Rider heart rate while riding

[TwiSedai]

So after barely doing any riding over the winter (for various reasons), today I finally go to do a short dressage session with my horse (who has been kept in work by other riders at the barn the last few months). It wasn’t too long, maybe 30 or 35 ish minutes, but I’m pretty out of shape (yay for working from home on the couch, though I do try to fast walk at least a mile every day) and noticed my fitbit showed my heart rate hitting the low 160s, with about minute spent at peak levels (173+). Pretty sure that was when we were cantering for a couple minutes working on lightening up the front end (which is hella hard on such a downhill horse, bless her heart).

It’s been making me curious about other riders’ heart rates during training sessions, both fit and unfit. Does anyone have a fitbit or other tracker and pay attention to how it looked during rides? I’ve seen some cool hylofit videos of horse and rider heart rates during competitions (Doug Payne’s is in like the 180s on xc most of the time!) but can’t find much of just regular, day to day training. Most of what I find is about horse heart rate, not rider.

If anyone feels like satisfying my curiosity and sharing, please do! I’m also trying to determine how much I can actually do riding-wise while I get fit again, if I should hold off cantering for a while or something while I get my fitness back up I have no issues bringing my horse back into work slowly, but man I really want to just jump right back in it for me.

[S1969]

There is a good thread about Cross-Fit on the Off Topic board where heart rate has been an interesting discussion so you should check that out. https://forum.chronofhorse.com/t/shouldnt-crossfit-be-enough/755648/161

I think it’s important to remember that your HR can be affected by adrenaline, fear, excitement, etc. So you really need to take the #s with a grain of salt - it’s not the same as running. Galloping (especially xc) might cause your heart rate to be higher due to adrenaline versus exertion.

I am a triathlete who is a big weenie on the bike, and in a race in 2019 my highest heart rate on the bike was a steep descent (not the same place in the course where we rode it uphill! - which you can see is the spot near the beginning where the speed drops very low…my corresponding HR is also low).

So, ultimately, it’s hard to know if the cantering is your effort, or the combined adrenaline because of the speed, excitement, anxiety, and the effort. In which case, it might not be something you should use as a measure of your fitness.

It’s an interesting topic, and you could ask on the other thread because one of the posters (GoodTimes) works in cardiology and had a lot of interesting comments.

[TwiSedai]

That is fascinating! At first thought, it didn’t seem particularly adrenaline-inducing but we did do a big (for her) canter down the long sides a couple times that was quite fun, maybe that contributed. Thanks for the link, I’ll go check it out.

[lorilu]

I have an Apple Watch . My heart rate while training is usually around 120, tops out 140-150 ish… Schooling I-1.

[Renn_aissance]

My Fitbit is useless for HR tracking. I wear a chest HR monitor to work out and wore it to the barn a few times. My heart rate is in the low 80% range at a sustained rising trot, high 80% in a sustained canter, and spikes into the low 90% range while jumping.

[outerbanks77]

I wear a Samsung Active watch and have noticed my HR getting to about 165 doing lower level dressage canter work. My mare does not have an easy canter. From what I could see of my weekly data, it looks like I might have gotten over 170 a couple times this week trying to get my big WB baby to get into and sustain a canter. I have said before that she is like riding a Stairmaster at this point, so I’m not surprised. Outside of riding I do jog a couple times a week. Was getting more fit before covid precluded the gym, but I think the HR while riding was still getting to about the same BPM (now I ride more but do less off-horse workouts).

[GoodTimes]

I’ve attached a link to a quick summary from UC Davis on heart rate. Many people don’t realize that a large part of heart rate is linked to the release of hormones, stimulated by autonomic nervous system.

https://health.ucdavis.edu/sportsmedicine/resources/heart_rate_description.html#:~:text=Heart%20rate%20is%20controlled%20by,to%20accelerate%20the%20heart%20rate.

This is why we always tell people no caffeine for at least 3hrs prior to testing. It “artificially” elevates the heart rate.

I wear my Fitbit 24/7, unless it’s charging. From comparing the heart rates of patients (and myself) on their Fitbits and Apple watches to the 12 lead ECG during stress testing we’ve found that for most people they are very accurate, within a couple bpm.

I’ve attached two pictures.
The first image shows my HR while flatting my 4yo in the indoor on Friday. A relaxed average ride, my perceived effort was very low, average heart rate of 116bpm. Underneath you can see my HR (149 avg) while flatting the same horse today. The difference? Today was her first ride outside since November There was some crow hopping and bucking. My perceived effort was still low, but my adrenaline was up. Other people would have probably lunged their spicy 4yo chestnut mare before getting on…

For reference, the second image shows my HR during a half marathon last year. Average HR of 165, sustained for almost two hours.

[afjordlife]

According to my fitbit, most of my rides put me in the 115-140 range, which is about the same heart rate I achieve going for a brisk hike with some mixed in low hill climbs.

But I’m also basically a corpse and my typical resting heart rate often dips into the 40s. (It’s genetic not athleticism at all. My mom is the same.)

[Renn_aissance]

@GoodTimes

I wear my Fitbit 24/7, unless it’s charging. From comparing the heart rates of patients (and myself) on their Fitbits and Apple watches to the 12 lead ECG during stress testing we’ve found that for most people they are very accurate, within a couple bpm.

This is really interesting! I’ve compared the reading on my Fitbit (Alta HR) to my chest band (MyZone) and the Fitbit is constantly at least 10bpm different. Not consistently higher or lower, either! For more sustained exercise like running where I stay generally within the same zone, it generally manages to report that zone back, but reads that that zone is sustained for longer than it actually is. It’s helpful for trends throughout the day but pretty useless for tracking workout intensity by heart rate.

For what it’s worth, my resting HR is around 45 and my max is around 200.

[TwiSedai]

That’s really interesting! I’ve been wondering how much of my heart rate is affected by hormones (like menstrual cycle) too, my resting heart rate goes up and down at around the same times each month, though sometimes more dramatically (it went from 61 to 78 in about three weeks this past month, back down to 74 now and should drop again in the next week). It’s all kind of fascinating to me, I’ve never really paid much attention to it before.

[theresak]

Besides caffeine, my heart rate also seems to be affected by how recently I’ve eaten prior to exercise.

Riding for me is like a brisk walk. I ride dressage, schooling GP with my older horse and baby basics with my coming 4 year old. I’ve never actually worn a heart rate monitor riding but do a lot when I workout, and the perceived exertion riding versus an actual workout class is significantly different to me. Maybe I’ll try my heart rate monitor while I ride this week (Polar chest monitor).

[Piaffe11]

I wear my fitbit 24/7 and find all the info it gives me ridiculously interesting!

My ride last night, I averaged 145bpm and peaked at 160bpm - working on 2/3 dressage with my beast of a mare.

I’ve seen it peak higher for sure, depending on what we are doing.

[eponacelt]

I use my Apple watch to track my HR during rides. And its a good thing I do, because knowing I had an abnormally high HR a few years ago led to a diagnosis of hyerpthyroidism and Graves disease sooner than it might have. I’m a (slow) runner (or I was until Graves and a knee issue sidelined me) and I know my average max HR would be about 165 during a reasonably hard run. I would also peak at 165 or so while riding, but average riding was 135 or so, which about fit with the perceived effort of riding that horse.

When I started to get lightheaded while riding and just felt awful during runs, my HR was peaking at over 190-200, which is dangerously high. I didn’t yet have other symptoms really, but they started around the time I made an appointment with my general practitioner. Between the HR and other symptoms (heart palpitations, weight loss, shakiness), they were able to order the right blood work and get me diagnosed quickly, before the symptoms got too much worse.

So, yeah, I still check my HR while riding and it seems to jive with perceived effort when compared with running and other cardio exercise for me.

[B-burg_Dressage]

Interesting thread! I use a Garmin watch.

My HR when running is 155-175 depending on effort. My long, slow runs are in the lower range while the shorter, faster runs are in the higher range. However, when it’s really hot and humid it’s often 170+ no matter how fast I’m running.

Looking back at some previous rides my heart rate bounces around a lot. I’m sure that’s due to walk breaks, the effort of posting trot versus sitting, etc. But it never went above 155bpm. Averaged about 130 during working times. Down to 100 on walk breaks.

FWIW I run 3-5 days a week and have done numerous half marathons, higher mileage in the summers than winters. My resting HR is in the mid-to-high 50s. I also ride 4-6 days/week depending on the season.

[Bending_Line]

For me, 120’s/130’s for trot work, 150’s for relaxed canter work, and 160’s on a horse that is fresh or requiring more effort from me at the canter.