Show f WHY WI-IY Horses Can S Sleep cep While in an Erect E Position nOl Horses es have ha the power of ot sleeping while standing Their legs lees are pro pro- d with muscular mechanisms which cause them to lock and antI permit the tIle animals to rest somewhat as ns if It the they acre elc standing on stilts While n a horse is unconscious there Is no direct brain control over those muscles mus tans des cles In the thc Ie legs back and chest which nr are essential for the maintenance of ot otan an erect posture The fhe control depends on the reflex actions of the spinal cord says sa Pathfinder Magazine lC This his phenomenon Is similar to that I of ot a n bird sleeping on a n swo swaying limb A reflex balance Is maintained when I cons consciousness iou is in abeyance Horses i sleeping while standing occasionally full fall down More often orten certain mandes muscles muscles mus man cles des In the forelegs relax suddenly I and the animals knuckle over onto the the fetlocks and then hume Immediately catch themselves Horses go sometimes sometimes some some- times Co for 1 months mouths without ever er I lying in down loWn It Is astonishing how little sleep they require This Is also true of ot other Including elephants An Indian elephant ele ele- ele pliant will feed far Cpr eighteen or twenty hours and then sleep only one or two |