Horse Heart Rates and Training
While dressage and other arena-based sports place relatively low aerobic demands on horses, emerging studies indicate that improved muscle function may come from occasional exercise in higher heart rates zones. Let’s explore the use of heart rates during arena training, and how riders can use it to improve physiology.
The purpose of conditioning across different aerobic zones is to acquire fitness adaptations that are missed when remaining at one intensity every day. These include energy metabolism, fatigue resistance, and improved blood circulatory capacity to skeletal muscles. It is this final adaptation we should pay particular attention to, mainly for the fact that it happens when exercising at a heart rate of 150 to 160 beats per (bpm) minute. The average dressage horse rarely works in this zone save for moments of excitement. This is considered a moderate aerobic zone with the heart at 70 to 80 percent of its maximum rate. Most horses enter this zone at a brisk canter.
Increasing blood circulatory capacity means working muscles receive more blood and oxygen. This makes them capable of working stronger and harder. They can generate more power and, just as importantly, they adapt to clear away metabolic waste generated from that power. This allows them to keep firing in a mostly fresh state.
Brisk canter reps for added physiological gains.
For comparison, heart rate data collected from upper level horses in competition hovered between 110 and 140 bpm. It can be assumed that the bulk of daily schooling falls in a similar range. Exercise up to 140 beats per minute is categorized as “light” intensity, and contributes to overall health and well-being. It does not, however, create the conditioning effects of higher zones, those being lactate shuttling, improved blood supply to muscles, and stronger neuromuscular signals. It can be argued, therefore, that where strength development is important, occasional exercise at higher zones becomes necessary. To be clear, dressage horses do not need to spend a lot of time working outside their light aerobic zone: the bulk of training should remain at intensities below 140 bpm. One or two strategic sessions per week at a higher intensity will provide adequate stimulus to improve skeletal muscle function.
For some riders, a weekly trail outing on hilly terrain can push the heart rate over 150 bpm for several minutes at a time. For others, big gains can come from simple 1-minute intervals of brisk cantering, the number of intervals dictated by the horse’s age and development. The exact amount of time that needs to be spent in this aerobic zones depends on numerous factors, but a very general guideline is 10 to 20 minutes supported by a sufficient warm-up and cooldown period.
If heart rate parameters are new to you, the basic heart rate zones are as follows:
Resting/inactive: 25 to 35 bpm
Very light exercise (walking/jogging on flat ground) 70 to 100 bpm
Light exercise (walking, trotting, slow canter on flat ground): up to 140 bpm
Moderate exercise (brisk trot/canter, riding hills): 150 to 160 bpm
Hard/intense exercise (gallop, sprints, hills): up to 180 bpm
Maximal heart rate: approx. 200bpm or higher, only used for horses in sprinting sports
The key message here is that arena horses should still be trained as arena horses, meaning primarily in “light” aerobic zones. But their programs should also include a weekly stimulus at higher zones. Otherwise, their muscles are not primed to absorb the training intended by their daily schooling. In other words, blood flow and neuromuscular activity is not in a state that can contribute to strength gains.
Work hard, work strategically, and work across different aerobic zones.