Re: Fun with Fitness!!

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/24/98 2:47:39 PM Pacific Standard Time,
linda_cowles@mentorg.com writes:

<<  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... >>

Interesting. Especially the 200 lbs part--what you may be making up for in
biomechanical efficiency you're reloading in carry weight. 

If your vet has an ultrasound machine you could measure the left ventricle
diameter of both horses, and the contractile fraction, and report back to
us--in the interest of science, of course.

ti