Cash and I rode for around 80 minutes, 14 of which were straight trotting. Thanks to Equilab we’re able to track the time spent in each gait.

I decided we would work on building endurance for the remainder of the summer. I checked his heart rate before we started (36), after a long stretch of trotting (64ish), and again when we returned home after some more trotting (44ish). He doesn’t always hold perfectly still, making it a little tough to get sometimes. But, I’m thrilled to know exercise doesn’t raise his pulse significantly. He’s in pretty good shape for an old man.
I’ve been looking into some local endurance riding/competitive trail riding events. I’ve always thought it would be a neat thing to try! The intro courses are usually only 15 miles, and limited distance is 25 miles. I think those are attainable goals for Cash considering the amount of miles we usually ride. I was reading that there are usually check points and your horse’s heart rate needs to be able to return to 60 bmp within 10-15 minutes. I haven’t done a ton of research yet, so if you have any experience with this please share in the comments below!

There is an event in October that is about an hour from home. I plan to work on building Cash’s endurance and possibly trying out that event! If October rolls around and Cash isn’t ready, we’ll just keep working on more miles.
Until next time,
Happy trails!
That Equilab really seems like a nifty device! Fun and useful.
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It’s wonderful! Now if it could only check heart rate for my horse too!😂
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