--- title: Horses and ponies: how they eat, see, sleep and live in herds — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Horses and ponies: how they eat, see, sleep and live in herds», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A horse is a big, strong animal, but in the wild it was always someone's dinner, so almost everything about --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Horses and ponies: how they eat, see,… # Horses and ponies: how they eat, see, sleep and live in herds Lesson 207 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 14 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/0/) — A horse is a big, strong animal, but in the wild it was always someone's dinner, so almost everything about it is built for spotting danger and running away. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/1/) — Its eyes sit on the sides of its head so it can see nearly all the way round, and when one horse in a field suddenly bolts, the whole herd thunders after it without stopping to ask why. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/2/) — A horse can even doze on its feet: special locking joints in its legs hold it up without effort, so it is ready to run the moment it wakes, although it still lies down for short spells of deep sleep. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/3/) — Horses also have small stomachs and graze for most of the day, and they talk to each other mostly with their ears, eyes and bodies rather than with sounds. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/4/) — Horses can doze standing up because locking joints in their legs hold them without effort, but they must lie down for short periods to get deep sleep. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/5/) — A horse's stomach is small, so it eats grass and hay for many hours a day, about two kilograms of food for every hundred kilograms it weighs. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/6/) — Sugar lumps are bad for horses: too much sugar harms teeth and can bring on a painful foot illness, and a slice of apple or carrot held on a flat hand, so fingers do not get nipped by mistake, is a better treat. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/7/) — A horse's eyes on the sides of its head let it see almost all round, but it has blind spots right in front of its nose and right behind it, so a horse surprised from behind may kick out in fright. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/8/) — Ears pricked forward mean a horse is interested; ears pinned flat back are a warning that it is angry or annoyed. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/9/) — Ponies are horses below a certain height, often sturdy, hardy and clever, and Shetland ponies from cold Scottish islands grow thick winter coats. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/10/) — Horses are herd animals: running away together kept wild horses safe, and a horse kept alone gets stressed, so it needs a companion. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/11/) — Horses roll to scratch itches and care for their coats, often after a sweaty ride, and a coat of mud helps keep flies off. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/12/) — A foal stands and walks within a few hours of birth, on legs that are very long for its body, because a wild foal must keep up with the herd. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/207-horses-and-ponies-how-they-eat-see-sleep-and-live-in-herds/13/) — When a horse curls up its top lip and shows its teeth, it is not laughing: this is called flehmen, and it pushes a smell up to a special sense organ in the roof of the mouth, as cats and goats also do. - ← previous: [Parrots: talkers, nutcrackers and long lives](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/206-parrots-talkers-nutcrackers-and-long-lives/) - next →: [Hooves, riding and caring for a horse, plus donkeys and mules](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/208-hooves-riding-and-caring-for-a-horse-plus-donkeys-and-mules/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)