24: The Equine Version.

From Jim: Have you ever spent 24 full consecutive hours observing a healthy horse? Have you ever spent 24 consecutive hours with your horse? Can you describe their average daily activities? Here's some general information. Horses sleep about two and half to three hours in a 24 hour period. They will get off their feet several times-around four or five laydowns, rests and rolls. They will poop around a dozen times and urinate around the same. The majority of their time is spent grazing if on pasture. They will ingest 3 or 4 flakes of hay, and drink 10 to 15 gallons of water, depending on the temperature and work load. They will stay closely associated with their herd mates and will will move about the equivalent of 10 or so miles. They are given to moments of playfulness and may have a crabby few minutes. They will respond the their "heat cycle" about every 28 days. Even geldings will display the Fleyman reaction to a mare's pheromones. Mares may be more aggressive and can be cranky with others. Stallions can become dangerously single minded when exposed to an in-season mare. Stallions may fight. If you interact with horses during their day, consider the actual time as a fraction of their waking hours. Unlike us, their "day" is 20 or so hours long. They are awake and wary of predators all of this time. When asleep, they prefer to have another horse "stand guard". I urge every horse person to spend long uninterrupted periods of passive observation of their horse(s). We can become much better horse people by spending our time with them as learners instead of trainers. To fail to take this time is to deny ourselves the full measure of joy having horses in our lives can bring!