Once my daughter had seen enough of Western cartoons and TV shows devoted to horses, and asked me: "Mom, how does a horse sleep?" To be honest, at first I was confused. The fact is that we are city dwellers, we do not have our own agriculture and barnyard. That is why I could not answer my daughter unambiguously. Shame on me, friends! So, let's look into this interesting issue together.
How does a horse sleep?
To answer this question, it was enough to open any book about the life of horses! Here's what I found out. Mostly, horses and horses sleep standing up, but not always! No wonder my instinct warned me that not everything here is "clean"! The fact is that for a good rest, these equine animals simply need to take a nap for at least a couple of hours lying down. This will allow them to gain strength for a new day. But still, their main sleep falls, so to speak, on their feet.
Why does a horse sleep standing up?
"Mechanism"actions
It's true! Why? To answer this question, you must first understand how they do it. After digging deeper into the relevant literature, I found out that the unique structure of the bones helps them sleep standing up! The fact is that the bones and ligaments in the legs of horses are arranged in such a way that they are very easily blocked. It is thanks to this that complete relaxation occurs while the horse is dozing. Her muscles relax and her total body weight hangs pretty securely from her locked limbs.
Why standing and not lying down?
I said above that the horse sleeps standing up most of the time of his rest. But why? Everything is simple! The fact is that it is simply inconvenient for our artiodactyls to rest in a lying position for a long time. After all, these are rather heavy and massive animals with huge muscles, which cannot be said about their fragile bones … If horses and horses lie in the same position for a long time, this will lead to the fact that the animal is injured.
Self Defense
Digging through the works of some scientists and naturalists, among whom was the well-known traveler Przhevalsky, I learned not only how a horse sleeps, but also how, roughly speaking, it "has come to such a life"! Scientists believe that this is an ordinary habit that has developed over time into a defense mechanism. The fact is that horse speed is their main "self-defense technique" in the wild, and a standing position during sleep can keep the animal in "combat" readiness. OthersIn other words, if they are in danger, they can immediately take to their heels! It probably does not need to be explained that any animal with long and thin legs (antelopes, camels, gazelles, cows) needs to spend much more time to rise from its lying position than others!
Mutual Aid
So, we know that horses doze while lying down for a short time. But after all, even for this insignificant period of time, they need some kind of guarantee that a predator is not wandering nearby, ready to dine with them … Their brothers act as such "insurance"! When horses are kept in herds, they guard each other in turn: while one sleeps, the other stands nearby, and vice versa.
And finally
That's the whole answer to the question of how a horse sleeps, friends! Now I can tell my child exactly and confidently about it! It remains only to wait until my daughter wakes up… Good luck to you!
