Where do horses sleep in the winter?

Question

I know this sounds stupid!

I am only wondering because I know that most barns are not heated and it can get quite cold! I suppose they don't don't sleep indoors while they are wild, so can they withstand the cold?

Answer 1

given hay and feed they will sleep just about any where

Answer 2

Well, horses that are housed in barns sleep in their barns and  horses that are in the open, just sleep where they can.  Some horse barns are heated but not many.  Wild horses do not have any shelter and live in very inhospitable places so I imagine they sleep where ever they can.  Since horses are herd animals, they live with a group and the group offers protection from the weather as well as from predators.  Horses sleep both lying down and standing up.  They need to lie down to achieve REM sleep but only require about an hour a day of rem sleep.  Horses are mammals and warm blooded but can withstand very severe temperatures.  People blanket their horses and keep them under lights mostly for aesthetic purposes like to maintain a good short coat for shows. Myself, I like to offer good clean dry shelter for my animals but am surprised that they seem to prefer to stand in the rain over being trapped in the barn.  

The history of the horse:

Only two never-domesticated "wild" groups survived into historic times, Przewalski's horse, or Equus ferus przewalski, and the Tarpan, or Equus ferus ferus[5] Przewalski's horse occupied the eastern Eurasian steppes, perhaps from the Urals to Mongolia, although the ancient border between Tarpan and Przewalksi distributions has not been clearly defined. The Tarpan became extinct in the late 19th century. Przewalski's horse was limited to Dzungaria and western Mongolia in the same period, became extinct in the wild during the 1960s, but was re-introduced in the late 1980s to two preserves in Mongolia. Although researchers such as Marija Gimbutas theorized that the horses of the Chalcolithic period were Przewalski's, more recent genetic studies indicate that Przewalski's horse is not an ancestor to modern domesticated horses. However, other subspecies of Equus ferus, may have existed and could have been the stock from which domesticated horses are descended.[

Answer 3

The short days of winter actually induces a neurological response in horses body chemistry making them grow winter coats that help keep them warm. Their body also actually heats itself as it metabolizes the food it eats. So in the wild a horse that can't find enough food to eat will actually freeze to death long before starvation kicks in.

Answer 4

Horses are like cattle, their metabolism is different than humans. Their bodies heat them in the winter.

I have several horses and none of mine are kept in a barn. They do go into canyons for a wind break, but they are just fine outside. Where I live it gets quite cold, sometimes 15 to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. I've never had any problems with it being too cold for them.

As long as they're fed good quality feed they will be just fine outside!

As far as sleeping, horses only do about an hour or so of deep sleep a day, which they do lay down for. They do sleep standing up too, but that is just a light sleep. They might do several light naps a day, in which they stand up for!

As strange as it sounds, most horses prefer to be outside. They don't like being inside of a barn!

Answer 5

Horses grow a think winter coat every winter.It helps keep them warm and dry.People that show horses usually clip the coat  so the horse looks good.When they do that they must give the horse a blanket or the horse could get sick.But horses that aren't clipped are just fine during the winter.