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Re: [RC] [RC] Question on odd heart rate on two TWH - Lucy Chaplin TrumbullKrisWe have an arab/saddlebred mare who only gaits when she gets excited. Occasionally, I can get her to gait on command, but not often. On her third LD, the weather was cool and dry (after lots of rain and mud) and she was very cheerful and gaited a lot during the ride. Although she completed the ride seemingly fine, once she was done and back at the trailer she laid down in the sand and just wanted to stay there. Since this horse doesn't roll/lie down a whole lot, I was alarmed and ended up taking her to the vet who couldn't find anything wrong and suggested maybe she was a little dehydrated. In retrospect, I started to wonder if this was related to her gaiting so much for 30 miles, when this wasn't something we'd trained for, so presumably those particular muscles weren't used to doing that much work? I'm wondering if your gelding could have been put in a similar situation, by being asked to pace for the duration of the ride - esp. since you mention that you don't let him do any lateral gaits when conditioning? Just a thought. Kris wrote: ...This horse....is able to perform a running walk, trot, pace, canter, and what I call his "lateral canter" under saddle. I prefer to condition him at a trot with some normal cantering. I don't permit him to perform the lateral gaits....At liberty, this horse trots nearly 90% of the time, and only tends to pace when he gets nervous.... His rider noticed ...he had a HR of about 170-180 at a trot....The rider...got the horse to start pacing, and the HR dropped to 120-130 range... Because of this... he pushed the horse to stay in a pace for the duration of the ride. He was pulled at 40 miles for a 16/18 CRI. Took a long time for the pulse to drop to criteria. No lameness, no obvious problems, just the inverted CRI. Lucy Chaplin Trumbull elsietee AT foothill DOT net Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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