products, the girth attachment/sleeve is probably the better choice. Tracking heart rate data teaches you the general condi-
tion of your horse both physically and mentally at home, which is then beneficial to compare to when you are away from home, especially at a competition. If a horse experiences show stress, it is important to know this and prepare for the impact of competition environments. To track your horse’s heart rate, all require electrodes placed under the saddle and pad. Hylofit’s sensor is built into the girth sleeve which extends upward to reach under the saddle on the left side towards the withers so it’s wireless. Seaver and Equisense have the rider place the electrode under the pad behind the withers, with a wire (Seaver) or elastic strap (Equisense) that drops down and attaches to your girth sleeve on the left side. All three companies require you to download their
app to your phone or other mobile device, which in turn syncs with their devices. (Hylofit offers the added option of syncing to an Apple watch.) All three recommend you carry your phone during your ride to view real-time data and track distances. If you don’t have cell service available, the phone’s apps will still capture the data to review later once in cell/wifi service.
Primary Differences Hylofit stands out as offering some unique features. Most notable is the ability to track the rider’s heart rate as well as the horse’s. (This does require the rider wear a strap with the sensor under her chest.) This data reveals the horse’s heart rate as compared to the rider’s and how much the two are in sync. In addition, timestamped videos can be overlaid and synced with the heart rate data, providing a valuable tool for watching how both horse and rider
Cold ‘Heart’ Facts guideline,
reacted to the work in the training session. Hylofit requires an additional lifetime, annual or monthly membership plan, beyond the initial cost of the equipment. Equisense’s original Motion product does not track the
horse’s heart rate data, however they recently announced their new “Motion S” product which does. Equisense also offers more than 200 exercises in their phone app for both flatwork and over fences. Seaver collects and analyzes the most extensive jump-
ing technique data. (See below for more detail.) Equisense
This French company was founded in 2015 and intro- duced their Equisense Motion in early 2017. The Equisense sensor measures the following
indicators: Overall time of your training sessions with it broken
down by gait. Number of transitions: you can quickly see, for
example, that you made more than 80 transitions in a session of 40 minutes. Number of jumps: a very interesting indicator because the first limb that lands after a jump has to bear an impact up to two tons. Symmetry: measured while trotting on a straight
line for at least six seconds and is an indicator useful to analyze every session. If this indicator suddenly drops, it could be a sign of lameness. Work load: you can see the different phases of your
training session: warm-up, work and breaks. Lead balance: it tells you how much time you spend on each lead and on a straight line. This indicator is important to balance the muscle work. The ideal value would be 50/50.
What’s the normal heart rate for a typical horse? As a general
according to Kentucky Equine
Research, an adult horse typically has a resting heart rate of 30 to 50 beats per minute. The rate will rise depending on the activity: walking brings it to about 80, trotting 130 and cantering 180. A galloping horse reaches a maximum of 220 to 240 beats per minute. When a horse begins to exercise, the heart rate rises
steeply in the first 30 to 45 seconds and then tapers back, settling at a somewhat lower rate. When the exercise session is completed the heart rate drops quickly in the first two minutes, then will gradually drop to its pre-exer- cise level, which could take up to an hour. No matter how fit your horse becomes, the resting and maximal heart rates that you record won’t vary much.
16 May/June 2019
However, you can measure your horse’s fitness level by tracking the speed with which the heart rate returns to resting level following exercise. It’s important to track this process, as an increased heart rate after exercise can be a signal of pain or discomfort, something trainers should take notice as an early sign of injury or illness. It’s also interesting to learn that Danish scientists
in Tjele tested 25 Danish Warmblood geldings and presented their results at the 2011 International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) Conference. They found all the horses’ heart rates were generally higher when ridden at a new venue such as a show versus at home. They also found the more fearful a horse’s temperament, the higher his heart rate and the poorer his performance when in a new environment.
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