I have a few questions.
> Forgive me if they seem redundant or stupid ;-).
>
No such thing.
> Try as I might, no matter how long or how steep or how fast we go up a hill,
> I can't get one of my horses HR to get up to 200.
I agree with Tom about not trying heroically to get up to those higher
HR readings. It sounds like the numbers just don't fit your guy. Maybe
the most important thing we should all remember is that you can read
books and research studies until you're blue in the face, but it will
never take the place of Knowing Your Own Horse. This is heresy coming
from a dyed-in-the-wool Research Person, but experience is still the
best teacher. If you know your horse, you KNOW when he's working hard,
goofing off or really struggling. How many times have we all been
or heard a rider tell a ride vet "he's just not right"? Listen to what
your horse is telling you and THEN try to apply all the technical and
scientific knowledge as appropriate, not the other way around.
Every time I get too caught up in what one study said or another one
"proved", I remember what my first advisor (who was truly a giant in his
field and very much missed) told me when I started at Cal Poly, "Never
forget that you're going to spend thousands and thousands of hours
trying to learn what the horse already knew the day he was born."
Susan Evans
California State Polytechnic University