Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Title: Re: [RC]   Low Tech vs High Tech//Kathleen's "Bounding" Heart/Listen 2 minutes!

Kathleen – Incredible story! I am having palpitations just reading it.

I found myself wondering what would have happened w/o the HRM—and I think it’s possible to have gotten the same info in a low tech way.  I believe that one needs to listen to the horse (or human’s) heart beat for at least one full minute, better two, even if they’ve pulsed down. I’m betting that this would have also picked up the irregularity. To me, the quality of the heartbeat is just as important as the rate. I think anyone can detect murmurs, premature contractions, and other abnormalities if s/he listens to the horse’s baseline heart often enough and listens that extra bit of time after strenuous exercise.

So many times I see people at rides—esp us P&R people, due to time constraints—just listening for the requisite 15 seconds. (I’ve seen riders quibbling even w/ vets over rates, too—arguing about whether you count the beat at the 1 and 15 sec mark, etc) The 15-second measurement is error-prone and not a long enuf interval to pick up “bounding” HRs and other arrhythmias. It’s certainly true for humans—can’t think why it wouldn’t be so for horses.

Stories on RC abound of faulty HRMs. If I got something weird on the monitor at holds, I would tear if off and listen for a full 2 minutes w/ a high quality stethoscope and a sweep second watch. 


Beverley



On 3/23/06 9:03 PM, "Kathleen" <kathleenmarie@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> While I agree you need to know your horse and be able to judge their condition and pace without a HRM, I do not agree that low tech is necessarily superior. 
>
> Several years ago riding with a HRM probably saved my horse’s life.  
>
> I was entered in the 75 at a ride on Lolo Pass in Montana.  My horse was experienced, as was I.  He felt great all day, nothing unusual, really doing his normal ride.  At the 50 mile point, 1 mile from a vet check there was a river to wade across.  As it was hot, we all waded in and let the horses stand and drink and we sponged them to get them ready for the vet check.  At that point, I noticed Amigo’s heart rate didn’t drop as fast as it normally would have and it appeared to be “bounding”….going up and down irregularly.  After watching this pattern for a few minutes, I waded him out of the river and checked my equipment…no loose wires/dry electrodes.  I walked into the vet check and told the vet what I had observed.  He vetted through, passed his CRI and I was told we were good to go out on the last 25 miles.  I untacked him for the hour hold and used an ace bandage to keep the HRM hooked up to him so I could observe his pulse.  I started double checking the HRM with my stethoscope.  His pulse continued to “bound” up 40 beats up and down.  His heart rate never dropped to his normal recovery rate and held there… he, in the meantime, is acting totally normal…eating/drinking/peeing/pooping…cheerful…  I decided to pull…it didn’t make sense to me to continue with this weird pulse…I was getting really worried.  Everyone thought I was nuts…he looked great and the vet said he could go.  Two days later, at home, he started coughing…he became a very, very sick horse (he was one of several horses that got sick that year having been exposed to a coughing horse at a ride two weeks earlier).  That was his last ride that year…it took 3 months before he was well enough for me to go on walking trail rides with him.  He did recover and went on to have a good career (was actually 11th  in the North Americans with Ruth Carlson riding him for Canada West).  
>
> I guess my point is, I would NEVER have seen that weird pulse going on had I not had a monitor on him.  Nothing caught it, not his trot out for his CRI, nothing… I always wondered what the extra stress of another 25 miles on a very hot day would have done to him.  I am grateful I didn’t have to find out.  
>
> A HRM is a valuable tool, one of many that can be combined with low tech methods to protect your horse’s welfare.  
>
> Can you ride without one?  Sure
>
> Can you be successful without one?  Sure
>
> Can you take good care of your horse without one?  Sure
>
> Might it provide information that helps you take better care of your horse… in my experience … SURE
>
> There is nothing wrong with high tech as long as you use it as one tool in your bag of tricks.
>
> Kathleen 
>
> AERC #717