Ridecamp: [RC] More HRM stuff

FROM   Roger Rittenhouse     roger@xxxxxxxxxxx
Seems like a good subject for a HOT MONDAY MEMORIAL day
afternoon...not riding - went out on Sat for an hour a bit sore Sunday
no ride , feel worse today. doing drugs..

HRM numbers  - a good base book on the subject is from Dr Nancy Loving
 GO THE DISTANCE..

However I sure can share some data..
I found with my older mare   during her prime - (Arab -STBD-Morgan)
At a hard STBD flying trot est about 15 mph  her HR was about 165 to
170. At a canter - same ground speed she would drop to about 140-145.
She would recover like  a rock just stop and drop, would hit 48 in 5
minutes after miles of flying trots at 160. So working levels do not
have all that much to do with the recovery. That is based on fitness,
how deep is  the base and the miles of high HR workouts.

Read the stuff written by Lew Holender --sp ? from PNW and other
sports physiologists. There a natural working balance of all systems
at all gaits, some faster then others - when you hit that spot the hr
drops 5 to 10 beats. I learned where that was on all my horses - I
shift gaits when I need to adjust speed to keep the horse within that
zone - at each gait.

After many 1000 miles of HRM use during conditioning and rides/races
.. I can sort of read the working HR of my more seasoned horses  - the
ones with 1000s of miles.
I still have problems with the new one and he has almost a 1000.
He was just coming into his prime last year, now we get a year off.

I  will contend almost no rider but the very intuitive ones and   the
ones     who have ridden with a HRM for years can even come close to guessing the
hr at give levels of effort.
During conditioning rides I try to feel that working HR to get into  to them -
compare what I see and feel to the HR and all the other parameters we
can measure, I can hit the HR within 5 bpm.

I have found as SG indicated the slope and cut over between aerobic and
anaerobic is quite variable.
None are the same, all we have is ranges to go on.
But I tried and found the human formula of 80% of max HR is not too far
off the mark.

Run them out  - up a hill- at a full power on gallop.. fit horse no
baby and well warmed up, just use one of those farlicks (sp) sprints  -
only need about a 1/4 mile blast .. just note the highest HR you can
get  and take 80% of that.
I have used that figure for many miles on Omni and my others. At a
ride-I keep them under that HR as much as I can, even at the beginning. I
want to help control early lactic buildup from the excitement artifact.

How many horses do tie up early on .. its from getting intense and
high hr in the anaerobic ranges. A bad place to be - expect at the end
with a really fit 'racer'

An easy example is  to use - as the max HR - where they flat out lets
say 200   then the max working hr during a ride should be 160.

To work at teaching the horse to tolerate higher levels of lactic acid
and going into oxygen debit - just slide up the speed to get a  HR over 160.
DO it in small steps and short distances. Increase ONE OR THE OTHER
over time - a period of weeks.
Pick a nice LONG steady hill to work this program.
I have a great 3 to 4  mile climb on a very 'soft' shouldered dirt
road. Depends on where I start the run. The first mile is sort of flat
and up-down.
 We have gone 6 miles
from our farm up and down hills to this point. We start trotting at about 145
and push up as the hill gets steeper. We do trot sets  using HR at  x
minutes  not miles. I hold a HR of 150 for about 2-  3 minutes then back to a
walk- recover to 120 then pick up and go again - I get about 4 sets
depending on HR I am targeting.

An 8 min mile is 7mph  - I use this as a  SET - standard evaluation
test. - I know this pace - have pedometers set to that rep rate, and
it is what we did in ECTRA CTR for about 20 years. I also run a good
solid 8 minute mile. SO I REALLY know that pace. I want to know his HR
at this pace under an assortment of trail conditions.

(At least I USE to run that fast)

At the canter and gallop we do the same thing  - with less sets and of
course pick a higher HR. I try to canter at threshold of 160-165.
We gallop at 175 plus. All recoveries are to 120. I better drop to 120
in less then 2 minutes, actually I like to see the drop to 120 in a
minute or less, then walk out for the 2 minute break, and go again.

Omni got to where he trotted this hill at the SET 8MM at about 125 to 130.
All the way up - its an increasing elevation angle - steeper at the top
so the last 1/2m is a bear.

He cantered the whole hill at about 160 and dropped to less then 100
in a minute
He was just starting to gallop at 170 plus  with spikes over 200 (he
maxs out at 210). His recovery at the top to under 100 was less then a
minute.  We normally give a 2 minute rest walk around on top after a
hard gallop set.
My target on this hill was to gallop up the whole thing with HR at 180
to 200 and AND get a recover to less then 120 in one minute.
Then I think he is fit.
We had problems getting him to go faster as
time went on, his ground speed was flying, but he was getting so fit I
could no longer keep the HR over 180 for the entire hill.
Then we just maintain and go to rides.

(this is a mega hill 2nd gear in the pickup most of the way up)

Now for those who dont have a nice safe wide dirt untraveled road -
you have to do what you can. Flat land speed will sure wreck them fast -
so after the base fitness is done - you just have to travel?? hehehe
and find those hills.  I know a great number of horses who only do
flat land work do just fine, but you really will have a problem
getting the HR up to condition the horse to work at the anaerobic
threshold and above. I think that is very important if you want to go
faster.
A horse that may not have the depth of higher HR conditioning will not
have the staying power for long hauls and will have problems at rides
where they are ridden or raced at levels of performance where they
were not conditioned.  ie higher working hr then conditioned to run..

We all try to develop an assortment of conditioning protocols and
programs that will  keep the horse sound, and let him get stronger.
Mike Sofen program looks just fine to me.

When we were running last year, we went out for works that were all
trot and running.  We walked only when we had to.
During a ride I alternate trot, ext trot and canter as the trail
conditions permit and how he is doing. I try NOT to trot more then 30
continuous minutes. I will either pickup the canter or drop to a walk
for a few minutes.

Ok that enough  . we all set our own target for what we want to ask
our horses to obtain, and develop a conditioning program to obtain
that,
as long as the target is within his ability.

Roger R










Roger Rittenhouse



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