Exercise or push the horse to a heart rate just under 150 beats per minute. This is the aerobic threshold benchmark. Note the recovery heart rate two minutes after exercise and again at 10 minutes after exercise. At two minutes, it should have dropped to around 100 beats per minute and at 10 minutes should be less than 60 beats per minute.

When using a heart rate monitor as a fitness indicator, consistent record keeping is a must. Over time, decisions to alter intensity, duration, or type of exercise to further the fitness level of the horse can be based on changes in heart rate. It allows comparisons of several horses, as well as showing an individual horse's progress during successive workouts. Most heart rate monitors have instructions regarding record keeping for evaluation. Depending on the one you choose, you may be able to transmit data to your computer or you may need to keep notes. Champlain, NY, Nov.2, 2021-– Biosig Instruments Inc. a leader in heart rate technology since 1975 is introducing a new type of the Insta-Pulse® Equine heart rate monitor, the model 109. This unique device delivers precision and ease of use. Just gently touch your horse torso and the Insta-Pulse® turns on automatically and continually monitors each beat of a horse’s heart, displays heart rate and variation of the heart rate. It monitors ECG, electrical activity generated by a horse’s heart, simply instantly accurately with a simple touch.

Polar Equine Heart Rate Monitor for Riding

Your horse’s vital signs are a great place to start when you are getting an idea of your horse’s fitness. This starts with learning your horse’s baseline vitals – his temperature, pulse, and respiration at rest. You may want to do this in the morning and evening when your horse is chilled out.

Other contributing factors that can damage the equine heart include trauma, congenital malformation, toxic insult, neoplasia, degeneration, inflammation, lesions, infection, fever, anorexia, low body score, vessel laceration, vitamin toxicity and bacteria colonization, or disease in other organs. Calming agents and various drugs can alter the heartbeat. Horses are giant, freaky goobers that can be alarmed at anything real or imaginary. Don’t be surprised yourself if you are taking measurements and mostly they agree and then there’s an outlier. The boogeyman might be in the shadows, and your horse has decided to freak out a bit. This is also one of the reasons why taking your horse’s resting vitals is essential every single day – so you can notice trends and find the normals. As you are measuring your horse’s heart rate after exercise, also jot down his respirations to see how easily they return to a resting state. As with any device, equine heart monitors are only as useful as the person using them. Knowing what a heart rate monitor is most effective for is vital for getting the most out of it.

Pulse Readers

Seaver has also developed an application for connected watches. From now on, you can get your cardio and also your effort zones in real time on your watch. So, with just one look at your wrist, you will know how, for example, your horse is managing the current effort or recovering from it. You might also notice that your horse’s level of fitness declines over time. Is he approaching retirement where this seems appropriate, or is your horse hurting somewhere and that is affecting his fitness. The information you collect is a starting point – nothing more.