Distance rider with heart rate question . . .

[Foxglove]

I bought a heart monitor, and I don’t know what to do with it, exactly.

Horse (named W) is a 17 year old ND quarter horse, 15 hh, 1200 pounds, lives outside 24/7 by choice (3 sided shed and a stall that he uses to eat in and leave), no blanket, no shoes (although I’m shoeing him for this ride). Has 20+ lush rolling grass hills to live on, alfalfa hay in the winter, a pound of concentrate twice a day, four buddies and a sheep to hang out with.

He foxhunts Sept-April, 2.5-3 hours first flight once a week.

Plan is that from Sept 17-28 he and I will ride the Shore to Shore Trail Ride, average 20 miles a day for 11 days.

To prepare for this I started with an hour a day of walking, trotting, cantering --about 5 min intervals. He did fine. Then I moved up to 2 hours a day, but kept the cantering to 5 min intervals, extended the trotting time and walking time. He never seems to become “winded” or tired. Just goes along. Not much sweat, either, even though it’s been hot. He does sweat, just no white foam like DD’s event horse when she works him. W is extremely laid back, nothing bothers him or makes him excited. He’s more likely to fall asleep than become excited.

We are now on week four of our preparations.

Resting heart rate is 50-60 as we tack up.
Average heart rate for our two hour workout is 70.
Highest I’ve been able to get him to is 120 after 5 min canter up hills.

He returns to 50-60 within a minute or two of walking from a canter.

What goal should I have?

This is a NON COMPETITIVE Trail ride. I can walk the entire distance if I want to, or trot it or canter it. No time requirements at all.

I want to arrive at the start of the trail ride with my horse in condition to complete 20 miles a day in about 4-5 hours. From timing him in the dressage ring, if he trots the entire time, it will be 4 hours. Add a canter, the time goes down, walk and it goes up. (Duh).

And me? I’m 140 lbs, with all equipment (English Saddle, Fleeceworks pad, bridle, slicker, water, and energy bars, still well under 200 lbs.

Thank you for your advice!!

Foxglove

[gothedistance]

In two words: you’re fine. Right where you are. He has a good recovery, good resting, and good working hr. Max you should try to achieve for training would be 180-220 bpm. For the trail ride your current average is perfect.

Congratulations. You’ve done a great job.

Have fun, enjoy the sand and the trail.

[Foxglove]

Thanks so much! We still have time to improve --looking forward to it!

Foxglove

[Lisa_Preston]

Recovering so quickly to 50 or 60 is great but it would be good to know his true resting HR. It is more likely in the 40s or even the 30s. Check when he has no reason to be a bit elevated (not when you’re tacking up). That weekly ride to the hounds has kept him fit and you’re going to have a ball.

[Foxglove]

Standing in his stall W has a 40 heart rate. I thought (maybe wrong) that me on his back accounted for the elevation to 50 when I’m astride. He’s never dropped below 50 with me riding, and I take off his monitor when I unsaddle. I could check him after I’m off a bit and see where he is. Since I posted, he’s been on a 12 mile trail ride (varied terrain) and did those 12 miles in little more than 2 hours. His heart rate was never higher than 70 the entire ride. He’s going to have a week off as I have another horse at a week long show, then he’s back to work. --oh, except daughter decided to get married 9/12 and my ride is 9/15 --I might miss a couple of days in there --but he’s good to go --looks fit as he ever has, especially in his neck (why his neck?) --he’s gone from cresty to fit!

thank you!

Foxglove

[Lisa_Preston]

Awesome. He sounded too well-conditioned to have a RHR of 50! And now that you know his RHR, you might start routinely palpating a six second count. Maybe one day you get almost 5 beats instead of 4 and you say, oh, we’ve got something going on. A strain from the last ride or a low grade virus. So you don’t ride. That becomes a grooming/bonding day and so does the next day. Those days off keep whatever illness or injury from getting uglier. Awesome, awesome for you and W.

The week off and the missed days are a positive in conditioning, not a negative. It’ll be great to hear afterwards how you did on Shore to Shore.

[SharonA]

As a total non sequitor, I was just wondering about the thinking for shoeing him for this ride. If he goes barefoot now, on your foxhunts and trail rides, I just wonder about the risks of a new shoe job. Might boots be an option? It’s totally up to you, of course; whatever you think will be easiest for both of you and most comfortable for him, is what you should do. I just worry about the one bad nail, losing shoes, etc.

I am close to completely ignorant on this topic, so don’t stress about this question.

[Foxglove]

Sorry I missed your response until now --been at the County Fair with Grand Daughter and her horse Max. Shoes are a necessity, I’m told. I do have boots. But one of the odd things about WD-4D is his aversion to anything boot-related. For whatever reason, he won’t wear them --as in: I put shipping boots on him to take him to the first hunt (ever) --we frantically ripped at them with his teeth, then actually laid down (almost --legs out straight in front of him, chest on ground) ripping at them with his teeth despite all my shouting and pulling on the lead rope. We took the boots off. Next time was bell boots --lasted about a minute before he ripped those off. If I had to guess, he was poorly hobble trained at some point or figured out how to get hobbles off with his teeth. OR (being hes from ND) he got caught in something and got out by ripping it with his teeth. It was nothing that left a scar, however, so not caught in a fence. I do know he was “ranch bred” and may have been turned out for long periods of time as a youngster. I can trace ownership back to the breeder. Maybe W is just “sensitive.” He’s had shoes on once that I know of --the woman I bought him from had him shod with borium for winter riding. PERSONALLY I think the horses are safer barefoot on snow/ice --if it is THAT slick, I don’t ride out. I’ve seen too many borium shod horses fall. W has never fallen on ice --he’s incredibly careful --again that ND upbringing --probably saw a lot of ice. And the fact that he’s never needed shoes is why I never shod him. But shoer and vet recommend, so do the people who’ve done it before. I’ll pack boots and duct tape, but there’s a shoer at every camp ground each night (on call). There’s a lot of sandy trails, I’m told that will wear his feet off. At this point, I feel that I have to go with what I’m being told by people who have done it.

Thank you so much, though for your ideas!

Foxglove