Working heart rates and recoveries

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Cathy Pritchett Danugna@transport.com
I have been following the heart rate discussions with great interest because of a situation I have with one of my horses.  If you don't mind, I'll throw it out for you to consider and hopefully give me some help as to whether I have a problem or not.

I have a mare and a gelding, half siblings, born 12 days apart.  They were 5 years old for the 1999 season.  I started the gelding as a 4 year old and completed a couple of 25's with him that year.  I started the mare as a 5 year old.

I condition with a heart rate monitor.  During conditioning rides, I noticed that the mare consistently runs 30 beats higher than the gelding while at work.  Her resting heart rate is actually lower than his, 28 vs 30.  During warm up, her heart rate remains lower than his.  But the second I start to really work, she is consistently 30 beats higher than him.  It is nearly impossible to get him over 200 when he is in condition.  She on the other hand goes over 200 easily.  Both horses will recover to 70 during a conditioning ride in 2 minutes or less.

They are both on the same conditioning scheadule of about 200 miles in a two week period, flat work and some good hills.  Both have lots of energy before, during and after.

I was so worried about her that I decided to do two 30's instead of 50's for her first rides.  She competed well, recovered well and actually got better vet scores than he did during his 50's.  I rode to finish in the back 1/3 of the pack and did so.  Her heart rate went up to 210 a couple of times, but she recovered well.

She will go into a trot and "zone" at a ride.  He is Mr. Curious, looking around, canter, trot, having fun and very competitive. From attitude, you would think his heart rate would be the higher one.

I discussed this with two ride vets.  Both felt there was some cause for concern about the mare but told me that since she recovered well, to just go for it and ride her, but watch her.  The one vet theorized that her heart was smaller and less efficient, but if that were so, why is her resting heart rate lower than his?

Oh, their blood chemistry was almost identical.  He is an Alpha horse, she separates herself from the herd by about 30 feet.  So, should I worry about her?  What do I watch for? The one vet joked that if I didn't have a heart rate monitor, I wouldn't even know there was a problem, so just ride.  Well, I do have a hrm and do know that there might be a problem and I am worried about her.  The thing is, I think she is going to make a heck of a nice endurance horse.

Cathy Pritchett (Danguna@transport.com)
Central Oregon


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