RE:need to know.....

["eddie spurgeon" <espurgeon@hotmail.com>]

RE:Hand Held Heart Rate Monitors.

Lynette, last month or so I posted my experience and opinion of the hand 
held heart rate units when used in the fast paced enviroment of an endurance 
ride P/R check (Frigid Digit and Texas Bluebonnet Classic). I was not 
impressed with the results in that enviroment. This weekend I was one of the 
pulse takers at the IAHA National Championship Competitive Trail Ride in 
Kansas. We used the hand held units and in the leisurly enviroment of an 
IAHA competitive trail ride P/R (as opposed to the hustle and bustle of an 
endurance ride P/R) they worked fine. I would have to be cautious in making 
comparisons to readings obtained with the heart rate monitor vs stethoscope 
if both are not used simutaniously. Heart rates can spike up or down 10 or 
more beats in the blink of an eye (as any experienced pulse taker can 
verify) for no apparent reason. I believe that if a vet or other person 
takes a reading with a stethoscope even a minute later that the heart rate 
may well not be the same. I'm still not convinced the hand hand held units 
are the way to go. From a Quality Control point of view, there is no 
established calibration standard or calibration period for the heart rate 
monitor referenced in the AERC Rule book. On the other hand, neither is 
there a pulse takers qualification standard cited. "You pays your money and 
you takes your chances".

Eddie...


<Lynette Helgeson wrote>

My opinion of these handy little devices is they are a waste of
money and they have no right being part of a P/R on any ride,
let alone a competitive ride. They have a tendency to read
higher pulses and I have got to wonder if they pick up all of
the other little sounds that you hear when you put a stethoscope
on a horses sides as part of the heart rate. I am not sure about
that, just a guess, but what I am sure about is we had some
instances where the hand held registered a heart rate on a horse
that said 60 where the pulse taken by stethoscope said 40. And
where the hand held registered 76 and the pulse taken by a vet
with a stethoscope said the horses pulse was 52 and the pulse
taken by hand was a 50. I was also told by other people that all
of the BIG rides are going to the hand held heart rate monitors
at their rides.
>...

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