Spooky Pony, advice please

[Clannad48]

Hi, just to follow on from all the great advice you gave me regarding my daughter taking up Endurance Riding, I just wondered if I could pick your brains once more. So today she took part in her first competitive ride, all went well, the horse behaved, the weather was nice and cool, we were both well prepared. Now for the bad news... The horse failed the final vetting with a heart rate of 68 - now I understand the reasoning, just wanted some advice on how to proceed. The horse had a rate of 56 at the start and since returning home I have read that most horses have a start HR of between 28 and 44 and should finish with a heart rate of below 64. The question my daughter wants to know is what did we do wrong - she has trained as advised, took 3 and a half hours to complete a 34k, what should we do better/different.
Thanks in advance

 

[spookypony]

It's hard to say, cause so many things can affect it! We once started a ride on a 53 (very hot day) and finished on a 41...

If the starting HR was high, was the horse excited at the initial vetting? Had it been grazing (eating raises HR)? Was it very warm? The final HR being high could again be due to many things: not cooled off enough, shivering because cooled off too much, excitement because learning about vetting/worried about vet, fitness...it's hard to say without being there! The Spooky Pony has had high 50s/low 60s a few times, generally when concerned about the vet.

I'd recommend getting a stethoscope and getting into the habit of taking your horse's HR before and immediately after exercise, and then at 5-min intervals until it returns to normal, just to get an idea of where the baseline is and how quick the recovery is.

EstherYoung on here has loads more experience than I do, and will hopefully weigh in too, as does NZJenny and a few others!