Have you ever wondered why every time you pass a field or yard containing a horse, you rarely ever see the horse laying down? It always seems like the horse is wide awake, running, eating or just standing in place not doing much of anything. That’s because horses can sleep while standing!
Why Do Horses Sleep Standing Up?
To get this answer you have to think back when most horses ran free on huge open pieces of land. They traveled most of the day grazing and looking for food, but at night time like most animals they had to rest. We all know what comes out at night, predator’s!
Being that horses were considered prey, they needed a way to quickly recognize a predator was lurking and the ability to get away. So like some other animals, horses can sleep standing up.
How Do Horses Sleep Standing Up?
Horses have a very unique muscular build up called the stay apparatus. The stay apparatus is a group of muscles, tendons and ligaments that allow the horse to lock major joints within the limbs of the horse. This allows the horse to rest or fall into a light sleep while standing up.
What a horse will do is lock major joints in three legs and rest the other. Horses have the control of what leg is resting and which legs they are locking the joints in. They can change their resting leg so all legs have a chance to rest. Horses can weigh anywhere from 800 to 2000 lbs. so each leg needs rest.
Do Horses Only Sleep Standing Up?
The easy answer is no. Like humans, we need our deep sleep to feel fully rested and functional throughout the day. For this, horses will lay down to fall into a deeper sleep.
Think of it like this, if you were on your feet all day and came across a post, you could lean against the post and take some weight and relief off of one foot or the other. You will feel somewhat rested, but you need to lay down to get a good night’s sleep.
This works the same way with horses. They can rest and fall into a light sleep standing up, but for a deeper sleep they will sleep laying down.