Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Why Do Horses Yawn

By Heather Toms


Horses yawn, just like humans do. They open their mouths wide and seem to kind of stretch and scowl and let air out of their mouths before they go back to normal again.

The big puzzle revolves around the issue of just why horses yawn.

Usually, yawning occurs when you are tired and need to sleep or when you're bored out of your mind. Often , you yawn just after you wake up. All these yawning factors appear to be common to humans and horses.

Yawning can also happen as a response to some impulse? Pleasurable or otherwise. Many specialists associate yawning with discomfort. But inversely, horses frequently yawn even when they're feeling satisfied, in the quiet of their stalls. Horses are also known to yawn after they have gone thru a session of chiropractic treatment or a massage. This suggests, naturally, that yawning is associated with the sort of pleasure that comes with release from stress or tension.

Yawning also accompanies health problems like pain in the jaws, colic and ulcers. Often , ammonia builds up in the blood as a result of liver illness and results in a selection of neurological symptoms like yawning.

All of this would indicate that yawning accompanies emotions on either end of the range.

You may have also spotted that horses yawn when they have released breath that was restrained during periods of stress, both physical and mental. The idea is that oxygen is briefly diverted to muscles brought into play in an emergency, and that huge air intake is a requirement to get oxygen back to the brain after the emergency is over and done with.

To get back to horses and their yawning practices: they've been known to yawn when it is approaching feed time. They also yawn when the bridle is removed, possibly to stretch the muscles in and around their jaws.

A large number of folks have the idea horses yawn out of pure habit. And no significance should be give to all of it.

On it's own, your horse's yawning should not give you cause for worry. You do need to get alert if your pony yawns more than is standard for him, or if his yawning appears to be a part of some other more potentially serious set of symptoms. In this type of case, get in touch with your vet.




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