Lowering the Heart Rate - Solution or Heresy?

Grandprix-replay.com - Full Article

Sunday 13 January - 19h03 | Muriel Judic

Lowering the heart rate is a topic that has divided the endurance world since the announcement this week of a trial to test lowering of the recovery threshold to 60 beat per minute instead of 64 bpm. The organizers of the CEI at Fontainebleau on March 22nd and 23rd, have attracted the wrath of a large number of French riders but also the staff of the National Federation. But the subject has merit throughout the sport of endurance and not only in France.

Anxious to contribute to the efforts aimed at the well-being of endurance horses, the team of Gilles Cabardos, had these last two years already experimented more strict principles in the field of recovery with the reduction to 10 mn max (against 20 mn) presentation time at intermediate veterinary checks. Why change the rules? At the end of each ride loop, the horse goes through a series of metabolic examinations, but all too frequently - especially on fast races running for the first 22 or even 25 km / h - exhausted horses pass the examination, but fail to complete the next loop. Some have legitimately mentioned the results of the Sheikh Mohamed Cup in Dubai, which had, in early January, only 89 couples who completed the ride and 250 who didn't during this 160km event...

Read more here:
http://www.grandprix-replay.com/uk/article/5944/lowering-the-heart-rate-solution-or-heresy-