What Makes a Horse Yawn?

What makes a horse yawn? Does this help the horse get lots of air in his lungs like with people? Is it a sign of anything in particular?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

 I would like to know what makes a horse do his mouth like he is yawning. Does this help the horse get lots of air in his lungs like with people? Is it a sign of anything in particular?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer that explains why a horse "yawns." There are some veterinary medical professionals that firmly believe that the behavior we attribute to yawning in the horse is actually a manifestation of pain or discomfort. Some believe that so strongly that they propose that a horse only "yawns" when he is uncomfortable. Certainly, many horses will "yawn" when experiencing colic pain, but no one knows precisely why the horse responds this way or what the "yawn" might do to make him feel better.

Horses also might "yawn" if they have oral pain, and some horses "yawn" just after removing the bridle, presumably to stretch jaw muscles. At one time, many hypothesized that the horse might be trying to equalize pressure inside the inner ear much like humans often do when driving in the mountains or riding in airplanes. This has not been proven.

We have all seen our horses "yawning" while seemingly happy and quiet in their stalls or pens. And sometimes horses will "yawn" close to meal times as if they are anxiously anticipating their hay or grain. With so many seemingly contradicting triggers, it is very hard to imagine a single cause for "yawning

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:

Mary S. DeLorey, DVM earned her veterinary degree from University of Missouri in 1992. Since 2000, she has devoted her entire professional energies to equine dentistry. Her practice, Northwest Equine Dentistry, Inc. serves the states of Washington and Idaho and is based near Seattle. Dr. DeLorey has traveled internationally to instruct veterinarians in equine dentistry techniques and speaks to horse owners nationwide. She trail rides and raises sport ponies from her ranch in Eastern Washington when she’s not on the road.

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?
331 votes · 331 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!