Equine Sleep Disorder

Poor Pollyanne has trouble lying down and you will rarely see her sit down or lie down to sleep.  As a result of this she doesn’t get enough deep

sleep and so, as she stands and drifts into a snooze she may begin to fall over.  After a few minutes of snoozing she may begin to rock backwards and wake up suddenly and re-adjust herself.  In other words because she can’t lie down for a deep sleep her body tries to slip into a deep sleep while standing but this causes her knees to buckle and for her

to generally loose balance. This is called equine sleep disorder as far as I can tell.  I managed to catch a small bit of video of her doing this today so I will post that when I finish the project and go back into the house on Saturday.

Pollyanne stretching forward while sleeping

She seems to suffer with pain in her back and although we have been working with Pollyanne to help the various aches and pains that she has as a result of her traumatic past, she still never seems comfortable enough to lie down.  We have often wondered whether she might lie down when we are not there, but last night she demonstrated that she will nearly fall over again and again and will not lie down.  For three hours she rocked, slipped backwards, woke up and started the process again.  She never sat down.  I felt so sorry for her.  She is desperate for a good sleep and who knows when was the last time she had one.

Even on the odd occasion that she does sit down she keeps falling over, her head wanting

Pollyanne falling backwards. This is a mild rock back

to lay flat on the ground so that she can just have those few minutes of deep REM sleep.  But she keeps popping back up again.   She drops for a split second and then the head is up.  On two occasions we have seen her have about 45 seconds of sleep.

I counted every second knowing that each one would do her good.  I really hope that in time she will find herself comfortable enough to rest.  She could do with it.

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