Curious about how horses sleep? We explore whether they prefer standing or lying down… <\/p>
Like lots of other herd animals, horses sleep standing up. Horses are prey animals and one of their best defences was their turn of speed and ability to out run the predator hunting them.<\/p>
Therefore sleeping upright gives them a better start to fleeing a potential predator than lying down would – and those extra seconds could be the difference between life and death.<\/p>
Yes. Horses are able to sleep standing up because of their ‘stay apparatus’. <\/p>
When the horse relaxes muscles, tendons and ligaments work together so that the horse can sleep standing up without worrying about falling over.<\/p> However, horses do need to lie down for REM sleep, but research shows they only require around 30 minutes of this deep sleep<\/a>. <\/p> To help lessen the danger that comes from lying down one horse will always stand guard over the rest of the herd, ready to warn of impending danger – and urge the herd to its feet.<\/p> Other animals that sleep standing up<\/a> include birds<\/a>, bison,\u00a0zebras<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0elephants<\/a>\u00a0sleep standing up. Cows<\/a> can too, but mostly choose to lie down.\u00a0Giraffes<\/a>\u00a0also sleep standing up, but only for short periods of time.<\/p> Horses usually require 4-5 hours of sleep each day, most of which can be achieved standing up.<\/p> Ever wondered if\u00a0horse riding is a sport?<\/a>\u00a0Or are you curious about the ins and outs of equine ownership? If so, check out our feature about\u00a0how much it costs to own a horse<\/a>.<\/p>How long do horses sleep?<\/h2>
Saddle up for a journey into the equestrian world<\/h4>