I’ve been to watch horse racing lots of times - most often here in the town I live in at the iconic Cheltenham Racecourse. And I know a fair bit about training - from a degree in sports science to qualifying as a personal trainer. But I don’t know too much about the training of horses. Turns out they’re not all that different to humans. 

It was illuminating then to chat with Max Kendrick - an ex jockey who know helps training horses at Fergal O’Brien’s picturesque yard near Cheltenham. 

Max is doing pioneering work with horse heart rate monitors, that also track metics like the speed of the horse and distance covered. This gives insight that will help trainers coax horses to peak performance, but also from an animal welfare perspective make sure the horses aren’t overtrained. 

Pretty cool to hear Max talk about how the data is often backing up old school trainers’ ‘feel’ for how the horses are.

*******

Chief Sponsor: Bang & Olufsen Cheltenham: https://stores.bang-olufsen.com/en/united-kingdom/cheltenham/unit-15-the-courtyard-montpellier-street

Info on Sponsor Offerings: For 15% off Herring Shoes enter the code SPORTANDLIFE at checkout at - https://www.herringshoes.co.uk

For 30% off Cytoplan supplements for your first purchase at https://www.cytoplan.co.uk and a 10% discount ongoing check out the intro the podcast.