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first system allows us to monitor up to 20 horses at one time giving live heart rate readings when playing on the polo field. The second system can also record speed, distance and stride data. Our services also include weighing horses with our mobile weigh board. What benefits does it bring to the horses/players? For the players it is all about accuracy, we all think that we know our horses inside out but the reality is we don’t. This gives us the opportunity to understand them better and to have them performing at their best possible levels. Is there anything that you didn’t expect to find out that you have discovered since you’ve been doing it? At first it was all about pre-play and postplay, but when you begin to monitor the horses on a regular basis, you can also start to see when they are in pain, any lameness, and we have also been able to spot a virus. Being able to be this accurate helps me reduce the risk of injury and gives us the chance to act on a problem much quicker than before.
GOW Equine was launched earlier this year by 3 goal professional Jamie Peel. Here he explains how the idea came about and why he thinks the services of GOW Equine are invaluable to any equine athlete. How did you come up with the idea? When I was doing the Mongol Derby last year, at every horse station we had to pass a vet check and the horses had to have a heart rate below 68 for us to be able to continue. I had never considered checking my polo ponies during competition, so when I was back in England two of the Derby crew members came down to Cowdray and we did some trials. What made you decide to pursue it? The results we got were fascinating and the more I monitored the horses the more I 54
Polo Times, July 2015
learnt about them. It made me consider how I was training them and I felt I was beginning to be so much more accurate. When I was in Argentina we did some tests on Miguel Novillo Astrada’s Open horses, his top speeds were 42mph and the heart rates were reaching 220bpm but the recoveries were so quick. After this I knew I had to pursue it. What does the GOW Equine service include? GOW Equine offers heart rate monitoring services using two different systems. The
What are your hopes for the future? To be honest I’m not entirely sure, it is still very early days and we are learning all the time – but if we can begin to raise the standards of how ponies are played, trained and maintained I will feel that we have achieved something. I have a top girl working for me called Jemma Brooks and she is really starting to push things forward, so hopefully this can all continue! Are you only targetting polo? If not, what are the significant differences between the different disciplines? Polo for us has been our training ground and it is obviously the sport that I know the best. Polo is a really tricky market but also a great challenge! We have made greater strides in the Eventing world, with one of our clients, Rose Carnegie, recently completing Badminton Horse Trials. I find this really exciting as it is new to us and the riders are putting everything into one or two horses, so they can be even more accurate. This is our main focus at the moment. Are there any negatives? Getting our invoices paid!
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