Re: Heart Rate

["Kathy Myers" <kathy@nvolve.com>]

>> raised a very good point. If trotting is easier on the cardiovascular
>> system then why  does the heart rate go up when I pull the horse from a
>> canter(120bpm) to  a trot (140bpm) and vice a versus when trotting if
>> we go to a canter the heart rate drops.
>
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>
>Every gait has a point, or speed, which delivers the most work for the
>least amount of oxygen (which would determine cardiac output).

This is all well and good, but if the horse has been
conditioned to trot it might recover faster from trotting
at the higher heartrate.  If you are going to do a lot of
collected cantering... to take advantage of the lower
heartrate... then you need to condition the muscles that
way to get the fast recovery.

This might be the anomaly the original poster saw.

:) - Kat Myers
in San Mateo, CA with Magnum the TB ex-racer
... whose best gait is a flat out run
and Mr Maajistic... resident endurance Arab