Time budget or use
The time budget, or time use is the way the horse spends his time over 24 hours : eating, resting, moving around….Thanks to long studies on horses in different natural environments, researchers have been able to observe natural behaviours and the time dedicated to each over 24 hours and over a year.
- Overall breakdown
- Feeding
- Rest
- Keeping watch on the environment
- Travel
- Other behaviours
- What about stabled horses ?
Overall breakdown
Overall, an adult horse living in total freedom will spend ::
- 60% of his time feeding ;
- 20 to 30% resting ;
- 4 to 8% keeping watch on the environment ;
- 4 to 8% traveling ;
- the rest in other activities
The daily time spent on each of the activities is overall quite regular. The time of day the activity occurs at will however differ depending on the environment : for example the breakdown of activities throughout the day will change depending on resources, weather, seasons, the presence of insects…
Feeding
Another particularity in the horse is that he eats as he moves around : the horse will take several mouthfuls, then take one or two steps forward or to the side, and take a few more mouthfuls.
His diet is quite varied and especially very rich in fibres. Grass is the horse’s staple diet, but it may be supplemented with leaves from trees, moss, berries twigs, shrubs …
The horse selects the plants he eats and can , but not always, avoid poisonous plants, or choose when to eat them.
Grazing time in the day varies over the year. In our latitudes, from autumn through to spring, horses will graze in the daytime. However in very hot conditions in summer, they will pause between 9:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon, caused mainly by the bother of biting insects.
Mares spend more time feeding (15h) than males (13h), probably due to their higher needs due to gestation and lactation.
Rest
A horse spends between 5 and 7 hours resting, which represents 20 % to 30 % of his time. Horses generally sleep at night.
There are two main types of rest :
- Resting while standing : the horse is dozing. His position is then characterized by eyes half-closed, ears slightly back, relaxed muscles, one hind leg resting, neck lowered and lower lip slack. A standing rest period can be very short (just a few seconds) ;
- Resting whilst laying down : this type of rest comprises slow wave sleep, and paradoxical sleep. Either the horse only has his body on the ground (« sternal recumbancy »), or he is lying down completely on his side (« lateral recumbancy »). Because of their weight, horses cannot remain lying down in this position for very long.
The time dedicated to rest, and the type of rest (standing or lying down) varies according to the animal’s age : young horses spend more time resting than adults, and lie down more often.
Keeping watch on the environment
The horse will raise his head for a few seconds while grazing or stare for longer periods at his environment. He turns his head towards the object of his attention, ears pricked in the direction he’s looking in. If he sees something which intrigues or frightens him, his posture will change : his head will go up even higher, his muscle tone increases and his tail may go up.
Stallions spend twice as much time keeping watch (3h) than mares, watching out for predators or for other males.
Travel
Walking is the main gait used, trotting or galloping are seldom used. The faster gaits are used during flight, in games or caused by biting insects, in a stallion’s sexual parade and in fights between stallions.
Other behaviours
Even though these types of behaviour are short and only represent a very small part of a 24 hour day, they are nevertheless essential for the horse’s health.
What about stabled horses ?
Several actions can improve a stabled horse’s life :
- Lengthening the time spent feeding, by giving fibre based fodder (hay, straw) ;
- Regularly turnining out in a field or in a paddock;
- Giving the horse the possibility of being with other horses (out in a field or paddock in groups, collective stabling…) Horses prefer spending time in groups than alone.
| Semi freedom | In group/constant access to hay | Stabled, constant access to hay + contact | Stabled, limited access to hay, can see other horses | Stabled, constant access to hay + contact, crib-biting | |
| Eating | 60% | 57% | 47% | 15% | 40% |
| Immobility | 20% | 23% | 40% | 65% | 25% |
| Lying down | 10% | 10% | 10% | 15% | 5% |
| Other | 10% | 10% | 3% | 5% | 30% of which 20% crib-biting |
Know more about our authors
- Translated from french by : Karen DUFFY Translator
- Pauline DOLIGEZ Development engineer IFCE
- Marianne VIDAMENT Veterinarian - development engineer IFCE
- Anne-Claire GRISON IFCE
