Horses that don't lie down

[Wagtail]

How common is this, and can it have any detrimental effects?

The cob at our yard has been here 7 years and he used to lie down in his field and in the stable. However, he has not laid down in his stable for months (I know because there are no squashed poohs, no stains on his rugs and no shavings in his tail. He goes out for 4 hours a day in the sand turnout at present and is stabled the rest of the time. He has PSD but that was operated on and deemed to be a success (though I disagree). He gets down to roll in the sand and has no trouble. He used to lie down, but now doesn't. He has always been in the same stable with rubber matting and wood pellet bedding. I can't have straw bedding here due to storage and size of muck heap.

I was wondering if his condition meant that he was reluctant to get down for any length of time (maybe seizes up and finds it hard to get back up?). Any ideas?

 

[Honey08]

I would wonder the same and want to chat with the vet about it if he were mine.

 

[fburton]

I only knew one - a Welsh pony stallion - that almost never lay flat out. By "almost never" I mean I only saw it happen twice in over 25 years and thousands of contact hours at all times of the day and night. He was able to sleep in the sternally recumbent position, resting his chin on the ground, and could enter REM sleep in this position. Amazingly he was also capable of doing this fleetingly while standing up, as long as he could rest his chin on something (sometimes my shoulder or the top of my head). I have no idea why he was like this. It certainly wasn't due to any difficulties in getting up. Maybe he was trodden on by his dam as a foal - who knows?!

 

[vam]

This is something I’m curious about, my horse used to lie down every night but since he fractured his knee he has only a handful of times which is to be expected. He now rolls most days but a few weeks ago he laid down for 2 nights on the trot and came out noticeably more lame than before for a few days. When the vet came up to check him again he was more lame than he should have been for the level of healing of the fracture (more or less healed completely) so we think a bit of soft tissue/ligament damage possibly caused by being an idiot in the field or from the battering that his knee took (lots of swelling) then feeling better than he was and laying down and catching something.
Anyway since then he hasn’t laid down at all and while by vet hasn’t said anything when i mentioned it I’m not worrying about it yet. However i would be interested to hear what other people have to say.
As mine used to lie down every night without fail i can’t help but think he must be wanting to but that is possibly me thinking about it in a human way. I have noticed that he seems more clicky but that is more likely to do with the fact that he is still on limited turnout so in his stable for most of the day.
Once his knee is completely healed I’m hoping he will be back to normal and will lie down again.
In your case i would say that it is possibly pain related, my boy is very careful about how he rolls to avoid putting he weight on his bad knee, it might be worth watching him roll to see if he is being careful about something it might be barely noticeable

 

[Rose Folly]

Three things spring to mind;

1. The horse's feeling of security. Horses will not lie down unless they feel totally secure. In a field situation, and grazing in a herd, usually one horse will be 'on watch' while the others lie down. Because looseboxes tend to generate a feeling of security some horses prefer to lie down when stabled

2. Bedding. A really deep bed will encourage a horse to lie down. But you say you cannot provide this at your yard.

3. Narcolepsy. We had a narcoleptic horse here who never lay down in the 4 years we had him. (He had a dreadful experience the first time he was let out I the field, tried to jump a massive hedge, got stuck in it, then got cast etc. and this was almost certainly the start of the troubles, as he had lain down perfectly happily in his former home - did we feel awful!!). Anyway, it became obvious over the ensuing months that we was narcoleptic - he would start to crash out when being groomed, saddled or in any peaceful situation where he was tied up. We had to watch him carefully, but he always saved himself at the last moment before he collapsed. Google 'Horses - narcolepsy' or the like for more info.

Finally, I think some horses just don't need to lie down much. My cob mare, who is the herd leader, practically never does. But, as others have said, see what your vet thinks.

 

[Shay]

Although horses don't need to lie down very much - some experts say as little as 20 minutes per day in total - they do need to lie down in order to achieve deep sleep. Also they should be able to get down and back up again in order to roll.
Some horses you just never see lying down - but you know they must do. But if you have a horse what you can be absolutely sure does not lie down - perhaps because they also cannot get down to roll etc - then you need to discuss with your vet.

 

[babymare]

The Big Lad only ever laid down when abvess was erupting. Was a happy healthy chap in all other ways but when he laid down it was "******"

 

[TrasaM]

I'm quite curious about this too. When I did an equine therapy course a horse I'd worked on lied down during the session and a groom at the stables who'd been caring for him commented that she'd never seen him lie down in the month + he'd been there. I found an article somewhere in the WWW which said that horses have to lie down every do often otherwise they're at risk of narcolepsy ?? I think I looked it up last winter when the field was so muddy the horses could not lied down and I was curious about whether this would affect them.

 

[TGM]

My old mare used to lie down to sleep when I first got her, but stopped doing it when her foal was born. Even when her foal grew up she still would not lie down to sleep (although she would roll a lot so could get up and down). My theory was that she thought she was herd leader and had to keep a look out all the time and make sure the other horses and her baby were safe. She did develop pseudo narcolepsy because of it though, presumably because her body was trying to catch up on deep sleep time. She would be standing still dozing and her legs would buckle and she'd start dropping and then suddenly wake up again!

 

[Wagtail]

I would wonder the same and want to chat with the vet about it if he were mine.

I will chat to the owners. But TBH they do not think here is anything wrong with him. Not helped by the fact that when they rang the renowned vet to say he was very stiff, she just said there was nothing wrong with him and they just needed to work him harder!

 

[Antw23uk]

When my friend moved her big warmblood to a new yard he only had a small stable and he was litterally nodding he was so tired and the YO lived in a mobile home behind the stable and they heard a couple of big thuds where we suspected the poor boy was falling over trying to sleep!! The field was full of gelding so no peace and quiet to lie down.

Anyway she moved him to a nice big stable and he lays down again now and has never shown symptoms of being tired again.

 

[Wagtail]

Thanks for all the interesting comments. He is in a block of three stables with talk bars in between. However, he WAS stabled next to my late mare for many years and her stable and the one next to it are empty at night now as the occupants go out during the night. I cannot remember when he stopped lying down as I have only just started to realise it and question it. I wonder if he misses my mare? He can see the other block of stables as it's at right angles to his block. He is not a horse that is visibly stressed away from others. He has to have individual turnout as he's a kicker (will corner an repeatedly double barrel others). My instinct tells me it is pain related. I have a foot fracture which won't heal and the pain is always much worse when I have been sitting down and then get up to walk.

 

[Goldenstar]

My vet was telling me it's not usual to see issues now a days caused by rubber matting and thin bedding .
She has seen cases of it vausing a narcolepsy type condition where horses spontaneous collapse they get the owners to change the bedding regime and the issue stops .
All my horses lie down ay night during the day when we are on the yard, off the yard often horses who arrive here lie down a lot for the first month ( I am nor sure what's thats about but it is very peaceful for horses here ).
One of the collapsing horses belonged to a friend they changed to a deep shavings bed from thin pellets the 'narcolepsy" stopped within days.

 

[Wagtail]

My vet was telling me it's not usual to see issues now a days caused by rubber matting and thin bedding .
She has seen cases of it vausing a narcolepsy type condition where horses spontaneous collapse they get the owners to change the bedding regime and the issue stops .
All my horses lie down ay night during the day when we are on the yard, off the yard often horses who arrive here lie down a lot for the first month ( I am nor sure what's thats about but it is very peaceful for horses here ).
One of the collapsing horses belonged to a friend they changed to a deep shavings bed from thin pellets the 'narcolepsy" stopped within days.

I would have thought that this may be the case, but he as always been on the same bedding for 7 years and has only just(last few months) stopped lying down. All of the other horses lie down frequently. I cannot change the bedding, but I can certainly try to make it deeper. But it is not just a sparse amount on the rubber matting but is a proper bed. I agree it is not deep like straw or as thick as a shavings bed would be though.

 

[*hic*]

One of mine rarely lies down. I was warned that this meant that he would miss out on his REM sleep. He can have difficulty getting up after rolling since seriously injuring himself years ago. I've tried him on a really deep full straw bed in a 20 x 12 stable and he still didn't lie down. He is currently in a wider but less long foaling box on a deep bed of woodpellets on top of rubber. He still isn't keen to lie down. On the occasions in the field when he decides not to get up immediately after rolling, the longer he's down the harder he seems to find getting up.

 

[fburton]

Although horses don't need to lie down very much - some experts say as little as 20 minutes per day in total - they do need to lie down in order to achieve deep sleep.

With some very rare exceptions, I think that is right. Although the pony I mentioned did not lie flat out, he was able to have periods of REM sleep, even when standing. I think he must have had enough of what was needed in the way of sleep, because he had robust good health for much of his life (and was extremely fertile) until latterly when he was affected with arthritis in a knee joint.

 

[valentina1]

My mare was pts two weeks ago as had a call that and she was down in the field and we could not get her up again even after a good dose of metacam we tried for two hours was devastated