I have a question about normal
working heartrates. I was reading Sharon's
most recent ride story about the Pine Tree 50 with Zephyr, and she was talking
about his working heartrates being 90-120 trotting, and 100-130 cantering. I've
been working on convincing Alpine he's capable of doing a 50 mile ride, and I
think I'm actually getting somewhere, but his working heart rates are much
higher than that, and I'm just making sure it's normal to have that much
variation horse to horse. At the moment, Alpine is walking between 70 and
100, trotting between 120-150, and cantering between 135-180. His
recoveries are getting faster and faster. We did a very fast 3 miles last
night (20 minutes), and came into the barn trotting at 125 bpm. By the
time I got his bridle off, he was at 75 bpm, and it took only a couple of
minutes past that to get to 60. By the time I had him unsaddled, and
hosed off, he was 50 bpm. That took me less than 6 minutes. It was
about 88 degrees with pretty high humidity here in Florida, so I'm thinking that is pretty
good. Our long rides are anywhere between 14 and 30 miles, which I am doing at
about a 5-6 mph pace. When it's cooler, I'll up that pace a bit. I
have noticed that his resting heart rate is a bit lower, it was around 40, and
lately it's been between 32 and 38.
On
another note, I've switched Alpine's feed to a COB diet, and oh boy is there a
difference in his temperment. We rode three miles last night and didn't
spook ONCE! Not once! He was forward and happy and more than
willing to work, but he didn't spook! This is the horse that has spooked
at his own stomach gurgling, at butterflies, at a tree in the forest that
looked like all the other trees, and at himself farting once (I almost fell off
laughing at that one....). He's getting 3 cups of oats and barley each
meal, a cup of flax, ABC vitamins, and selenium. On the days I ride, he
gets one cup of the oats and barley replaced with a cup of corn. And free
choice grass hay. To top that off, about every other ride now, i don't
have to play the "Alpine PLEASE slow down" game. He goes at the
pace I ask for as long as I ask and slows down by request. The other half
of the time it's "faster? can we go faster? please? please? look mom, I
can go faster?" Maybe as we get more time on our new diet, he'll do
more rides at my speed! (oh, and before anyone says anything, we work dressage
in the ring a couple times per week, and he does wonderful. He's a whole
nother pony on the trail....)
Juli and the Herd Alpine
(who really likes his new feed, especially on the days mom puts corn in it) Merlin
(who isn't as thrilled with the new feed even though he gets corn every
day...but who is looking GREAT)
