Is Your Horse Sleep Deprived?

Is your horse sleep deprived? With sleep arguably one of the most beneficial parts of your horse’s routine, how do we know our horses are making the most of their resting time, and should we intervene?

How Do Horses Sleep?

Horses are known for their ability to sleep while standing up; however, all horses must have a period of sleep while lying down in order to achieve full sleep cycles and, therefore, quality sleep.

There are three stages of quality sleep, which horses physiologically need.

Stages one and two of sleep can be achieved whilst standing; these stages consist of light sleep and slow-wave, deep sleep, respectively. However, stage three of sleep is the ‘rapid-eye movement’ phase, otherwise known as REM sleep, can only be achieved when lying down.

REM sleep is only required for 30 minutes of a horse’s total resting time, which is approximately 5-7 hours per day. This may not seem like a lot compared to humans, who need around 2-3 hours of REM sleep per day, but horses can easily forego this phase. Although horses’ modern-day environment poses no threat to their safety, the species has evolved to postpone rest and REM sleep in order to survive.

However, REM sleep is vital to ensure essential bodily processes can take place. During REM sleep the body works to repair tissue and process the events of the day, therefore this phase of sleep is also vital for memory and learning. Like humans, horses can experience large episodes of sleep, which is poor quality. Similarly, they will wake up feeling less than refreshed and may struggle to process any task asked of them.

How to Spot Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation can cause various problems in horses, affecting both the health and performance of our horses.

A symptom of sleep deprivation, commonly spotted by horse owners, is partial collapses. These are displayed as a buckling of the joints, followed by a sudden recovery. This occurs due to the body’s physiological need for the REM phase of sleep. Sleep deprived horses will unwillingly enter the REM phase of sleep whilst standing, causing total relaxation of muscle and the collapse of support muscle. Horses will usually recover suddenly from the partial collapse and awaken, however further postponed sleep could result in total collapse.

Keep an eye out for unexplained injuries to the knees, fetlocks, hocks and even the head, as one study found that over 90% of horses suffering from partial collapse episodes suffered an injury in one or more of these areas.

Further symptoms of sleep deprivation may be spotted on veterinary examination. Symptoms such as hypoglycaemia, electrolyte abnormalities and disorders at nerve-muscle junction are associated with sleep deprivation and may slip under the owner’s radar, due to their difficulty to diagnose.

What Can We Do To Help Our Horse’s Quality Of Sleep?

As owners, we can take many steps to encourage a better night’s sleep for our horses. The main point is to cater to our horse’s instinctual needs. With modern-day management taking over, it is important to remember that horses are herd and prey animals, which can be easily upset when put into new or threatening situations.

Ensuring our horses feel secure in their environment is key to their sleep quality. Moving yards or going to overnight competitions may temporarily disrupt their sleep, so bringing home comforts, such as water, forage, or even a companion, plus keeping routine as similar as possible, may alleviate some of the stress that comes with the new environment.

Ensuring our horses have a view or, even better, social interaction with other horses will also help them sleep. Housing horses in a herd, rather than in isolation, is the gold standard to ensure your horse gets a good night’s rest. In herd situations, there is often instinctual rotation of at least one horse standing and guarding the group while the others rest lying down for a full sleep cycle.

However, the removal of continually aggressive members from herds must be considered, as this may disrupt the entire cohort’s sleep patterns. Alternatively, large paddock areas may be a solution to allow horses more space to remove themselves from aggressive encounters. Ensuring your horse is comfortable through supporting underlying medical conditions, such as arthritis, is also suggested, as this may discourage lying down behaviour due to discomfort.

Finally, a quieter yard will aid sleep, as noise and activity commonly disrupt sleep cycles. Yards should aim to have periods with no visitors and be located with minimal noise.

The Take-Away

Lack of quality sleep can be detrimental to the health, well-being, and performance of our horses. When we look at the causes of possible sleep deprivation, we must consider horses’ instinctual needs. Spotting the signs and ensuring that steps are taken to encourage lying down behaviour and quality is vital to supporting sleep patterns.