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Re: [RC] HRM - Don HustonHello Kat,Very good point about being sensitive to more than just the HR and I do remind myself often that the HRM is not to be used like a tachometer on a sports car. It also helps that I ride for dinner and (patting my fat little paunch) since 1992 I am undefeated for dinner. And dinner is never served before 4:30pm so what's the hurry? I think being sensitive to dinner time has kept me out of trouble more than anything. :-) BUT I did learn something important about my horse's heart rate from using a HRM that records the entire activity. Once in a while I push him hard for a short time like fartleks but I do not use speed. I have many very steep hills that rise 100ft in 200ft some places. That is a 50% grade. I make him walk fast straight up then back down on the slant, across the bottom and then up again. That works all 4 legs independently and has improved my horse's endurance and strength a lot without any concussion from speed. I was checking the HR at the top of the hill (about 180) and at the bottom (about 100) before starting back up to see how much he was recovering. What I did not know, that showed up on the software graph, was that his HR was continuing to rise (about 200) for 10-15sec before slowing as we were walking back down the hill. We have done many of those mini fartleks and now his HR does not continue to increase after we turn to walk down which I think indicates that his condition has improved. Also, some time ago we had a good discussion about changing diagonals and the rough diagonal possibly indicating the weaker side or pain whatever. I have continued to work on diagonals and have noticed that they are evening out especially after strengthening his legs on those hills. Don Huston At 12:10 PM 2/10/2010 Wednesday, you wrote: Elizabeth Walker said: > I had done the same route the week before, and there > had been no problems. Given the way he was acting, > and the heat, I slowed down. I almost turned around > to go back, but ended up deciding that he was not in > trouble, just complaining about trotting uphill on such > a hot day. We mostly walked up the hill. At the top, > he was fine and perfectly willing to move out - he just > didn't want to do it up the hill in the heat. Still wish I had > had an HRM, though. It would have given me a bit more info. Like what more info? Other than an actual number for the heart rate? I am not being facetious here, I am genuinely curious what additional information you think an HRM would have given in this situation? You already knew it was hot, you already knew that the horse was struggling with the climb...in the heat, you decided that though he was not in trouble that he would benefit from slowing down so slowed him down and he was fine. Would the reason for having a HRM would be to tell you that though he was telling you that he was struggling with the climb at the trot in the heat, if the HR were "normal" that he was just goldbricking and you could have kept trotting? I don't recommend this, and here I am speaking generally, not about this situation in particular. EVEN if your horse's HRM tells you that his HR is "normal" for him, pushing him when he is showing other signs of having trouble is fraught with danger. Personally, I have never had a HRM tell me something that I didn't already know. In fact, if the HRM gives me a number that is not what I would be expecting, I have found that it is caused by the unit not functioning properly (for all kinds of different reasons). I have, however, had one lull me into a false sense of security (i.e. "normal" heart rates, even with trouble brewing, and making the mistake of ignoring the trouble because it didn't show up in the HR--I constantly remind myself not to let myself be fooled in that way). kat Orange County, Calif. :) p.s. I find HRMs nice at endurance rides at the vet check to tell me when the horse is close to "down" so I don't have to constantly check with a stethoscope instead. They are handy for that. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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