I bought myself the Polar Equine Inzone heart rate monitor from Smartpak and now I need help figuring out how to use it! Do I need to get electrode gel? Where do you get that? How exactly do I position the electrodes? Any help or tips appreciated. 
Send it to me for a month and I will report back on how it works. 
Didn’t Deltawave do something with the heart rate monitors? I know she hasn’t posted much right but maybe send her a PM.
It would be interesting to hear how you like it.
P.
I have ridden pretty extensively with a monitor, but have never used the equine specific one. I never used any of the gel with mine, as I found that as soon as the horse began to get sweaty, that was plenty of contact.
I used to take a human unit, remove the strap, so it was just the unit itself and vet wrap it to the girth. I had to use the watch unit buckled to the saddle, as if it was on my wrist, it was too far away from the unit to be able to connect.
But, I found it very helpful. You will soon know what is normal for your horse and can tell when there might be an issue, as the heart rate will be abnormally high – you can also gauge fitness, as the rate will drop.
I haven’t ridden with one in a long time, as I’m not doing any endurance riding currently, but I liked having the data when I did use one.
And yes, Deltawave probably knows the most of anyone here about them!
Will be interested to hear your report on how you like it!
from memory you position one electrode under the pommel of the saddle and the other under the girth but there should be a diagram/instructions. I used the gel sometimes (well not the horse gel but human equivalent - called KY jelly here!) but if the horse is sweating you dont need it. Alternatively wet the coat thoroughly with a sponge or something. You just need to create a good damp contact. Its sometimes harder to get a reading if the horse has a thick coat.
One electrode goes under the saddle on the left side of the withers. Put a little gel under it so it will begin to work right away–otherwise it needs sweat in order to work. The other one goes under the girth about halfway down. I would position it so the lump in the middle where the lead is attached is in the groove created by the stitching of the girth. Secure it with electrical tape. Put a little gel on it. You can also just use water. Run the lead up the girth and secure it again with tape. If your horse has a winter coat you should clip the area but you will probably clip anyway if you are working.
Was there a pouch included with it? I have one and I used something like an Oh sh*t strap to attach it in front of the pommel. Run the other lead from under the saddle at the withers straight to the transmitter pouch. I just bunch the extra wire up inside the pouch. I just wear the watch. I wear it on the right and my stop watch on the left. You have to have the watch fairly close to the transmitter for it to work. So before you get on just hold the watch close to the horse and you should get BPM.
At first just ride with it and get a feel for the BPM your horse works at at all gaits. Then start you regular conditioning work. Your BPM tell you how hard your horse is actually working. I bet you will be surprised! If you are conditioning for an event, the important thing is to make sure when you are working, that your horse works above the anerobic threshold which is usually guesstimated to be 165 and higher in order to improve his ability to work aerobically while on xc. You start with just a minute or so at that level and add another minute or so each time.
You also have to know or at least guess what your horse’s BPM are on cross-country. It might be around 200 so you will strive in your conditioning work to eventually get your horse’s heart rate up around there for the same length of time as cross country and eventually beyond. All this takes several weeks.
Really, though, the most important numbers are the recovery numbers! My advanced level horse had some metabolic problems that were very subtle, if it hadn’t been for the heart rate monitor I would have been in real trouble! Most of the time you want your horses heart rate to drop to 100 within just 2 or 3 or 4 minutes. You will be surprised how fast it drops. You gage your horse’s fitness by how fast he recovers after your normal workouts. It is really a process of learning what is normal for your horse. It is super important that you establish what is normal. One time after a hard work, my horse’s heart rate stayed around 100 for about 10 minutes. Normally it would drop below 100 in 3 or 4 minutes. I was working with my vet who was an endurance rider on conditioning and I called her and told her that. She came and pulled blood and it turned out my horse tied up!! With no real symptoms! I know someone who had the same thing happen but it turned out to be a tendon injury.
I did most of my conditioning work by trotting up a mountain at first then adding canter. I did the trotting up hill twice a week in the beginning and then once I started adding canter, then my second workout of the week would be galloping on the flat.
You should read Hillary Clayton’s book, “Conditioning Sport Horses.”
Good luck. I had fun with it but I am a horse GEEK!!
LookmaNohands, wow and thanks! Very helpful information. That’s scary and crazy about your horse tying up. I know endurance folks are super skilled at “reading” the ratios of TPR’s and recovery rates. I’ve dog-eared the Hillary Clayton book… hence the desire to get the monitor! Thanks again!
I forgot to mention that you should keep a journal of your work-outs and the monitor readings.
Again, have fun. It sounds like you are a geek too!
Awww. They called you a Geek! Is your day made?
I’ve also seen the elevated heart rate indicate problems in an endurance horse as well – one with a suspensory injury. The first indication was the heart rate that wouldn’t drop down in recovery.
I did endurance with a small-ish NZTB who had evented at the 1* level and stays scary fit just in his turnout, even when he isn’t in work. The endurance folk used to crack me up because they would say “he is SO BIG!” (He was 15.1 1/2, in shoes, if you tickled his tummy to make him raise his back 
) and the endurance vets called him a freak, because his resting heart rate was so low, and he dropped like a rock in recovery.
He tore a hind suspensory and had to be retired, for the most part. Which really sucks, as he was so much fun to ride and LOVED doing endurance. He could fly through the woods, always being careful and took great care of me.
It may be time for me to bring the HR monitor back out for the tubby Princess . . .
Instead of using gel, I just wet the hair with a sponge and place the electrodes over the wet hair.
