Equine Zzz's: Unveiling the Importance of Beauty Sleep for Your Horse
In the
hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we prioritize a good night's sleep for
ourselves, recognizing its importance for overall well-being. But have you ever
wondered about the sleep patterns of our four-legged companions, specifically
horses?
Here at Apple Creek Farm, Beaky Peckham dedicates considerable time to delve into every
aspect of a horse's life, ensuring that each one reaches its full potential.
One aspect of equine well-being that deserves attention is their sleep
patterns.
A study
conducted in the 1980s shed light on the sleep needs of horses, revealing that
they require two to three hours of sleep per day. Of this, a minimum of thirty
minutes to an hour is dedicated to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a phase
achievable only when the horse is lying down.
So, how
do horses sleep? Similar to other mammal species, horses' sleep is divided into
three types:
- A snooze-type sleep.
- A secondary sleep,
characterized as true sleep.
- Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
sleep, which necessitates the horse lying down for complete relaxation.
Recent
research conducted in 2019 by Juan de Benedetti, a data science and analytics
student at Brunel University, delved into the sleep behavior of 43 healthy
horses, revealing intriguing facts:
- Horses tend to lie down the
most between midnight and 3 am (averaging 35 minutes) and between 9 pm and
midnight (averaging 25 minutes), with minimal lying down observed between
6 am and 6 pm.
- The duration of time a horse
spends lying down varies widely, ranging from 11 minutes to an impressive
5 hours and 23 minutes within a 24-hour period.
- Despite individual
differences, each horse, on average, spends an equal amount of time lying
down each day.
- Notably, 21% of the horses
studied lie down for less than one hour per 24-hour period, while 9% lie
down for less than thirty minutes on average.
- Across all 43 horses in the
study, the average total time spent lying down per 24 hours was two hours.
At Apple Creek Farm, our commitment to ensuring the best for each horse extends to
understanding and addressing their sleep needs. We take pride in offering
horses for sale with the assurance that they will be precisely as advertised,
always striving for what is in the best interest of the horse. After all, a
well-rested horse is a happy and healthy horse.
APPLE CREEK
FARM
850 Old Wendell Road
Northfield, MA 01360
https://www.applecreekfarmhorses.com/
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