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[RC] Heart monitor/rate question - Dawn SimasI've been riding endurance for over 20 years and just got my first heart rate monitor. :) (thank you Steve Elliott!) It is really sort of fascinating to watch it as I ride. It's a Polar monitor, the very basic model. Just shows the rate on a watch and a blinking heart symbol to each beat. Amigo's resting HR is 20-30. (he's a QH) His "jog" trot (6mph) is 45-60 range. Climbing a hill or easy canter will get it over 100. Trotting up Wendell's training hill got it to 180. Dropped to 55 right away at the top. :) My concern and question: Today I looked at the little blinking symbol as he was walking. The heart rate # was 55, but it jumped to 95 suddenly and back down. Amigo wasn't doing anything but stolling along. Then I noticed the blinking symbol would race sometimes. Beat...beat...beat...then suddenly 3 rapid beats, 2 rapid beats, then rythmic again. The horse wasn't batting an eyelash at anything that correlated to it. Is this an irregular heartbeat? Scared me. I got off and took a real pulse the old fashioned way and it was steady and regular, and in sync with the monitor. But when riding, I noticed the racing beats now and then. May have always been this way, but it is so inconsistent that it doesn't always show on the # readout, but I see it in the blinking symbol. Only thing I could think of was pain, but he was a happy camper, walking along, snitching grass, ears up, happy to do any gait I asked for. Did a full tack check, back manipulation, leg stretches when I got back and he seemed comfortable everywhere... Could it be the monitor? Or a "normal" irregular heartbeat that is nothing to worry about? Or should I call the vet... Dawn
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