I don't ride an TB, I ride a walker mare and an Arab gelding, but my
experience may be of value since my walker acts and is more like a TB than
a walker. First you need to find the resting rate when the horse is calm -
say early in the morning when nothing else is going on. Misty has vetted
in at rides at 60 and she has checked in at 28 - depending on how excited
she gets with what is going on. I don't even bother to look at the HRM for
the first 10 or so miles - it's all excitment driven. Just standing and
waiting to leave she reads about 110 to 120.
The heart rate is also impacted by the warm up process. It will run higher
at the beginning when the horse is warmup than it will after it is warmed
up. I takes my mare about 5 miles at a trot to fully warm at the same
speed the heart rate is about 10 bpm lower than at the beginning.
The recovery time is more related to condition than anything else, at least
this is for Misty. If he drops to 44 after 10 minutes than I think it is
conditioning more than anything that is keeping him up. It is not fair to
compare the TB to a conditioned horse. More conditioning will impact the
recovery.
There will be differences between horses. My Arab gelding runs about 8 to
10 bpm lower than my wife's Arab gelding. But my wife's Arab gelding is a
little more bulky muscled than mine. It is hard to compare my walker with
an Arab since the speeds at the gaites are different. She tends to do
better if we make time when we can and slow down when the conditions call
for slowing down. We don't do a "steady pace". So this is how we train.
If I rode a TB with good speed I think this is how I would ride to take
advantage of the speed. My Arab on the other hand is a classic endruance
type horse an I will train and ride him for a good steady pace.
Below is an average heart rate for my walker for various gaits on flat
ground for some type of comparison: Note this mare has over 1500 miles and
is in good shape. She is 16-2 and about 1000 pounds.
Walk 5 to 6 mph: 60 to 70
Slow trot: 10 mph: 115 to 125
Fast trot 12 to 15 mph 130 to 135
Gallop 16 to 18 mph 140 to 150
Flat flying gallop: 160 to 170
Dead run - I don't know since I don't like to get that much speed for the
sake of the legs.
Maybe this helped.
Truman
Truman Prevatt
Sarasota, FL