Researchers in England are monitoring the nightly sleeping patterns of horses to try to determine if rest patterns may indicate that a horse is feeling unwell. The scientists, based at Nottingham Trent University, will take into account other factors like temperature, age, personality and exercise, which may influence rest. They hope that if they can discover what is “normal” for a particular horse, that deviation from this normal pattern will alert owners that something may be wrong.
Horses have two sleep phases: slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Horses that are sleeping while standing experience only slow-wave sleep; to enter REM sleep, the horse must lie down. REM sleep is very important for equine physical and mental well being.
Horses that can't lie down, whether because of illness, injury or environmental stress, will become sleep deprived. As owners generally don't see their horses sleep, sleep deprivation may go unnoticed until it become extreme.
To help them in their research, scientists will analyze videos of equine actions over multiple nights, recording the behavior of each horse. The horses will also be fit with an accelerometer that will record the horse's movement. The researchers plan to use two different populations of horses: riding school horses and racehorses to help them understand the different sleeping patterns.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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