RE: [RC] Question on odd heart rate on two TWH - RHONDA LEVINSON
Although Keith has a lot more experience than I do, I would just say from my two horse experience, I think it depends on the horse.
My first Walking horse had a much lower heart rate at the pace than any other gait. He has a gorgeous canter, but his heart rate would go pretty high in it. He could do a running walk, but his heart rate would go even higher than for the canter. He only racked with me once and I was having so much fun, I didn't look at the monitor until it was too late. I have never seen him trot in the 12 years I've owned him, so I have no idea what his heart rate would be like in a trot. :-)
My Walking horse mare, on the other hand, doesn't pace at all (even at liberty), and had a very high heart rate in her running walk and foxtrot (she does both). She go up to 160 bpm and sometimes higher. However, if I would let her go to the canter, her heart rate would immediately drop to the 120-130 range. If I let her trot, she'd be 80-130 depending on the terrain. She also had a weird mid-range gait where she canters with her hind legs and trots in front, and her heart rate would be lower than the canter in that gait. I was told by a "gaited expert" that this gait was hard on her back, so I didn't let her do it much.
Basically, what I did with both of these horses is to tell them what speed I wanted and then let them chose what gait they used to accomplish that. Probably poor training, but . . .
Rhonda
> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 07:25:51 -0500 > From: kwkibler@xxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: [RC] Question on odd heart rate on two TWH > To: aggiekris@xxxxxxxxxxxx; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > We raise, trail ride and endurance mfts and twhs. I would say the hrt rate > of your twh means you should not be training nor riding him in a trot. We > could go into a long debate about about horse breed history and genes which > would not supply an answer but the truth is that the only group that I hear > every talk about about trotting a twh are lateraly trained riders who want > to ride a trot. They may see their horse trot at liberty and then have the > trot as one of their saddle gaits. > I am not a show person. I have no interest in that world, except to go to > a few a year as I do eventing competitions. Their is a reason the trot is > not a twh show gait. I would say that reason is that the horse was not > genetically predisposed to the gait. I think this is being proven by your > hrt rt issue. > Like every who rides a twh or mft with twh bloodlines, I spend a lot of > time working on gait to make sure I don't ride a pace while setting gait on > a younger horse. We train these horse for use and sale and currently have > 11. I have yet to have one trot under saddle. > I would say your differences between your horses proves the conlcusion, > these critters were not designed to trot under saddle. Does he have a > running walk or a rack, a saddle rack or an amble? If you want to email me > off board, kwkibler@xxxxxxxxxxx, or on ridecamp is fine too. Good post, > thank you. > > Keith Kibler > Shawnee Sunrise Farm > Gaited Endurance > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anderson, Kristie Lynn" <aggiekris@xxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 9:57 PM > Subject: [RC] Question on odd heart rate on two TWH > > > > Ok, so a friend rode one of my TWH boys to try his first 50 this past Feb > > and noticed something very odd with his HR. I've never ridden this horse > > in a monitor before. This horse (8y/o gelding) is able to perform a > > running walk, trot, pace, canter, and what I call his "lateral canter" > > under saddle. I prefer to condition him at a trot with some normal > > cantering. I don't permit him to perform the lateral gaits, as often > > they're associated with him misbehaving. At liberty, this horse trots > > nearly 90% of the time, and only tends to pace when he gets nervous. He's > > in reasonably good shape. > > > > His rider noticed that on the HR monitor, he had a HR of about 170-180 at > > a trot. He was about the same when asked for a normal canter. The rider > > was very concerned, and got the horse to start pacing, and the HR dropped > > to 120-130 range, and was similar at his lateral canter and running walk. > > He only performs the running walk at the start of the ride when he's > > excited. All the values were pretty consistent. Because of this, even > > though I wasn't keen on the idea (but a HR that high and that consistent > > is rather alarming), he pushed the horse to stay in a pace for the > > duration of the ride. He was pulled at 40 miles for a 16/18 CRI. Took a > > long time for the pulse to drop to criteria. No lameness, no obvious > > problems, just the inverted CRI. > > > > Three weeks later, I took him to another 50, which he completed. Did not > > have a monitor on him. His CRI at the first check was 13/12, at the second > > was 13/13. He looked great, no problems, and was drinking well (this horse > > is a poor eater, but was eating better than he normally does). We gaited > > the first 3ish miles, and trotted the rest of the time. Minimal pacing > > except for some tight single track. Very technical trail, more difficult > > than he's ever seen before, and a very tough first 50. Had lots of time on > > the last loop and could tell he was getting tired, so did about 30% > > trotting and the rest walking, having a nice chat with another rider > > through the loop. Had a CRI of 17/17 at the end but was given a completion > > as he looked fine. I'm not overly concerned about that since it was a > > tough trail and his first 50, and it wasn't inverted. > > > > I've ridden him at home some with a different monitor and i'm finding > > similar readings as before. Doesn't matter which diagonal i'm on, and if i > > put him in a small circle, it doesn't matter what direction I go. I can't > > for the life of me convince him to pace at home, so I'll have to wait and > > see on that end of things. At the trot, he starts out at 120-130, then > > after several minutes begins a steady climb to 170-180 and hangs there. If > > i ask him to walk or to stop, he plummets right back down to 60 fairly > > quickly. > > > > Any thoughts on this?? > > > > My second one is the opposite end of the spectrum. He had never been > > ridden in a monitor until this weekend, and now that i've got one, i > > decided i'd see where he was at. This one is also a TWH, a little younger > > at 6y/o, and in better shape, as he was mentally more prepared for rides a > > lot sooner. He did 300+ LD miles last season (i think), and this season > > has done two 50s and one 75, and I'm planing on trying a 100 on him at the > > end of the month. Unlike the other horse, he performs a flat walk, running > > walk, and rack as well as a canter. Didn't do any cantering on him, as > > it's pretty fast, and we were riding slow with a friend, but I discovered > > that his HR rarely (at least that day) goes above 100. At his normal speed > > he does rides, a 7ish mph running walk, he was sometimes as low as 72 bpm. > > Do any of you other gaited horse riders see this with your horses, or is > > mine just a freak? No wonder he pulses down faster than my Arab! > > > > Kris > > > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > > > > 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!! > > > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > > > > > > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > > 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!! > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >
