Why do horses sleep standing up?

But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

Vermont Public

Nature, Language, Kids & Family, Science

4.4 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why are horses so big? Why do horses have tails and manes? How do their legs move? Are their bones in their hooves? What do they eat and how do they run and jump? We tackle those questions and more in this episode all about horses. We’ll also learn a little bit more about the unique horses in Iceland, where there’s a strict ban on horses coming in from other countries. But Why visited riding instructor Sonja Noack at Hestasnild, a riding school in Iceland, to get answers to all your equine questions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Parenting doesn't come with a script, but it does come with lots of questions.
0:04.8	I'm Elise Hugh, journalist, mom, and your host for Raising Us, a podcast from a KidsCo.
0:10.1	Every week we'll break down big, timely topics with help from expert guests and people from pop culture who really get it.
0:16.3	These conversations, they matter.
0:18.3	And every time we show up for them, we're not just raising thoughtful kids. We're raising us. Follow Raising Us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever else you listen. New episodes every Tuesday starting July 15th. This is But Why, A Podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public.
0:56.0	I'm Jane Linton.
0:57.6	On this show, we take questions from kids all over who are curious about the world around them, like you are.
1:03.6	And it's our job to find interesting people who can offer answers.
1:11.6	You've been sending us questions about horses for years, so we thought it was high time to do an episode all about them.
1:19.6	When we were in Iceland a few months ago, we visited a school for kids and sometimes adults who want to learn how to care for and ride horses. Sometimes they even
1:29.6	do horseback riding competitions. The woman who owns the school and cares for all of the horses there
1:35.3	is named Sonia Noak. She invited us to meet a few of her horses and learn more. And I love the name of
1:41.9	her school, Hestas Nild. It's a combination of two Icelandic words, Hesta, horse, and Nild genius.
1:50.1	So her school's name, Hestas Nild, is basically horse genius.
1:54.7	We have here Twister, my horse, my pace horse, he is looking at us, and skisdi, and Kuhler,
2:04.1	three of my horses.
2:06.6	So Kulu is a beautiful grey horse.
2:09.9	Describe that beautiful colour.
2:12.8	He's blue dun, actually, and he has a little star.
2:23.2	The Dun horses, they have this, the black, like a black line almost on his spine. Yeah, a line on the spine, exactly. And his main is two different colors too.
2:29.4	It's kind of almost a dark brown or black and then an almost white color. Yeah, it's under, it's dark and
2:36.8	upper is light and they are actually just like, it's not from the sun. It's just happened to be
	...

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