Do horses dream??

Sirocco said:
Hi, Sorry to drag up an old post but i saw my horse do this yesterday and i thought she was having a a fit at first. Just wondering if the horse you knew was officially diganosed with anything? The vets said my horse has narcolepsy because she looks sedated when standing up asleep but i've just videoed this latest episode to see if it's sleep deprivation or whether she's just generally a bit odd!
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The horse I knew had nothing like narcolepsy - no more sleepiness than any normal horse, and certainly no leg buckling or (almost) falling over. I have no idea why he had an aversion to lying on his side. He was like that from 3 yo when I first met him and for the next 27 years.

You videos are really interesting - thank you for posting them. The second one shows what looks to me like a definite unwillingness to lie flat out.
 
Second video is exactly the same as my horse on the wet grass :). She is in REM sleep, you can tell by her ears :)

First vid is more concerning. Since the second vid shows she is getting REM sleep (even if only in very short bursts) and is lying down, if she is still staggering when standing up sleeping, that suggests it's not sleep deprivation.

Maybe it would be worth getting vet to check in more detail.

ETA - as an aside :D. It's called REM because in humans, you can see the eyes moving rapidly side to side under the eyelids. Because our ears don't move. In horses, it should clearly be called REEM, since their ears move too. I guess we scan the environment with saccades of our eyes, but horses scan the environment more obviously with moving eyes, ears and nose... I wonder has anybody ever studied human auditory neurons during REM? Sorry, just musing :o:o
 
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when we went to check what was banging one night the youngster was flat out snoring his head of and his legs where galloping ten ta dozen :D took us ages to wake him up
 
Yeah i've emailed them to the vets. He's seen similar vids to the second one before and we did a sleep trial where we videod her overnight and she appeared to be laying flat out enough to rule out sleep deprivation. So they said it's narcolepsy. This was some years ago though. This is the first time i've seen the stuff in the first video but as you say maybe it's just the ground. She does have access to a stable though so you'd think she'd go and lay down there rather than the wet grass although i guess she could be more relaxed in the open.
 
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