It was a warm, pleasant day, and two horses were enjoying a nap in a sunny field. But their owner noticed they were both lying down, and, when he approached, that they were also snoring loudly.
Was anything wrong? Were the horses all right? Did they need CPAP?
No, the horses were fine. Horses generally like to sleep standing up, and their legs are constructed so that they won’t fall down, even when sound asleep. But if a horse is relaxed enough and has a comfortable place to sleep, it will lie down and even snore. This is much more a sign of contentment than distress. Horses like to lie down on a thick bed of hay, but a comfy spot on the grass will also do fine.
Horses sleep much less than humans, as they only sleep about 3 hours out of 24. The three hours are broken up into short cat naps. Young horses and old horses sleep more; foals will sleep about half the time. But mature horses get by with short snoozes.
One of the horses in the field lifted its head and made a move to get up. But then it thought, oh, the heck with it, and fell blissfully back to sleep again.