Do You Know How Horses Sleep?

The sleeping habits of horses are quite different from humans. Humans typically sleep for a long stretch of about eight hours each day. In contrast, horses doze periodically during the day and have short bouts of deep sleep while lying down at night. Horse sleeping patterns vary with age.

Foals lie down for frequent naps and spend about half of their day sleeping until they are around three months old. As foals age, they nap less frequently and are more likely to stand than lie down. Adult horses often doze while standing rather than entering deep sleep lying down.

How the Adult Horse Sleeps

Mature horses usually rest while standing, but this does not provide deep, or REM, sleep. For deep sleep, all skeletal muscles must relax, which is not possible when standing. When standing, horses enter a deep doze but can quickly wake and become alert�a survival trait for prey animals. How can they snooze standing up? Horses have an anatomical mechanism in their hind legs called the stay apparatus, allowing the knee cap to lock the hind limb in place, making it painless. This apparatus engages in only one hind leg while the other relaxes, often causing the horse to appear to lean on one hip.

Most horses lie down for deep sleep a few times each night if they have a comfortable and safe place. Therefore, it's crucial to provide a dry, sheltered area like a run-in shed or a spacious stall where your horse can safely stretch out for rest.

How Long Horses Sleep

Adult horses sleep for about three hours every 24 hours. The length and type of sleep are influenced by diet, temperature, workload, pregnancy, and gender. Sleep phases are brief, lasting only a few minutes. Young horses generally sleep more than adults, while senior horses may doze more often.

Sleeping Positions

A dozing horse will mostly carry its weight on the two forelegs and one hind leg. One hind leg will relax with the hoof resting up on its toe. The head and neck droop, the ears are relaxed, the eyes are closed and the lower lip may droop or twitch. When horses experience deep sleep lying down, they will stretch flat out on the ground.

Sleeping Habits

Horses will lie down to sun themselves, and it is not unusual for several horses to lie down at the same time for a communal sunbath on a warm spring day. Often while several horses lay down, one or two others will remain standing. This is a natural look-out behavior for the safety of the herd. Horses tend to spend less time lying down in cold snowy conditions, although on a sunny day, some will snooze stretched out in the snow. Each horse has its own sleeping habits. Some will sleep only at night while others sleep during the day as well.