightly. This way they relax and doze off. If the stall is dry and spacious so that you can lie down and get up freely, then the animal will feel comfortable.
Horses dream, just like people. If you look at an animal lying down and sleeping, its eyes can move quite strongly up and down. Sometimes the horses even move their legs as if they were running. This is unnoticeable, of course, when we see horses sleeping not in real life, but in photographs, but when you come into contact with these creatures in person, such details immediately attract attention. One can only guess what kind of dreams horses have.
But when a horse is alone in a stable, it feels discomfort from loneliness. It is enough for him to be in the fresh air or in a herd in a pasture surrounded by other horses. This will help improve your animal's sleep.
How long does a horse need to sleep?
If a person needs about eight hours of sleep for proper rest, then 3-4 hours is enough for a horse. However, as practice shows, in a state of light half-asleep the animal sleeps on average from 6 to 15 hours a day.
With this regimen, just 2 hours of sound sleep will be enough to fully recuperate.
Safety first
Let's figure out why horses sleep standing up. The reason for this vertical nap is the need to maintain safety. The animal does not see protection in enclosures and other protective measures taken by humans. Instinct tells him that at the first danger he must quickly take off and run, hiding, for example, from predators. And in the real world, in the wild, they can appear at any moment.
It is also worth noting that horses are herd animals. It is when they are close to their relatives that they can completely relax. Therefore, they are not always able to sleep in a fenced stall. If there are other individuals nearby, then the animal may well lie down on the ground and fall asleep. Thus, a division of labor occurs in the herd. While some horses are awake, others are sleeping at this time. Then the shift changes.
And the animal can emerge from such a slumber almost instantly. If the horse had slept horizontally, it would have taken some time to get up and wake up completely - and these seconds could have been fatal. This is why it is more profitable for horses to sleep standing up most of the time.
Read also:
How do horses swim?
Out to pasture
In the wild, you can see herds of horses sleeping with their limbs tucked under them, right in the pasture. It is interesting that the horses take turns guarding while the others are resting. The “duty” mare or stallion lowers itself onto the grass, bending its legs at the joints.
The head is slightly lowered.
The animal seems to be sleeping, but the sleep is not deep, but superficial. The horse reacts to sounds and notices the slightest changes in the environment. When he discovers danger, he will inform the others.
Remember, when free-ranging, ungulates gather in herds and their behavior resembles wild horses. While walking or being in the stall, we see a picture: the stallion lowers his head, bends his neck, relaxes his ears; these exercises help you relax and doze off. Such a short rest helps to quickly restore the strength necessary for life.
If a horse owner wants his animals to at least sometimes rest lying down, he must provide them with peace (absence of external stimuli), a safe (not earthen) underlying surface and the presence of relatives who will “relax” the horse, giving him the opportunity to feel real protection.
Music
To the attention of music lovers who play loud music in the stable: a horse’s hearing is tens of times better than a human’s! A horse cannot rest in such a madhouse! At best, she becomes nervous and irritable, at worst, she becomes seriously ill. There are known cases where, as a result of forced listening to incessant loud music, horses suffered from colic due to nervousness, serious nervous disorders, and even miscarriages in mares.
Why does a horse sleep standing up?
On the one hand, this is a typical body position for horses during sleep, but in this way they rather doze off, but do not sleep soundly. Why is this happening? It's very simple. When the horse is in an upright position, due to its unique structure knee joints, she distributes all her mass on four legs and practically does not feel that she is standing.
The condition when the horse has a slightly arched back, a slightly lowered head, a tail towards the floor and a slightly drooping lower lip indicates that the horse is in a state of half-asleep.
Company and comfort are the key to a restful sleep
Many horse owners note that they have never seen their horses sleep lying down. This is often due to the fact that the animal does not feel safe and comfortable in the stable or stall.
It is important to understand that horses are herd animals, so they feel calmer when surrounded by their relatives or other animals. Therefore, most often you can see horses sleeping in a common pasture. However, not only company, but also comfort affects the rest of horses. It is important that the stable is warm, bright, away from noise, the stalls are clean and dry, with good ventilation.
