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Re: [RC] Excitement affecting horse's heart rate - rides2farI was reading about Vet checks and I've been told what people refer to as "tricks" to getting their horses pulse down. For example sponging them, What's a "trick" about that? The horse's core temperature rises when he is exercising. When he stops his heart pumps blood to the surface to cool it off, then that blood goes back in and cools the core. If it's a hot day the air on the surface doesn't cool much, but by sponging water on the surface you cool that blood which returns to the inside. No more of a trick than you fanning yourself on a hot day. not letting them stick their head up in their air, make sure they> don't see their buddy walking off, etc. Doesn't your horses heart rate> come down because he's in shape? I imagine that if a marathon runner looks up in their rear view mirror and sees blue lights their pulse probably goes up...doesn't mean they're not in shape. A basketball player may have a racing pulse just before the tip off, doesn't mean he's overexerting standing there, but that pulse is the only way we judge whether they're recovered and there's no way for the vet to know the difference in a horse whose pulse is 72 because he's still recovering from the trail or the one whose pulse just jumped from 52 to 72 because his best buddy just walked away and abandoned him. Are these things necessary? Maybe not if you're in no hurry. You can just stand there till your horse calms down or cools off on his own. If you like to lose time, more power to ya. I know that> whether your horse is comfortable will effect his heart rate, hence why> you might sponge him off or dump water on him. My question is whether> (assuming your horse is in shape and can handle the pace you've set) outside sources (that might excite your horse) are going to effect you> horse enough that he won't pulse down to the required rate despite the> horses ability to handle the ride It shouldn't so much affect *whether* he pulses down as *when*. If your competition gets out 2 minutes ahead of you they're gone. If you can pulse down really fast in a vet check, that's speed you *didn't* need on the trail so you can go slower. :-) One thing you're forgetting about sponging. I sometimes keep sponging after my horse is down because I like to remove all the crud, up between his hind legs, all around the girth area, anything that might irritate his skin as the ride progresses. The best time to remove it is before it hardens and while he's kinda hot. I don't like to bother him once I'm back from the vet so unless I'm racing and if it's pretty warm I do the full clean up (though fast). My horse Kaboot always pulsed down slowest at the first check because he was feeling racey and wanting to go. His pulses improved the farther he went, because he chilled out. The physical exertion was fairly constant, the temperature of the day probably went up, but his excitement level went down thus faster recoveries. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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