More importantly, do
they interfere with one's ability to pay attention to the actual horse
instead of the monitor?
They sure can, and can cause undue worry for no reason at all.
Amen to that. Back in the mid '90 when HRM's became the new fashion
statement in endurance riding - I found that I was much better off to
not even turn mine on at a ride for the first loop on the mare. I'd
pass out if I did. After the first loop it was fine to use. However, I
never saw much a reason to use it on a ride (used mostly in training)
since we normally remove the tack at checks in the SE and by the time I
removed the tack she was normally down.
On the Jbird, the blasted things just don't work well. Well they will
work if you find the sweet spot which is no bigger than the bloody
electrode on the girth. If you don't put that electrode almost under
him on the girth - it reads 170 on a slow trot, medium trot, canter and
gallop. His motion imparts a secondary modulation - I think Roger has
addressed this from time to time. It's basically worthless - except at
a walk on the Jbird.
What I find more useful is my heart belt. I can rip off the saddle and
put it on him (or her when I was riding her) and monitor the heart rate
throughout the check. I can glance over and see how they are recovering
during the hold. I could of course do that with a stethoscope but it's
easier with the monitor. That allows me to spot in issue that might be
arising because he is still 60 at 30 minutes in the hold when he should
be steadily falling. The hand held units also work well for that.
The other thing I can tell you from checking many a horse in a pulse
box is - you can miss a lot of things with an HRM. I've seen horses
that had a unrhythmic pulse - that is a nice beat follow by a few fast
beats. The HRM will normally "average" through that - many times giving
a false reading compared to a stethoscope. I quickly learned which
horses to check with stethoscope - there are other indicators.
HRM - Good tool - yes, essential tool - no.
Truman
-- "Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back
"Problems
worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back." -
Paul Erdos
