How do horses sleep standing and do horses sleep standing or lying on their stomachs?

Horses are odd-hoofed, have slender bodies, strong limbs, and are good at running. Therefore, the best of the horses is known as a thousand miles of horses.

However, horses have different characteristics from other domestic animals and prefer to sleep standing at night. Whenever I went to see it at night, it always stood and slept with its eyes closed.

Horses sleep standing and inherit the habits of wild horses. Wild horses live in the endless desert steppe area, and in ancient times they were both hunting objects for humans and a delicacy for carnivores such as jackals and wolves. Unlike cattle and sheep, which can fight their enemies with their horns for a long time, the only way is to run to escape the enemy.

Carnivores such as jackals and wolves are nocturnal, and they live in hidden bushes or burrows in earth and rock during the day, and come out to hunt at night. In order to escape from predators quickly and in time, wild horses do not dare to sleep on the ground at night. Even during the day, it has to stand and nap, keeping a high level of vigilance in case something happens.

Although domestic horses do not encounter natural predators and man-made injuries like wild horses, they are domesticated from wild horses, so the habit of wild horses to sleep standing is still preserved to this day.

In addition to horses, donkeys also have the habit of sleeping standing up, as their ancestors lived in a very similar environment to wild horses.

Why do horses sleep standing up?

I've heard that horses can't be allowed to fall to sleep, and if they do, they will suffer the next day, and they won't be able to get up. I don't know why. Therefore, many horses will have two wooden bars in the circle to restrain it, even if they want it to fall, they can't fall down.

It's created by God, can you understand? I don't understand, it's been like this since I had a horse.

The reason for this comes from a story that you may not believe, but you will know when you read it, that the horse did not start out like this.

Because I'm too big, it's hard to turn over when I'm lying down, and my legs are numb after sleeping for a long time. It is more comfortable to stand without turning over.

Horses sleep standing.

Over the course of their long evolution, horses have evolved a set of defense mechanisms, that is, intermittent rest, napping for a short time at a time, and multiple times a day. At the same time, in order to escape as quickly as possible, horses have evolved the ability to stand and rest, which ensures that if they encounter danger, they can run away immediately without wasting time getting up.

Not only that, but when they spot a natural predator approaching, they can also kick their hind legs first to defend themselves. The horse's hind legs are very strong, and once it is kicked by it, the lethality is very great, which can also leave enough time for the horse to escape.

Related information

The horse's ability to sleep standing mainly depends on its own body structure, its bones, muscles and tendons are mature, the center of the horse is just on the midline of the body, and when standing, the muscle groups of the forelimbs and shoulder girdles can bear more weight, reaching 57% of their own body weight.

So it doesn't rely on the joints to bear that weight. At the same time, these muscle groups also ensure that the elbows and shoulders do not bend, and the triceps hold the elbow in place.

Since the muscles barely contract, very little energy is used, which makes the horse's forelimbs not tired even when standing for long periods of time. However, the hind limbs of horses do not have as well-developed support structures as the forelimbs.

As a result, the horse's hind limbs are still limited to the knee joint. Since the horse's hind limbs carry less weight than the forelimbs, the horse only needs to take turns to keep the knee joints of the two hind limbs at a certain angle to support it, and this way can effectively reduce the exhaustion of capacity and fatigue.

Most horses sleep standing and rarely lie down or sit down to rest. Horses usually sleep in a cycle of about two hours, and can fall asleep in any environment, three to four times a day, and slightly longer in the early hours of the night.

However, they all maintain a motionless standing posture, and after falling asleep, they still keep their noses sniffing and listening in all directions. Horses have a keen sense of smell and hearing, and they can react quickly to ensure their safety if danger approaches.

With the evolution and evolution of animals, horses have been able to stand and run for long periods of time. The limbs are highly developed, strong and powerful, and they do not feel tired when they sleep standing up, and the ability of horses to sleep standing has slowly become a racial ability that has been retained to this day, but the position of lying down, sitting, and sleeping on their stomachs makes them even more uncomfortable.

Horses sleep standing to avoid carnivore attacks, to facilitate escape, and to have to do with their anatomy.

1. There are not many places where horses can hide in the wild, and herbivores must always be ready to avoid the attacks of predators, so before horses were domesticated, in order to survive in the cruel natural environment, horses evolved the habit of standing with their heads upturned and closing their eyes during the day to sleep or sleeping with their heads on the backs of their companions.

2. Horses don't have horns like cows and sheep that can be used to attack enemies, so they only have one way to face predators, and that is to run away. Therefore, sleeping standing on the horse has the functions of defending against enemies, facilitating escape, and ensuring safety. After humans domesticated horses, they still retained this habit in horses in captivity.

3. Horses sleeping standing up are also related to their body structure: due to the long-term fear of being hunted by other animals, the horse's body is in a state of vigilance for a long time, which leads to corresponding changes in the horse's body structure. It is precisely because of the special body structure of horses that even if they stand for a long time, the impact on them is not particularly great.

The horse lies down and sleeps in the situation

Like other mammals, horses lie down and curl up for deep sleep only when they feel extremely safe. This condition is most common at night, when it is dark and the temperature is cooler. This lying sleep can last about 2 to 3 hours, sometimes even a few minutes, depending on the environment the horse is in.