Argus Takes A Real Nap

On Monday morning, I headed down the driveway with a carload of kids. Far away, at the edge of Neighbor Jim's pasture, stood two horses. At their feet in the soft dry grass were two large lumps, one white and one tan.

"Oh look," I said, "Odie and Ridge are taking a morning nap." I squinted my eyes and noticed that the gray horse standing had a full-length tail. It was Ridge.

I slammed on the brakes. It was as if I'd been hit with an electric bolt. "Did you see that? The tail?" I demanded. My poor confused children were asking me "Mom! What's wrong?" At this point, fat tears were already making their way down my face. A world record for crying.

The white horse sleeping in the grass was Argus.
Flat out.
Sleeping.
Argus.

Argus has lived here for more than 5 months, and in this time, I've never seen him lay down except to roll. I've seen signs that he's slept, but have been very concerned all along that he had somehow lost the ability to truly lie down and rest. Life in prison had robbed him of that. After all, it's scary to lay down in a 12 foot wide pen when you are afraid your stiff body will not let you get back up.

So back to the two sleeping lumps. Laying flat out in the pasture, obviously napping, Odie the mule and Argus were nestled in the tall grass, the only sign of life the occasional tail and ear flick. Half Pint and Ridge stood guard over them in a state of relaxed alertness. It was the way I had hoped Argus would learn to sleep --- as a horse does in nature with his herdmates to watch over him and sound the danger alarm.

Deep sleep happens even in horses, even though they are famous for sleeping standing up; to achieve deep, restful sleep (REM sleep) they must lay down. In fact, a well rested horse needs about 20-40 combined minutes of REM sleep in a 24 hour period. They do this in bits and pieces: 2 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Sure, they can go days, and, in Argus' case, months or years without adequate REM sleep, but a price is paid.

Argus is chronically tired, you can see it. He starts to collapse when he sleeps standing up. He will drift off, head sinking lower and lower, until his front legs buckle slightly and he wakes up again. He has chronic "bedsores" on his fetlocks from this. But now that I think of it, I haven't seen him do this in a while. Could it be that he's finally getting some REM sleep under cover of darkness, out in the pasture?

I felt proud of my horses Ridge, Half Pint, and Odie --- Argus' teachers ---- for showing him so many horse skills that he never learned, and that I could not possibly have taught him. They have taught him about body language, play, where to find the best grasses, how to flirt with a girl....and how to take a morning nap. They treat him with a patience and compassion that's unusual for horses. To these three geldings, who somehow seem to know that Argus is special in a way different from all others here at Watermark Farm, I extend my deepest gratitude. You are Argus' teachers, and you are my teachers, too.

I think I'll go take a nap now.