I have a new horse as of this this year. She like to lie down a lot and the other horses have been lying down a lot to. The four babies like to lie on there side flat out. And they did not before we brought two new one to the herd. would it just be that they feel safe? Does you horse do the same?
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Safety. and it also may be a seasonal thing as well. Spring is here and the sun is out and grass is growing. More grass means easier to fill up the stomach and more time to take the load off the legs and relax.
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My horses lay down to sun bathe almost every day. Late at night when I go out to check on them, I’ll find one or two laying down too. My horses are out 24/7.
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I was told once, that horse’s feel much more secure when there is a mare around to protect them and are much more likely to lie down when they sleep. I know my gelding never took a solid nap until there was a mare on the property.
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Somewhere I have a photo of my mare when she was younger, before I bought her, out in a herd of sleeping horses. All of the other horses (bays and chestnuts) are napping flat out, but there’s this little palomino head and neck sticking up watching stuff. She is a guard mare, definitely. I don’t think she lays flat out to sleep very much.
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It’s just weird that now they are lying down 80% of the time. I look out.
And out of nine, there is only one gelding.
We also have a couple of cows with two horses, and the motherly cow goes up to the younger one, lying down and will nudge her and stand over her like she is her calf, Till she wakes up.
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All the time. Spud has a spot where he takes his mid-morning/early afternoon nap. I’ll catch him laying flat out asleep on sunny, warm days.
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As soon ascshe knows I’m there, she lies down. And snores.
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Little Sh!t takes a nap every day; lays down in the back of his stall after lunch.
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I have a regular layer downer. Standing is hard work!
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Oh yeah…and she snores (turn up the sound)
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My herd of three geldings and an old donkey take naps almost daily. Archie reliably has a nap starting at about 10am every day.
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If they feel safe they will lie down and nap. That is when they can get some REM sleep, which is good for them. When we first got my horse home at age 7, he was in the field with a clear view from (my friend) the BO’s living room window. He was lying on his side and his legs were moving around a bit. She said she had run out to check on him every morning for a week. It was nap time. Probably dream time. Daily, around 10:30 0r 11:00 am. It continued on, daily, until I put him down last July at 28. We had retired to a smaller barn and several people said “your horse is down!” He sitll enjoyed napping in the sun and wasn’t having problems getting up. I lost him to his badly arthritic knee, but he was able to put full weight on it.
At our barn the horses sleep in shifts. My mare is quite wide awake all night but loves a nap between her breakfast and lunch hay either in her stall or turnout depending on weather. Sometimes too she will lie down in the sand arena in hot sun and I sit beside her and she goes into full sleep for about 10 minutes.
When I first got her she didn’t know she could sleep inside and got rather sleep deprived during 3 day rainstorms. I would take her into the indoor arena to longe and she’d lie down and doze. Finally I gave her a huge shavings bed that coincided with a multiday rain event and she figured it out.
Will and Grace camp together though in separate electric pens, they are side-by-side. At home, Will sleeps normally with his pasture-mate --another gelding --mostly they take turns lying flat while the other stands guard --HOWEVER when camping, Will appears to never sleep (based on how dirty he isn’t every AM). Instead, between runs (mounted archery), he does the “locked knee, head down” snooze that one associates with a sleeping horse standing up. I think Will is guarding Grace. (The names were accidental --both named well before my shooting partner and I met --He’s William Tell and she’s Amazing Grace.)
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I have posted this before, but it seems to fit here.
My trainer got an OTTB who did not lie down during the day for months. We knew he was down at night by the bedding on his blankets, but never saw him lie down during the day.
He was anxious and nervous when he came in. Trainer treated him for ulcers, I think two rounds, and took it very slowly with him. He gradually relaxed.
The first time he lay down to sleep during the day the barn manager texted my trainer a picture of him and asked her if she thought they should call a vet. He was fine and now lies down regularly.
Oh yeah! Mine takes a nap after morning turnout. Usually with snores and teeth out 
I have yet to hear a horse snore in person.
It is funny ours have jelly legs right after a ride. It is funny watching them trying to find a nice spot.
Mine do every night and day time naps if the weather is good.
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