Sleeping Patterns

I think my 11-year-old mare isn’t getting enough sleep. What should I do so that she’ll sleep more?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

I think my 11-year-old mare isn't getting enough sleep. My mother and I have seen her start to fall asleep in her paddock and in her stall during the day. Her eyes begin to close, her lower lip hangs loose, and her head slowly lowers. When it gets down near her chest, she violently flings it up to wake herself. Sometimes she won't catch herself in time and her legs buckle. It's a scary thing to watch and makes me sad. When I ride her, she's very lethargic. She was alone for almost a year, then we got a goat to keep her company, thinking she might feel safer and sleep more. But nothing has changed.

We close her in her stall at night, but she can't see the goat in the next stall over. Would it be better if she was able to see the goat at night? Her door in front is a half door, and there are Dutch doors in back that open up into her paddock. Would it be better to leave her back doors open at night so she doesn't feel confined? I also have a hard time getting her in at night. She likes–or feels the need–to look out towards our neighbor's yard. She does not look alert when she's out there at night. She stands with a hind foot cocked and appears to be staring into space. Is she standing guard, or does she just like to be outside? What should I do so that she'll sleep more?

Your letter brings up a lot of great questions, so I'll take them one at a time. First, let's talk about horses' normal activity and sleep pattern. Horses are neither diurnal (day-active) like people nor nocturnal (night-active) like cats or raccoons. Rather, they have alternating periods of active foraging and rest that go around the clock. The length of the foraging and rest periods vary and seem to make sense in terms of the weather and other various conditions. So for example, in summer there are longer rest periods in the hot afternoons, and foraging periods tend to be longer in the coolest part of the day, usually just before dawn. The length of the active and rest periods are also affected seasonally and daily by other environmental conditions, such as weather, bugs, available forage, water, and other factors. Other species with this type of pattern are some primates, such as some of the lemurs. Biologists use the term "cathemeral" to describe species like horses that are neither nocturnal nor diurnal in their activity and sleep patterns.

Horses living in various domestic conditions maintain this pattern more or less. Of course, there are obvious effects of people's diurnal pattern and our practice of feeding them on a human meal schedule. But when living at pasture or when they are not working or otherwise directed by people, horses exhibit alternating periods of fully alert foraging and periods of rest around the clock, night and day, just as wild horses do. Each rest or foraging period lasts anywhere from one to three hours. So, your mare looking sleepy and falling asleep during the day is normal behavior for a horse

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
325 votes · 325 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!