Leading my horse to performance with the iPULSE
Our goal? To help you progress and improve your level of performance, while always respecting your horse’s physical integrity.
Several factors – the living conditions, food, morale, … – influence the horse’s well-being and therefore his performances. The iPULSE is a tool that helps you evaluate the physical and cardiac abilities of your horse. With the help of data on heart rate, speed and intensity of effort, you can now improve your riding while always being in tune with your horse.
The iPULSE helps me take care of my horse.
The iPULSE allows you to focus on your horse’s physical integrity; an essential element for his health and performance.
By combining the use of the iPULSE girth with the iSPORT application, you can access many relevant parameters for the analysis of the horse’s health.
The most interesting one here? The heart rate.
You have the possibility to monitor your horse’s heart rate at rest as well as in activity. At the end of your training, you also have access to the recovery time, which is the time it took for your horse – after the last effort – to get back to the same heart rate as at the beginning of the training.
The data obtained thanks to heart rate calculations are an important source of information that will allow you to control your horse’s condition:
At rest
In activity
A higher heart rate than usual can mean that your horse shows signs of tiredness, because of overly intensive or repetitive trainings for example. Tiredness and overtraining may also be reflected by a longer recovery time.
An abnormally high heart rate can be a sign of pain from your horse, whether it is muscular or bone pains (lameness, infection, blood stroke for example).
Over time you will know your horse’s usual heart rate at rest and during training. You will therefore be able to easily detect changes in heart rate and analyze them. It will allow you to anticipate potential health problems, to reassure yourself about his physical condition, and even to verify that you are not overly soliciting your horse – whether it is a young one in the midst of learning or an elder one – by routinely checking the intensity of your trainings thanks to the effort zones and the recovery time indicated in the iSPORT app.
In a nutshell,
For your information, it is considered that the horse’s heart rate at rest is included between 25 and 40 BPM and can rise up to 240 BPM during intense efforts such as a gallop race or an eventing course.
The heart rate is therefore an important indicator to improve the horse’s physical condition and performances, but also to prevent and/or identify potential health problems.
It was the case for Jonathan Mathé, a French professional rider and a CWD partner, who uses the iPULSE girth on a daily basis. Here’s his testimonial:
“We have realized that, for similar efforts, this mare had the most part of her training in the maximum effort zone compared to the other horses. After several examinations, we have detected a heart problem and lung infection.”
I improve my horse's physical and cardiac condition...
For horses, as for any other athlete, the physical and cardiac condition is built over the long term and is preserved through regular work at home, whether on the flat, on jumping or outdoors.
The horse’s abilities are closely linked to performance. The daily work, combined with the monitoring of the heart rate and the efforts intensity, will allow you to improve your horse’s physical conditions over many aspects.
But physical condition is not the only element to take into consideration in order to lead your horse to performance. It is also necessary to think about improving his cardiovascular system. This system being what brings oxygen to the muscles, it is by developing it that you will improve the health and abilities of your horse but also his recovery after an effort.
There are different methods to develop your horse’s cardiovascular system, such as “short” or “long” interval training, cardiac protocols, trotting or galoping for example.
These exercises of physical and cardiac strengthening are also useful to prepare for competition. Indeed, a jumping or eventing course or a dressage test are short but intense events for the horse. Yet, it is rare to train at home with the same intensity that the one necessary during a competition.
In addition to the physiological data, the iPULSE also measures your instantaneous speed and stride frequency; which are key information in order to prepare for upcoming events or to adapt your trainings.
The speed, as well as the cadence, are given in live thanks to the phone’s speakers or the earphones. This information allows you to objectify your sensations especially when you work on the gallop rhythm in order to prepare for competition. Combined with the parameter of cadence, you will know if your horse increases his speed by galloping faster (faster cadence when the speed increases) or by lengthening his strides (same cadence when the speed increases).
These parameters are even more important as they allow you to refine your feeling, like when you train on your competition canter for example. Obtaining a canter between 350 and 400m/min is much more complicated during training than in competition conditions. The iPULSE will therefore help you to objectify your sensations and get them back more easily afterwards.
... and I measure his performance thanks to the iPULSE
When riding with our iPULSE girth, both at home and in competition, all your trainings are saved and synchronized with the iSPORT app.
You thus have the possibility to analyze your horse’s progress on the short, medium or long run thanks to the follow-up table available on his profile.
Indeed, the iPULSE offers you a complete review after each training (to be found in the iSPORT app). You can access all essential information to improve your level of performance: the speed in relation with the heart rate, the 5 effort zones, the recovery time and even the average and maximum BPM.
With this follow-up, you can compare similar trainings from a few weeks or months apart, such as two courses of a show. If you notice, for example, that your horse’s heart rate or intensity of effort decrease over time, you can conclude that your horse is progressing and becoming more comfortable with higher level of performances.
Whether you are an amateur or a professional rider, the iPULSE girth is a valuable asset to better know your horse and monitor with precision his health, physical shape and performances.
For more information, do not hesitate to contact us by phone (+33 5 00 42 79) or by e-mail (isport@cwdsellier.com).