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Mare isn’t laying down at night

So this is probably stupid, but at this point I’m almost taking this personally.
My new mare won’t lay down in her stall. Before I got her, she had never been stalled before and was a little nervous and confused the first few nights as to why she was stuck inside. But now she loves her stall and would happily stand all day in it. Sometimes she tries to sneak into the barn to be in her stall.
But she still won’t lay down.
Her stall has a very large amount of shavings. She’s only 14.1, and the stall is a 12x12, so I don’t think it’s the size. No medical issues. She lays down in the field just fine. She’s stalled about 12 hours at night.
I’m just really concerned she’s not getting enough sleep. I know it’s silly, and she will sleep if she’s tired, but I’m still frustrated.
So that was my rant of the day.

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If she needs REM sleep she will lie down if not in her stall then in the paddock.

Horses only need about 2 hours of REM sleep per 24 hours, they don’t need it all at once, and they don’t need it every 24 hour period. The horses I know sleep in shifts, some at night, some in the morning, some in the afternoon.

Some love their stalls, some only sleep outside, some learn to sleep inside.

My mare would only sleep in her paddock for a couple of years until we had a 3 day rainstorm when she had a fluffy stall, and she suddenly learned to sleep inside.

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sounds just like Bonnie the horse we took in last year. 21 years of fending for herself in open pasture has her always on guard

She will lay down outside in the sun for several hours in “her place” that she feels protected

She is stalled in poor weather and at nights now as the pastures are greening… but she hates it, will not really rest and bothers the other horses… eventually settling, but not happy

Her peace is to see everything before it gets to her (and she picks me out at 1,000 feet to nicker knowing food or a treat is possible)

She is 22 and she is not going to change, so we just make her do what we have to and she does accept it (like her blanket, at first I don’t need that thing, now its where is my blanket as the wind from the north is cold…but she will put up this front of I am OK I do not need that thing…but here let me stand still while you put it on. OK dear, thanks for putting up with me. )

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Unless you have eyes on her 24/7, how do you know she doesn’t lie down?
Are you looking for a depression in the bedding?
Not always a true barometer.

I bed on pellets, that break down quickly to sawdust & my biggest horse (16h) doesn’t leave a noticeable impression, but I can tell by the bedding on one flank - his favored side - that he was down in the stall at some point.

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How old is she? Could she be having hock or knee issues that make getting down or up a painful problem? What kind of bedding is she on? As 2Dogs said, I have one on pelleted bedding who lies down, but the only way I can tell is the tiny amount of debris in his tail. My other aged gelding nearly never lies down that we can tell (no eyes on him 24/7) due to his nearly fused knee-- he is on daily pain relief but getting up is just a bit of a struggle at this point.

Some horses (ahem…mares) are hypervigilant, and find relaxing on the ground difficult unless they feel protected (Clanter’s example). Does she have a friend she can see nearby? She may like her stall but still not feel comfortable there. Unless she is exhibiting symptoms of a lack of REM sleep, I wouldn’t worry too much.

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No health issues. She’s somewhere around 12-14. Her bedding is straw. We have cameras so we can tell what they are doing at night, plus the straw gets stuck in the tail of any horse that lies down. She is in the barn with her three friends which she can see, the stalls are European open fronts.
She was an auction horse who has experienced a lot of ‘firsts’ lately. I’m just hoping she learns that she can sleep in the stall too, not just eat in it

I had a mare that wouldn’t sleep in her stall, only in her paddock which she had to be turned out in, no in/out access. She loved to roll in fresh shavings but didn’t lay down to sleep in them. She was a little sleep deprived while at one particular barn where the turnouts were just small gravel lots and would fall asleep in the cross ties and almost fall down. That stopped when I moved her to where she had larger paddocks that were grassy and comfy to sleep on during the day. I knew she was sleeping outside because I had seen her several times fast asleep when I arrived. She had developed bed sores on the fronts of her fetlocks so I used bed sore boots and eventually they went away. I sure do miss her.

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Since she is all by herself in the stall for the first time , she may not feel safe laying down when there isn’t another horse she can see and know that she is being watched over. She is not used to it.

In a herd / pasture setting you many times see most all lying down enjoying the sun while one lone sentry stands.

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Some horses just aren’t comfortable lying down in a stall. As long as she’s lying down and resting when she’s not in her stall, there’s not a problem. There’s nothing you can really do to FORCE her to be comfortable lying down in her stall. Kinda like the old adage…you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink :wink:

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How long have you had her? Some horses don’t lie down in their stalls in a new place until they feel safe and comfortable, which may take a few weeks.

She’s been with me since September, and has been stalled at night since mid December when it started getting cold here.

It could be stress from not being able to see other horses when lying down, but she’s such a sassy independent thing

So she’s been stalled overnight only for like…6 weeks? In her entire life?

Give her time. This is SUCH a new thing for her.

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I have never really thought about it but this winter I noticed that my 21 year old gelding does not lie down in his stall at night. Became aware of it as I brush all four in the morning before putting their blankets on. He loves to roll outside either in the mud or snow and does not have a problem getting up. I have seen him lie down outside early in the morning when they have spent the night out.

I have not noticed this previous years or thought about it. He has been with me for 16 years. He has also developed a bad habit of stall walking which we first thought was due to ulcers but I have since found that he does this when there is an abrupt change in the weather.

Speaking from the heart, buried beneath a foot-plus of (very, very, beautiful; I’ll grant you) snow, now forming a one-inch razor-like crust on its top, so that horses can cut their legs in the fraction of the second before they punch through, CLANTER, MUST YOU??? MUST YOU REALLY??? :slightly_smiling_face:

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well, revenge has come LOL… extended forecast has us dropping into the mid teens next week (but I will have to see it first to believe it as in the last few years these dire predictions have not materialized …should be close but really mid teens? …we are in the middle of the city so where is the heat sink effect?)

But yesterday mid day, there was Bonnie laying in the green grass asleep

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I’m in Virginia, but we have a lot of snow here right now. I tried to go sledding last week. Almost sliced my leg open on the ice layer. Sledding was canceled

Yeah, it is still super new for her. There was actually an impression in the straw this morning so I need to go check the cameras

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You’ve had some great answers here. Look, it is so great that you care so much about your horse that you’re worried about this, but don’t worry about this. It took my husband’s cow pony about three years before he got used to being in a stall and laying down. Your horse is fine and you are a good horse mom. Lots of other things to worry about.

I don’t see much of my horses after dark but in over 20 years I have only once seen a horse lying down at night. My current crew all wander into the barn for a lie down at about 5AM but they’re always pretty alert through the night. I just assumed it was an instinct to look out for predators at night.

I forgot to say, She has laid down and slept for 3+ nights in a row now! I changed a few things in her stall and I guess she liked that because now she’s laying down.

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That’s great! For edification purposes, what exactly did you change, or what do you think made the biggest difference?