Re: Fun with Fitness!!

[Linda Cowles <linda_cowles@mentorg.com>]

K S Swigart wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Dec 1998, Teddy Lancaster wrote:
> > YOU KNOW YOUR HORSE IS FIT WHEN:
> >
> > 1. His pulse is 60 in 2 minutes at a vet check and goes down to
> > 40 in 10 minutes......
> >
> 
> I take serious exception to this.  I have a horse whose RESTING heart rate
> is about 52.  Getting her to recover down to 60 is "challenging" and it
> ain't 'cuz she ain't fit...it's 'cuz she's little (13.3 hh ~ 550 lbs at
> the START of a ride)...and easily excitable.

I don't know if size has much to do with higher heart rates when it
comes to smaller horses... my little Kadance (aka Death Wish aka Buzz
Saw) is tiny (may not even be 13.3), is extremely excitable, and has a
resting pulse that hovers around 40, and I have to ride him VERY hard to
get his pulse over 150... even when he's carrying over 200 pounds! 

Gavilan has finished 4 50's and 2 NATRC rides very well this year, is
conditioned consistently but not hard (it's his first year), and yet
marginally conditioned Kadance runs the socks off of him in every way...
heart rate included. Kadance's HR is usually 8 to 10 bpm's under any
other conditioned horse we're with even is he hasn't been conditioned...
I would love to know why...

He drops to sub-60 fast too... if Becky Harts January Shine and Shine
comes off as planned, it will be Kadance's first 50... we'll see how he
does at rides. May be different.

Happy Holidays!!

Linda