Re: RC: High resting heart-rate

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

>Barb Peck bpeck@together.net
>Barb Peck
>bpeck@together.net
>
>RE: High resting heart rate
>
>All:
>
>There's a group of us who ride together.
>All of the horses have a resting heart rate of between
>32 & 40 bpm, except one Morgan, who's resting rate is 52.
>
>This horse is a powerhouse, who motors up hill, walks fast
>and recovers fast, but not too often below 50 bpm.
>
>This horse has had points off (CTR) for not recovering
>to 44bpm.  The owner found out the horse was hypothyroid
>and he now gets daily Thyro-L.
>
>
>Could this horse just have a high resting rate (52 seems
>pretty high to me) or could it be elevated due to Thyro-L
>(maybe the horse needs a blood test to see if the dose is too high??)
>
>I think the horses electrolyte balance is OK  (He's supplemented
>if we ride on  really hot humid days, and he gets an excellent
>diet and care.
>
>52 bpm resting rate just seems too high to me...
>Ideas?
>
>Barb

In humans a high resting heart rate can also be a symptom of
*hypothyroidism* (which is why my doctor immediately ordered a blood test
when I showed up with a heartrate over 100:  I'm now on thyroid replacement
medicine and my heartrate is in the low70's).

The other possibility for this horse is that he has some low level of pain
somewhere -- that stress can elevate the heartrate.  Years ago my gelding
developed contracted heels and eventually navicular syndrome.  He's fine
now -- but when I looked back over his NATRC vet cards for that season I
could see that his heartrates at P&R gradually crept up.  If I'd realized
what that was telling me perhaps we could have fixed the situation before
he was showing gross symptoms.

Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky

http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/Challenge/  NATRC Championship Challenge Ride

http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/SageHill/   Sage Hill NATRC CTR Ride



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