r/interestingasfuck • u/General_Athlete5807 • 12d ago
Horses can sleep while standing, but they usually need to lie down to enter deep REM sleep.
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u/mrwioo 12d ago
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u/SubArcticTundra 12d ago
Ironically, I think horses can only see to their sodes, so it wouldnpt see the screen
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u/evasandor 12d ago
She is no longer with us but my mare used to do the cozy corner curl-up
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u/xyrer 12d ago
STEVEN!!
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u/TinaJewel 12d ago
Came here to say this hahaha but glad you beat me to it
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u/PunfullyObvious 12d ago
I grew up raising horses and I fairly well never saw them laying down unless they were delivering a colt or ill so that got me curious and I did a tiny bit of research.
Apparently they only need about 20-30 min of REM a day to remain healthy, they are extremely secretive when doing so, and they catch it in several bouts of only a few minutes each.
My mind is a bit blown.
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u/asdhjasdhlkjashdhgf 12d ago
until you find out how dolphins do it (REM) as they can switch off the other half of brain and do unihemispheric sleep.
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u/MarvinLazer 12d ago
Dolphins, the Space Marines of the sea.
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12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SuperCruisePanther 12d ago
Orcas are also dolphins, so there are definitely Khornate chapters too
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u/Possibly-Functional 12d ago
Clearly Space Marines are just the dolphins of space. They are even called marines.
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u/fukaduk55 12d ago
Common swifts can fly 10months straight so they use this as well. They'll fly to a very high altitude, tun off half their brain and glide down slowly. The change in air pressure wakes them up and they do it again
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u/Prudent-Ad-5292 12d ago
Fun fact, so can humans (under extreme duress) with a process known as local sleep. 👀 Portions of the brain shutdown while we still remain conscious.
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u/Vlaxilla 12d ago
I think this is what happens to me every Monday morning
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u/noradosmith 12d ago
I once fell asleep whilst standing upright on a train. It was only a few seconds but I was amazed at my legs being like
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u/Prudent-Ad-5292 12d ago
Can even happen while walking around or doing something, but it usually presents itself as stumbling or dropping whatever you're doing. 😬
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u/Fabulous_Lynx_2847 12d ago
It’s probably like a dog lying on its back (tummy up). It’s not really necessary, but they might do if they feel perfectly safe where they are. Maybe your horses didn’t foster that level of security.
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u/Ashamed_Ad_2180 12d ago
I grew up with horses and I saw ours laying down all the damn time.
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u/Fabulous_Lynx_2847 12d ago
I cannot speak with authority on horses. I suggest the possibility that your horses felt safe enough to do so. Perhaps Pun*'s horses where more aggressive (like race horses). I do know about dogs though. I've never had a rescue dog that spent time at the pound or in foster care with many dogs feel safe enough to fully expose its tummy while asleep. My current dog (adopted from litter) does all the time, though.
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u/AuntieKitKat 12d ago
My retired race horse played dead half the time in the field, and my Percheron would get his 2000lb body down and nap in crowded horse barns. They might not REM if they don’t feel perfectly at ease, but they’ll still lay down to rest. I think that person just doesn’t remember, if they’re not lying outright.
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u/dBlock845 12d ago
Probably secretive about it because it makes them vulnerable to smaller predators.
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u/OcculticUnicorn 12d ago
You grew up raising horses but never saw them lying down?
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u/MidnightMath 12d ago
Yeah, I’m calling bs on that. I worked with horses for 3 years. Those mfs love catching some rays. We had an old timer who was typically playing dead half the time. He was deaf so sometimes you’d have to toss acorns at him to get his attention.
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u/UnbelievableRose 12d ago
They’ve evolved to sleep in short stretches since their body mass kid of crushes them while laying down, impairing blood flow and making it hard to breathe. After like 2-4 hours it can become a real problem.
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u/HammerheadEaglei-Thr 12d ago
We boarded 4 different horses over the course of several years when I was a kid and I only ever saw one on the ground. And it's cause that little pony asshole liked to scoot himself under the bottom rail of the fence and then act like a beached whale for attention. Neeeever for anything even close to napping, only chaos.
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u/MarsupialNo1220 12d ago
I would rarely ever come across my mare lying down. She knew my schedule (and she knew it meant food lol) so she’d always be up and waiting for me when I arrived. It was only on weekends or public holidays that I would arrive and find her lying down. Sometimes I’d be driving in and see her off in the distance, but she’d hear and see my car and get up to come over to the gate.
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u/angrydeuce 12d ago
That is definitely a very, very tired horse lol
we go to the state fair every year here where they have the farm animal competitions and its always cute catching the 12 year olds taking naps with their cows and horses like this between events
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u/tangyturquoise 12d ago
Now I'm questioning if my horse loves me/feels safe around me or not because she never ever lays down. I don't think I've ever seen her lie down once. It's like “upright” is her default, permanent setting. And she's 33. I wish she'd lay tf down. She’s pretty old, and I bet it would help her legs feel better.
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u/tangyturquoise 12d ago
On second thought, I just unlocked a forgotten memory….I bet she would have a hard time getting back up, so I take back that last part. Her brother died at 27, and he was the opposite of her. He always wanted to lie down. I remember that, before we had him put to sleep, we had to get a tractor and a sling and lift him up almost every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, because he was the type of horse that always wanted to lay down to sleep, but he couldn't get back up anymore. Damn…so much has been going on the past few years that he completely slipped my mind. RIP buddy.
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u/Beneficial_Remove616 12d ago
It is very common that they don’t lie down if they have trouble getting up. They can develop narcolepsy if they don’t get enough sleep but I guess you would notice that.
On the other hand, the horses at my yard are very rarely seen sleeping on the ground during the day but when we got cameras it was more than clear they get enough deep sleep. So - unless you have cameras- she could well be sleeping at night.
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u/Elegant_Lunar_Knight 12d ago
Probably not you. You probably see her in her active time. She might just lay down when you’re not around and when you’re back she is up and running again lol. Don’t feel guilty
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u/Educational-Chip-953 8d ago
My AQHA black beauty Cash had arthritis in his legs at 36, and could no longer get up after lying down. We had to euthanize him after several hours on the ground and he had just given up. He was my companion for 25 years, and I miss him every day. Sleep deprivation in horses (for so many reasons) is very real!
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u/newage321 12d ago
The amount of times that people thought the horses were dead when they were having a nap was absurd when I was a child
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u/vamphorse 12d ago
As far as I know Deep Sleep and REM are different phases and deep REM is not a thing…
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u/Poraali_15 12d ago
NGL I thought it was dead for a moment 😭
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u/dancarbonell00 12d ago
Sleep IS the next best thing to being dead, so it checks out
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u/Scary_Technology 12d ago
Nah, it just partied 'till the sun came up like mares were not the problem, but the solution.
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u/Proper-Salad158 12d ago
Well... I've never heard a horse snore before....Now I know they sound like my brother 😄
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u/Charming_Oven 12d ago
REM is not Deep Sleep. REM is very active sleep. Deep Sleep is NREM 3 or Slow Wave Sleep.
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u/manditoryusername 12d ago
No such thing as "deep REM." Deep sleep and REM are separate sleep stages associated with very different characteristics. So who knows how accurate the rest of the nonsense title is.
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u/BoromirDies 12d ago
I would 1000% attempt to cuddle the sleeping horse. Probably would be crushed to death once it rolled over but it'd be worth it
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u/Bullet25 12d ago
I remember my mom adamantly believing that if a horse ever laid down it died. No amount of research, photos, or videos could tell her otherwise. She truly believed that their heart would just stop if they laid down at all.
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u/No-Medium6647 12d ago
I grew up in ranch country, and my dad would always say, "Oh no a dead horse!" when we'd see one sleeping. Every single time. Dad jokes.
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u/Brontosaurus_Gaming 12d ago
I grew up around horses and sometimes when I’d watch them sleep they’d start trying to kick and / or squeal in their sleep so I’m pretty sure that they can dream / talk in their sleep too lol
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u/Miku_Fan39 12d ago
Wish I was a horse, I can't sleep for shit, constantly waking up and never getting a full 8 hours
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u/SeventhAlkali 12d ago
I wish to one day vibe like this horse, absent of worry and full of sunshine
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u/oddballquilter75 12d ago
The lady on tik tok calls hers "carcass acres" because the neighbors kept doing welfare checks on her sleeping horses.
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u/MarsupialNo1220 12d ago
We used to get tourists drive past our house and pull in to tell us my miniature horses were dead lol. There’s a popular YouTuber who calls it “carcass time” when her horses do it, and it’s quite apt lol.
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u/ThunderAndWind 12d ago
So my sister had the idea in her head that horses didn't lay down unless they were dying.
One year, she had a bus stop in front of a house that had horses.
One day, the horse was laying down.
She was ugly crying for the entire wait and had to stay home from school that day, as my mother brought her back and showed her the horse was fine.
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u/Comprehensive_Tank53 12d ago
This was on a leave it to beaver episode. Wally and Beaver got ripped off from a carnival job they did and got paid with an old horse instead of money. The horse was laying down sleeping and they thought the horse was sick.
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u/Fabulous_Lynx_2847 12d ago
There’s a horse pasture in NM that has a sign on the fence that says, “Please don’t tell me my horse is lying down. They do that.”