19/10/2026
Good evening beautiful people… 🩷
I don’t usually do this type of post but I’ve sadly seen this a bit too often of late and it has hits my heart, so I thought I’d share a bit of education around horses and their survival behaviour.
For the people who love horses but have never owned one, but decide to buy one, please read this. It is not to place judgement, I’m just bringing awareness to it because it hurts my heart.
Horses are a prey animal. Meaning they MUST be a part of a herd to survive in the wild. This instinct doesn’t leave them once they come in contact with humans. This instinct is in them for life and it becomes life or death to them if they don’t feel safe.
The biggest safety part of being apart of a herd, is they can sleep. Horses need sleep. They require deep sleep, meaning they need to lay down for this deep sleep. As do humans. If horses, like humans don’t get sleep, it alters the nervous system. In the wild, a horse wouldn’t survive in its own and can’t lay down safely to get deep sleep when they are on their own.
Horses take naps. This looks like standing under a tree resting one leg. This is NOT enough sleep for a horse to function properly.
They are always on high alert which makes their nervous system work overtime and it has the same effect as it does with humans if we are in survival, fight or flight constantly..
Lack of sleep or not feeling safe can be the cause of a horse bucking or bolting or being ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsafe’. I would be dangerous if I didn’t sleep to.
With this, if you are wanting to buy a horse and you only get 1, YOU must become its herd. What I mean by that is, YOU must become lead horse and see them and be apart of their life everyday to let them know they are safe. If you buy a horse and can’t be with them everyday or put it in a 100 acre paddock and only see them once in a while, either don’t buy it OR get 2, so they have safety in their small herd.
I hope this helps you understand behaviour a little more. When I’m working with a horse who is showing signs of an overstimulated nervous system, one of the first questions I ask is, does it lay down to sleep?? Knowing this makes a massive difference with how you help the horse.
If you want to know more or have questions, write them in the comments and I’ll get back you you 🩷🩷
