Heart rate increasing?

[starsandsun]

Here’s one for the hive mind.

Horse currently on treatment for ulcers (a month in). Just got a halter monitor to keep an eye on him, because he’s had two serious colics in the past month. (Ulcers were discovered (again) at vet hospital while on medical management for colic).

Each morning he has his breakfast (no grain, supplements and grow-n-win only), and goes outside for hay that’s fed on the ground.

His heart rate goes up from the low 40s into the 70s (77 right now), with no increase in respiration and virtually no activity.

It stays up there for about an hour (with some small variations), and then goes into the 30s where it tends to remain although there tends to be a bump in the mid-afternoon also.

I promise you … there is no stimulation out there. He is quietly eating.

My vets aren’t really concerned, but since everything has gone wrong so far, I’m more than curious about why this would happen. FWIW, when he was in vet hospital for 4 days, his heart rate was checked every 6 hours and was always under 50.

Any thoughts about why this happens?

ETA - heart rate measurements go up when his head is down and he’s eating … go down when his head is up. How strange … so far, just correlated but I’m curious why this might happen. Of course, could be something else entirely.

[NancyM]

Classically… pain. Try giving hay first, not grain, if this is possible in your situation. In fact, have hay available 24/7, if you can.

[Bluey]

@starsandsun

Here’s one for the hive mind.

Horse currently on treatment for ulcers (a month in). Just got a halter monitor to keep an eye on him, because he’s had two serious colics in the past month. (Ulcers were discovered (again) at vet hospital while on medical management for colic).

Each morning he has his breakfast (no grain, supplements and grow-n-win only), and goes outside for hay that’s fed on the ground.

His heart rate goes up from the low 40s into the 70s (77 right now), with no increase in respiration and virtually no activity.

It stays up there for about an hour (with some small variations), and then goes into the 30s where it tends to remain although there tends to be a bump in the mid-afternoon also.

I promise you … there is no stimulation out there. He is quietly eating.

My vets aren’t really concerned, but since everything has gone wrong so far, I’m more than curious about why this would happen. FWIW, when he was in vet hospital for 4 days, his heart rate was checked every 6 hours and was always under 50.

Any thoughts about why this happens?

One possibility, eating and starting to digest and move food along may raise heart rate.
It may increase demands on heart function, directing more blood to those organs, especially if there is pain involved in these activities, as mentioned above?

I still would keep looking for other reasons, just in case.

[wildlifer]

Have you manually checked the rate at these times to be sure it’s not a monitor bug?

[starsandsun]

I have. The heart rate rises predictably every morning.

[starsandsun]

That’s what I think. I have tried giving hay first over the past two days - once it did nothing, once the heart rate did not rise as high. Of course he’s a fattie so on limited pounds of hay, but I will experiment tonight by leaving lots in hay bags and see if that has an impact. I have a sense his stomach is secreting acids, or being over-responsive when food arrives in ways that are painful.

[theresak]

@wildlifer

Have you manually checked the rate at these times to be sure it’s not a monitor bug?

I’d consider this, especially depending on how and where the halter monitor is measuring HR. If the horse has been hanging out in his stall with his head level with his withers, then gets excited about grain and then turnout, and then goes outside and stands head down for a few hours eating, would that positional change affect the HR measurement if it’s measuring on the head?