Can horses get a good night sleep with the lights on?

[FlewtheCoop]

I am not sure if this is a dumb question but... Should I be concerned if the lights are left on in the barn overnight, all night? I know that horses sleep patterns are throughout the day and they only need a short time of REM sleep.
I was just wondering if keeping the lights on in the barn all night long would disrupt their internal clocks.
Any thoughts on this??? Thanks!

[coloredhorse]

Ever spent the night in a barn? There's not a whole lot of sleep that goes on! As you noted, horses do their hard sleeping for short periods when the opportunity presents.

The lights do "disrupt their internal clocks" in that they fool the horses' bodies into thinking the daylight hours are longer. People who habitually keep horses under lights do so to discourage growth of a full winter coat, in my experience.

[MistyBlue]

For sleep purposes, most likely having lights on all the time wouldn't disturb their sleep patterns. Many horses get REM sleep happily spawled out like a landed whale in their paddocks at noon. ;) Horses tend to go into REM sleep when they're feeling safe...an enclosed stall for many horses is a "safe" area whether it's light or dark.
Although there are some horses who will only feel safe going into deep sleep when they have a herdmate to stand guard, so will catch up on sleep in turnout. Others will not feel relaxed enough in turnout and wait for being in their stall. And many don't care if it's a stall or outside.
Lights on all night can screw up their seasonal perceptions though. At least in regard to hair growth. Many folks keep their horses under lights to either inhibit the growth of the winter coat...or start their horses under lights at night in late winter to encourage early shedding.

[headsupheelsdown]

It is also used to bring mares into heat earlier in the season so they can be bred. The heat cycle (like the hair coat/shedding process) is determined by the amount of daylight/light a horse gets. How thick their winter coat gets is determined by the temp and the light, but the changeover from summer to winter coats is determined by the amount of daylight.

There is a barn here in the NW Chicago suburbs that NEVER turns its lights off at night. Never. It also has no set hours of operation. There is a group of dressage riding ladies that come out at 11pm-midnight and put classical on the PA system and are there until about 2 riding. They are housewives and this is the only time of day the get any "alone" time for themselves a couple of times a week. and since it is a multi-discipline barn, they don't have to work around the h/j and western folks at that time of night. Or at least they used to- this was probably 6 years ago. Hope they are still going strong!

It doesn't seem to affect the horses at all. The lights.

[Bluey]

For sleep purposes, most likely having lights on all the time wouldn't disturb their sleep patterns. Many horses get REM sleep happily spawled out like a landed whale in their paddocks at noon. ;) Horses tend to go into REM sleep when they're feeling safe...an enclosed stall for many horses is a "safe" area whether it's light or dark.
Although there are some horses who will only feel safe going into deep sleep when they have a herdmate to stand guard, so will catch up on sleep in turnout. Others will not feel relaxed enough in turnout and wait for being in their stall. And many don't care if it's a stall or outside.
Lights on all night can screw up their seasonal perceptions though. At least in regard to hair growth. Many folks keep their horses under lights to either inhibit the growth of the winter coat...or start their horses under lights at night in late winter to encourage early shedding.

What she said.:yes:

We keep a soft overhead light on all night in the pens.
That makes checking in the night easy for people and the horses don't seem to care.

Some say those lights attract bugs and some bugs carry diseases, so it is not the best idea in some situations.

For us, horse's sleep patterns don't seem to be altered if the light is on or not, as they seem to be able to see just as well in the night without it, going on as they do every night, if the light is on or not.

Our horses are in a mile long pasture 24/7, so they come and go in the night and we like to see when they are in the pens, especially right before dawn.
The light is for our benefit.:yes:

[Grataan]

We keep horses under lights for two reasons-to limit hair growth and to simulate the arrival of breeding season for our mares and stallions.

Even in winter (lights off) if you turn on the foal cam you can see the stallion up at about 3am banging away on his tether ball or playing frisbee with his feed pans.

They sleep just fine.

[headsupheelsdown]

We keep horses under lights for two reasons-to limit hair growth and to simulate the arrival of breeding season for our mares and stallions.

Even in winter (lights off) if you turn on the foal cam you can see the stallion up at about 3am banging away on his tether ball or playing frisbee with his feed pans.

They sleep just fine.

Yup, yup, yup. I gotta agree. We don't leave the lights on at night at our barn, just a couple of 5 watt night lights. However, our bedroom windows and the doors of our stable aisles are oh... gosh, maybe 150 feet away. In the summer, when we are sleeping with the windows open and teh barn doora are open, we can hear the horses are up at night. We can hear them talking to each other, kicking sometimes, and all sorts of other things.

[Foxtrot's]

My barn is right outside out house (about 3 yards). We leave the lights on until the night hay and then turn them off. Then they settle down.

When I had experience with a reiner he kept strong lights on all night to stop them growing a winter coat. I felt sorry for them, they would turn their backs to the lamps.

Seems more normal to do what Nature does where possible.

[hollyhorse2000]

I've been wondering if the new light outside my horse's stall (doesn't shine into her stall, but it's light when you look out her window) is responsible for the raging heat she's in when it's a lovely 20 degrees outside and January????????

[Go Fish]

I think I read in Equus or some other magazine some time ago that horses DO need periods of darkness, just like we do. I can't remember why now. There was a study done someplace.

We used to put our lights on a timer (for hair coats). On at 6:00 a.m. and off at 10:00 p.m. I was showing QHs back then. The H/J people just clip, which I hate.

[Tom Bloomer]

Mine sleep just fine with the lights on:

http://blackburnforge.com/images/workinghard.jpg

[goeslikestink]

Mine sleep just fine with the lights on:

http://blackburnforge.com/images/workinghard.jpg

love it lol

[MistyBlue]

However, our bedroom windows and the doors of our stable aisles are oh... gosh, maybe 150 feet away. In the summer, when we are sleeping with the windows open and teh barn doora are open, we can hear the horses are up at night. We can hear them talking to each other, kicking sometimes, and all sorts of other things.

I have an intercom between house and barn...was not my best idea, LOL! I now keep the inside unit turned off unless I feel a need to "check in on them." I used to keep the house unit turned on all night on my night table. All freaking night long I was woken up by bucket banging, farting, wall bumping, snorting and once my gelding figured out someone could hear him he'd start giving random loud hollers for more hay at 3am...making husband and I damned near hit the ceiling in surprise! :lol: :eek: :lol:

[Foxtrot's]

They knew how to train you, didn't they, Misty. As soon as they banged, their servants jumped up and said "Yessir", even at 3:00 am. :)