What do we know about sleep and can we use it to measure welfare? by

2025-10-26 10:37:13 UTC

Our paper suggested how measuring sleep could help indicate signs of pain in hospitalised horses. Horses with joint disease experienced less sleep behaviours in hospitalised environments potentially due to the pain element as well as the acknowledgement of stress and anxiety from the initial exposure to hospital environments.

Sleep is very much impacted by the environment the horse is in. It is also impacted by pain and discomfort from previously diagnosed conditions.

Measuring welfare through sleep also can indicate whether the horse is comfortable in its environment. Although the horses with OA showed less sleep behaviours we feel that this needs to be researched further in different style hospital environments.

Human interaction and other environmental factors can affect the sleep pattern of the horse thereby affecting the horses welfare.

2025-10-26 10:37:19 UTC

There are a large number of things that can effect equine sleep EG: bedding, noise and location

Lot of similarities between human and horse sleep.

With the nature of equine research sample sizes are small limits the credibility of the research.

Impact tea ability witch links to behaviour and welfare.

2025-10-26 10:39:21 UTC

Biological daly functioning is impacted by light therefore it is necessary to understand the consequences of lighting regimes on circadian rhythm, sleep and arousal.

Dim red light does not negatively impact normal sleep patterns or circadian rhythm in horses. Further research is required to understand the role of blue-enriched LED light in promoting wakefulness during daytime stabling.

To promote welfare, interruption to equine sleep could be reduced by using red light when night checks are necessary.

2025-10-26 10:40:40 UTC

Human interaction, lighting and other external environmental factors can limit and negativly affect the equine sleep pattern therefore substantially effecting their welfare.

2025-10-26 10:43:08 UTC

Horses sleep can be affected by a number of factors - noise, bedding types etc

Sample sizes are small, with risk of some samples being removed for various reasons which can affect the credibility and reliability of research.

Sleep could impact welfare if horses don’t get enough sleep, could this impact behaviours?