Why do horses sleep standing up?

At But Why, we believe that Curiosity is key to learning. That's why we bring kids' questions to life with experts, fun stories, and fascinating facts in our podcasts and video episodes. But we can't do this without you. Support from people who love the show and believe in what we do helps keep Curiosity thriving. Head to buttwyekids.org slash donate to become a Butt Wife fan club member, or make a gift in any amount to support the show. Thanks and stay curious! This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm Jane Lintholm. In this show, we take questions from kids all over who are curious about the world around them, like you are. And it's our job to find interesting people who can offer answers. You've been sending us questions about horses for years, so we thought it was high time to do an episode all about them. When we were in Iceland a few months ago, we visited a school for kids and sometimes adults who want to learn how to care for and ride horses. Sometimes they even do horseback riding competitions. The woman who owns the school and cares for all of the horses there is named Sonja Noak. She invited us to meet a few of her horses and learn more. And I love the name of her school, Histus Nild. It's a combination of two Icelandic words, Histah, horse, and Nild, genius. So her school's name, Histus Nild, is basically horse genius. We have here twister my horse, my pace horse, he is looking at us and Skidi and Kulur, three of my horses. So Kulur is a beautiful grey horse, describe that beautiful color. He's blue done, actually, and he has a little star. The done horses they have, the black line almost done a spine. And his mane is two different colors too. It's kind of a dark brown or black and then an almost white color. Yeah, it's dark and upper is light and they are actually just like it's not from the sun. It's just happened to be like this in that kind of color when they are blue done. He seems kind of quiet and shy, but your white horse over here seems to want some attention and he's got a beautiful set of bangs that he keeps throwing his head back to show us. Do they have different personalities? Oh yes, they are very different. And also, like Kulur has been working this morning and he's chilling a little bit. We have been writing two hours this morning with the kids. And Skidi hasn't been working today and he's just waiting for his time today to do something fun. What's Twister thinking? Twister probably just wants to say hello and get some cuddle from you. He loves attention. Twister, do you want to say hello to the microphone? It's not food. Twister would like to eat my sweater and the microphone. He loves food. We have a lot of horse questions and since we're here in Iceland, let's start with Poppy's question. My name's Poppy and I'm from London from one and I'm 11 years old. I'd like to know more about the history of the Icelandic horses. Are Icelandic horses special? Oh yes, they are. They are very special. They are actually very, very, very long time ago. They came here with boats, with the Vikings, mostly from Norway, but not only, but mostly. And what makes it very special now is that the Icelandic horse has been bred pure over a thousand years and that means too, which is sometimes a little bit sad, but all Icelandic horses that leave Iceland, they may never come back. So it's very pure breed and probably the purest breed in the world. Because it has been cross-bred with other horse breeds because other horses aren't allowed in Iceland and so these horses are all descended from those horses that came across with the Vikings. Exactly. Exactly. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland can keep some pretty strict controls about what comes in and what goes out of its country. And Iceland has decided that the Icelandic horse is a breed they want to protect and control. The country allows horses to leave Iceland so you can find them in lots of other countries, but you won't find any other kinds of horses in Iceland, which means these horses are pretty similar to the ones brought to Iceland by Viking explorers and settlers over a thousand years ago. Icelandic horses are known for being on the small side, but most Icelandic people would be annoyed if you called them ponies. They are having a lot of fur and a long mane and most of them thick mane and tail, which makes them extremely beautiful, of course, and they have very so many different colors, which is also special for the Icelandic horse. So horses in Iceland need to be able to withstand some pretty harsh weather. How do these horses make it through really cold winters and oftentimes a lot of wind and snow and rain? They have very, very good and long fur and they are built like, they are not like very long legs. Most of them they are like a little bit, you know, strongly built and they just eat a lot, especially the ones that are just outside. They have to eat a lot, especially in the fall to get fat and everything and which helps the skin to take care when rain is coming and snow and wind, because then it will peel away the cold and the wind and the snow. And then we of course give them, we are feeding them outside. They are not, they are maybe in very, very big fields, but we are giving them, hey, as soon as the snow is there and they can't get the grass anymore. You would probably want a long mane and thick fur if you were going to spend the winter outside and the wind and snow of Iceland too. Icelandic horses are also known for having a special way of running. You may have heard of a walk, a trot, a canter and a gallop, but Icelandic horses can do two other styles. We'll have Sonja saddle up and ride one of her horses a little later on so you can hear what we mean. But first let's get to some of your other questions. Marker, I'm seven years old, I'm in Pennsylvania. Why are horses so big? Why are horses so big? Yeah, they were not so big. Four million years ago or something they were like small as a dog and then they have been getting bigger because it's easier to run away from the predators and it's also about you know, then they are a little bit higher up so they see better when they're coming something, something dangerous. But of course it's very different. We have like really, really small ponies, falabella poni in the world. They are like so small as a dog still so it's very different. They can be from dog size up to very big. As Sonja said, when the ancestors of horses first started appearing actually more like 56 million years ago, they were quite small, but over time they've gotten much bigger and taller. Children horses have so much variety because humans got involved in breeding them and selecting horses for different characteristics like being really fast or being able to pull a heavy load or being tall. So that's why there are so many different types and sizes of horse bodies today. My name is Henry, I'm five years old, I live in Gokomawin, D.A. and why the horses have a tail. Henry wants to know why the horses have tails and so does rigs. Yeah, tail is actually very important for the horse to push away the fly, mostly. And also of course it's a protective for their butt. And the main is also for the rain and also when horses bite each other it is giving kind of protection with the neck. My name is Omer and I live in Princeton, New Jersey and I'm six years old. Why do horses have hairs on their back? Why do they have hairs on their back? What's the deal with the mane? Yeah, the mane is like protective and also on the back, the hair everywhere. Of course they are mammals and they have the hair to protect their skin and specially the Icelandic horse which is a lot outside and when it's cold it's just protective against the weather. It's very very long in the winter and thick and then when they change stiffer you know, then it's a lot of hair everywhere. They shed like a dog. Yes, more. You could probably to pillow out of it. That would be quite a pillow. Yeah, it would be quite a pillow. My name is Jo. I have three years old and how does horses like smooth? Horses have really interesting legs. The part you might think looks like their knee bends in different directions depending on whether you're looking at the front legs or the back legs. The front legs bend out towards the front and the back legs bend back behind the horse. But here's something you might not know. Those aren't their knees. Their knees are actually much higher up in their body so you can't really see them unless you have x-ray vision and can look at the horse's skeleton. The part you see bending when they run is more like an ankle joint and horses actually walk on their toes. My name is Olivia and I'm four years old and I'm from Platinum here and one of the horses have hooks. My name is Bonnie. I am six years old. I live in Eugene, Oregon. Why do horses have hooks? My name is Tori. I live in Thailand. I am six and a half years old. I do hoses have hoses and we die. I live in the home of California. I'm four years old. Why do hoses have hoses? Black, not brown. My name is Audrey. I'm five years old. Are hoses hoses, hoses, bones or not? My name is Jojo. I live in Webster, New York. Why do horses wear shoes? Let's talk about hooves, that very bottom part of a horse's leg. The hoof has several parts, including some internal bones, tendons and ligaments, some cushiony bits that act like a shock absorber, and a hard part around the outside made of keratin. That's the same stuff your fingernails and toenails are made out of. keratin is also what horns are. When it's thick like a horse's hoof, keratin is very tough stuff. That outer wall, that part that's kind of like a big thick toenail on the horse, is constantly growing. If a horse is running around on rough ground, all that rubbing and scuffing can keep the hoof filed down. But a lot of horses need to have their hooves filed down by people. And many horses wear horse shoes. They look pretty different than our sneakers though. Their shoes are metal and just go right around that hard outer wall of the hoof. They help protect the horse's foot, especially on pavement or other surfaces that would wear those hooves down pretty quickly. Hi, my name is Audrey. I live in California, but do horses eat? Audrey wants to know just generally what do horses eat, other than my microphone. They eat mostly grass. And hey, which is of course, dry grass, that's what they eat mostly. And we always try to, at least I give my horses always also vitamins. And some of them get also kind of extra food out of corn or something depends a lot on the horse, what they need if they need extra food. But what they eat mostly is grass. I'm really pretty Canada. I'm 6 years old. Why can horses eat grass and it can't hurt our stomachs? Why can horses eat grass and hey, when that would hurt our stomachs? They have just a totally different diggestive system than us. And also they get a lot of energy, for example, out of the grass as we wouldn't, not at all. And yeah, we can't digest the grass with our stomach. My name's Alina. I'm 9 years old. I live in Barry and Wales. Can horses taste sweet and sour? Yes, they can. And they love sweet, actually. And they also can taste like bitter and salt. And bitter, for example, is very interesting. It can be, you know, they will feel it when there is something poisoned, like poisoned plants. They are bitter, so they won't eat it. But they love sweet. Hi, I'm Ronan. I live in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm 9 years old. I do horses sleep standing up. Horses can sleep standing up because their bodies are designed to allow them to do it, and like ours, we'd most likely collapse if we fell asleep standing. But horses can lock their legs to help keep their body in place. And have you ever seen a horse standing tall on three legs while its fourth leg is bent and not taking any weight? As a horse naps, it rotates which leg is getting a break. So by the time it wakes up, all of its legs have gotten some time off. But there's another reason horses sleep standing up. It's also very important for them that they could run away very fast when some predator would come. And so it's just about their nature that they could run away. But when they really want to sleep and get REM sleep, they need to lay down for that. And that's mostly for a short time. And when they are in a herd outside, normally you see always one or two standing at least, which are taking care if everything is fine for the others to sleep. And I think if anybody's seen a horse lying down and watched it try to get up, you can see how that would take a long time if something that was really wanted to eat you was chasing you. It might put you in a very vulnerable position. Yes, 100%. Mine's a jersey. I even Canada. Why do horses breathe through their mouths? Why do horses breathe through their mouths? They don't actually. They can't. They breathe through their nose. They have very strong nostrils and they can open it quite much up. They maybe would open the mouth and but it's not really the way for the air through the mouth. It's just for the food. Phew, that was a lot of questions about horses and we haven't even talked much about how they move. So get a drink of water, let those wiggles out and get ready for even more horse stuff. This is But Why? Today we're learning all about horses from Sonia Noak, a riding instructor and all around lover of horses. Sonia runs a riding school in Mosfields Bayer just outside of Reykjavik in Iceland. We talked with her in one of her barns where three of her Icelandic horses calmly watched as she answered all of your horsey questions. My name is Felix. I'm five years old. I am an expert on cherry. Why do horses get up? My name is Parker and my age is three and I have a little scouts and my little son. How do horses go? How and why do horses gallop? It's just their way of running and it's the way of gallop that they can run away and run away fast mostly out also to run away from the predators but also because they sometimes like to play and run around and have fun. Like we sometimes like to run around and have fun. My name is Maggled but they call me Goldy. I'm four years old. I live in Oakland, California. I would like to know how horses jump so high. They have very strong muscles and very powerful hind leg which will help them and then they will just give in and jump high. Do horses jump naturally or is it something they need to be taught when you're working with a horse that's going to be a jumping horse? Like with Icelandic horse we don't jump much. We sometimes do it for fun a little bit but it's very different between different horses. If they are outside in the field and there is something they have to go over they would also jump over it but they would probably often choose the way beside but it depends so much about different characters. Some of them just love it. They really like to go over. I have some horses too. When it is somewhere something to jump over they like to go there. What about this guy does he like to jump? No he is not so much of a jumper. He's more of a he likes pace and going fast in pace. He's not so much of a jumper. I'm Sage. I live in Colorado Springs. I'm 10 years old. Can horses swim. Yes they can. Also there it's very different. Some of them really love the weather and others not. It's like with us but when it's summer and nice weather we often go without saddle and swim with them that's so fun. It's very, we were just like last weekend we were swimming with them and the horses most of them really love it too. And it's actually very good for the joints and some people even send horses to swim training. Wow, swim training. Yes. It's also it's so light for the joints and lignaments. Yeah. So it's like they get swimming lessons but it's also kind of like physical therapy or like almost like a massage that can help the horses feel good. Yeah, yeah, 100% and horses that have been insured can help them to get good again. My name is Lucy and I'm 9 years old and I live in Madison, Wisconsin. Why do horse turners whoop their horses and does it hurt them? You know, if you whip the horse like hardly it would probably hurt them. And but normally when for example we use the whip, when I have a whip it's more thought about being a longer hand for me. It's a little bit getting me a longer hand that I can help the horse to understand what I want. And then I will just put it very slightly at the horse to help him to move and understand what I want. Because maybe my foot isn't reaching his hindquarters and when I want to help the horse with that I can use the whip a little bit. So we are not using it for slamming the horse or something. It's more like a longer hand. And also with your feet, are you kicking them hard and does it hurt when you kick? No, we are trying to get the horse having the horse as sensitive as they can be with like using a little you know pressure with the feet. I want my horse to answer when I put my feet at the belly slightly. They should answer to go forward and the same when I take the rain to stop. I'm trying to have it very lightly that they answer when they you know when we are fast to answer them and let them be let them be when they answered. And they are also light so it's so much more fun to do it this way and be nice together. So you think of it as communication, nonverbal communication with the horse where you're trying to tell the horse, here's what I'd like you to do and then the horse is responding. Yes, exactly. It is just helping us to communicate, exactly. And that of course always it's the goal for us to have and do as little as possible and that if you look at the rider and you don't see what the rider does and the horse does a lot of stuff it is very nice and that's always the goal. My name is Emma. I am seven and eleven months. I live in Madrid, Spain. Why are horses afraid of snakes? Are horses afraid of snakes? Yes, I would say they are because of course they could be dangerous, they could bite them and they actually don't like anything because of that around their feet. Like when you walk with a horse with a... Reigns? Yeah, and it's yeah, a leash or something and hanging down with the feet, most of them don't like it and could get scared. So also when you ride and you ride over something they can get a little bit afraid because their feet are so important to them because of course when the feet are hurt they can't run. And if there would be a predator that want to eat them which is of course not so much of a problem anymore but it's so deep in them that they are just trying to take care of their feet. And the way horses' eyes work too they can't necessarily see their feet if they're looking up right so they want to make sure there's nothing down by their feet that they can't see that could drip them up especially if they're looking straight up or far ahead. Yeah, exactly. We have like blind points, like blind spots right in front of the horse under the head and right in front of them and also all in the back. They don't see it all when you are behind the horse. That's why you always should take care when you walk behind the horse, take a big circle and not walk too near because when they get afraid they could of course kick just because they get scared and think something happens so when they don't see you there. And it's the same with like when something is on the ground like a snake for example. I'm Skirley and I'm from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Why are there so many types of horses? We've talked about the Icelandic horse which is special and different from some other horse breeds. Why are there so many? I would say it's because we have of course very different landscapes and very different when you go to the Sahara itself of course very, very hot and then the horses are just totally different bread especially for that. And like here in Iceland we have the Icelandic horse which is really good in the cold. So it's a lot about the breeding and also what you are going to do or you are going to dressage or gated riding or jumping or leisure riding or distance. So it's very, very much different between that and yeah, out of it's of course every horse has or horse breed has a long story or most of them. My name is Aurora, I'm 10 years old, no not 10, 11. I live in Holland for a month. What's the most popular horse breed? I heard it's the American quarter horse actually but yeah I think Icelandic horses are actually very popular because of their gates and I think it's getting more and more also in America in the United States. And but all over the world I heard it's the American quarter horse. Sohnja has about 30 or 35 horses at her riding school and they're all Icelandic horses of course because other types aren't allowed in Iceland. I asked her if she had a favorite one. Oh, that's a tough one. I really love Twister the one we have here because we're standing in Twister's stall. You can't say you like somebody else better when we're standing right next to him. Yes, I love him but I also love and you know, Skidi and of course I love all of them. I think it's very important like also with the riding school horses. I really like them all. They are very, very different characters and I want them to be and it's okay to be different characters that makes it so fun. So and everyone has its qualities. Like people everybody has a different personality. 100% and that's just perfect. Before we let Sohnja get back to her chores we asked her to show us one more thing. The special ways Icelandic horses can move. When you think of how horses walk or run you might think of a walk, a trot, a canter and a gallop but Icelandic horses can do two more types or gates. Yes, we have the tult. And tult is the same. They are moving their legs same as in walk. So all there's always at least one feet on the ground which make it very smooth. They are not like jumping up in the air like in trot and gallop where sometimes the feet are all like up in the air. So it's getting very smooth and it can be from very slow to very fast. And it's very fun to ride it. It's like sitting on a slightly moving sofa when you have a good tult horse. And the pace it's really fast has to be really fast to be really good. And it's mostly written out of the gallop. Then you are going lay the horse down to pace as we call it and put it into pace. And then that goes very fast. And it's a little bit like the camels when they move the feet on both left feet and then they're flying and they're both right feet and then they're flying and then both left and so on. And they are like stretching their head and run really fast like this. It's very fun to see. What's the difference in the way it feels from a gallop to pace? A gallop is three-peated so it's like, so it's like, so it's like, so it's like having this circularly moving. And in pace it's going so fast. So don't you, you don't have so much time to think it's just a little bit. You're making a hand expression like vibration. Yeah, vibration and going really fast. You need to get, you know, when you ride really good flying pace you will get sometimes like feeling it in the knees and so on. So you get some adrenaline with it and you don't ride it for a long time. It's mostly written like, you know, between 100 and 250 meters or 300 or something but only short at once because it takes a lot of energy of the horse because they put everything in it. So what would you use pace instead of gallop when the situation be where you would choose one over the other? When I ride up a hill, for example, I would always choose the gallop and when I ride straight I would take the pace. If it's a straight line and enough place as base, you know, and clear way. And then I would choose pace and it's just different because it's something you write not as often as the gallop. And gallop you of course can also write very slow but not flying pace. Seeing how these horses move in their different strides or gates would be great, right? But we're a podcast so you can't see anything. But hearing can also be helpful. We asked Sonia if she and one of her horses would help demonstrate these different ways of moving that she was talking about. So she saddled up crummy, a dark brown horse with an even darker mane and we went to the riding ring. We attached a microphone to Sonia so you can hear crumies hooves and Sonia's description as she rides around the ring. So close your eyes and just listen for the next minute or two and see if you can hear the difference in each type of stride. So I'm going to go to trot now. Now I'm going to write halt, then gallop and then pace. Yeah, that's the... That was crummy the horse and Sonia no-ac the rider. Thanks to Sonia for answering all of our many questions about horses. She's the owner of Hesta Sneild, a riding school in Mossfels Bayer, Iceland. We have pictures and videos of Sonia and her horses on our Instagram and YouTube pages if you'd like to see what an Icelandic horse looks like and what those different gates look like. As always, if you have a question about anything, send it to us. We get a lot of questions and we really wish we could answer them all. But even if we can't answer your question, we love hearing it. We want to know what's on your mind, what you're feeling curious about and what you think we could help you learn about. You can have an adult help you record your question using one of the free apps on a smartphone or tablet and then you can send the file to questions at butwhykids.org. If you like our show, please leave a review or some stars on whatever platform you use to listen. It helps other kids discover us. Our show is produced by Sarah Baker, Melody Bodette and me, Jane Lindholm at Vermont Public and distributed by PRX. Our video producer is Joey Palombo. Our theme music is by Luke Reynolds. He'll be back in two weeks with an all new episode. Until then, stay curious.