Re: Anaerobic HR Readings

["Becky Huffman" <TOS@htcomp.net>]

> Cecily Westervelt saddlesoar@yahoo.com
> I gave him 4 days off then started riding again. The HR's have  > gotten
worse.  As soon as we pick up a trot he hits 170+ but  > drops to 60s when
we walk.  I put my monitor on another
> horse/rider combo one week ago.  On that mare the readings > make sense.

The first thing I would check would be the connection at the girth.  It
sounds like, as he has fitted up, his body has changed enough that you are
only picking up every other beat at the trot, just a guess, but that is the
same type of reading you would get if one of the electrodes were misplaced
or detached.  I have seen horses lose weight on a conditioning schedule, and
if they do that as they gain muscle mass and strength, you get a real flat
spot behind the armpit. It doesn't take much of a loss to get that contact
to miss enough beats to throw your reading off., similar to what you are
seeing.

Barring that, I wouldn't totally disregard the monitor since it seems to
work fine at the walk, sometimes at the trot, and on the other horse.  Our
tools are only as good as 'the nut behind the wheel', you have to use it
intelligently and with thought... I don't consider it a good use of my tools
to just decide that are not working correctly if they give a reading that I
don't like, or agree with.

Becky Huffman
Huffman's Arabians ~ The Original Series ~
http://www.htcomp.net/Huffman/