Horse Sleep Patterns

A horse does, in fact, sleep, and often needs two to four hours of sleep a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and two hours of REM sleep a week, or else the horse could become sleep deprived and sick, resulting in spontaneous REM sleep while those around it are not expecting it. Horses like to sleep standing up, and laying down - although standing up is more common. Once a week, horses will lie down to sleep so that they can get their 2 hours of REM sleep (which can only be accomplished while laying on the ground). the reason horses do not like to sleep laying down is that it will feel vulnerable - unless there are other horses nearby who can keep a “lookout” for predators.

Horses are herd animals, and always sleep easier when there are more horses around them - this means that more horses will be “on watch” for any “predators”. It is, however, unlikely that your horse will be very comfortable if they are a lone horse - as it will feel alone at night and remain alter rather than sleep. Instincts tell it to not sleep, and so the horse drains its energy and becomes deprived of sleep. That hazard of this is that when it takes a standing nap (15 minutes to an entire hour) it may experience REM and hurt itself by reacting - whereas when it is lying down it will not do so (since it is… lying down after all). Some people have the misconception that a horse that lies down is sick, this is untrue as all horses lay down at least once a week for sleep and rest that involves REM. Other symptoms of lack in sleep include being easily spooked or distracted, sluggishness in obeying orders and commands, along with turning slowly when riding and possibly stumbling.

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