From heart rate to heat scores, Blaze reveals what your horse is really feeling

By Charlene Carroll 

There’s a particular moment every rider knows. You’re halfway through a schooling session, your horse feels a little hotter than usual, maybe his breathing is heavier, and you wonder: is he just working hard, or is something more going on? Until now, those questions have relied on gut feel. Garmin’s new Blaze equine wellness system steps in as a quiet companion, ready to give you answers in real time.

Imagine trotting down the long side and sneaking a glance at your watch, only to see your horse’s heart rate and stride data tick by alongside your own. It’s a small thing, but for riders used to guesswork, it feels almost revolutionary.

Designed for horses, built for riders

The first pleasant surprise is how horse-friendly Blaze really is. Instead of straps and wires that look better suited to a laboratory than a livery yard, Blaze is simply a neoprene tail wrap with a feather-light sensor tucked inside. Slip it on like a bandage, and within seconds it’s secure and unobtrusive. At just 74 grams with the wrap, it’s lighter than most saddlecloth trims, and your horse barely flicks an ear at it.

Durability has been sensibly handled too. The wrap is washable, the sensor repels sweat and rain with an IPX7 water rating, and the battery lasts up to 25 hours. That’s plenty for a week of schooling or even a long road trip to a show. Charging is fuss-free with a USB-C clip cable, no fiddly pins or adapters.

What Blaze actually tracks

Here’s where Blaze gets interesting. Once connected to your phone or compatible Garmin watch, it records heart rate, strides, gait, distance, and even skin temperature changes. After a ride, the Blaze app presents it all back in an easy-to-digest summary: recovery rates, time in heart rate zones, and a “heat score” that blends air temperature with humidity.

For example, picture a rider heading out on a hack when the weather suddenly turns muggy. Blaze instantly reflects the change, showing a sharp rise in the horse’s heat score. What might have felt like an unusually heavy breathing pattern now has context. The horse is working harder in the humidity, even at a relaxed pace. With that insight, training plans can be adjusted before the horse becomes stressed.

For riders with more than one horse, Blaze is equally handy. The app allows multiple profiles, meaning each horse’s data is neatly separated. Even transport can be tracked, logging how your horse copes with the journey itself, not just the competition on the other end.

Data at your wrist

Garmin’s clever twist is that Blaze integrates seamlessly with its smartwatch family. Mid-canter, you can glance at your Fēnix or Venu display and see your horse’s heart rate without reaching for your phone. It feels oddly natural, as if equine biometrics should always have been part of a rider’s toolkit.

Why it matters

Wellness technology for humans has become second nature. We check our steps, sleep cycles, recovery scores. Horses, whose athleticism and health underpin everything we do with them, have been waiting for their equivalent. Blaze may just be it.

For leisure riders, it offers peace of mind. For competitors, it’s the difference between intuition and evidence. And for anyone who has ever wondered why their horse tires on a particular surface or recovers more slowly after a humid day, Blaze provides the data to start answering those questions.

Blaze in the bigger picture

Garmin has effectively applied its human expertise to the equestrian world. Blaze isn’t gimmicky; it’s elegant, practical, and genuinely useful. It doesn’t replace the rider’s eye or the groom’s care, but it strengthens them.

And maybe that’s the real appeal. With Blaze quietly collecting data beneath a tail wrap, riders gain the reassurance that their instincts are right. Or the chance to spot when they’re not. Either way, horse welfare takes centre stage.