HOW STRESS AFFECTS PERFORMANCE

Stress occurs when the demand exceeds the ablity to perform . In horse terms, the horse becomes stressed when it is asked to do something beyond its mental and physical ability, . Horses with an good temprament, conformation and scopey movement will not be unduly stressed by ever increasing demands provided it is introduced to new levels progressively.
There is a threshold of stress for each that must not be exceeded for any horse and you the rider must be sensitve to that. Remember that dresssage is a highly disciplined sport of utter containment. You, the rider becomes the cognitive centre of the horse and that is a huge privilige and responsiblity. If you respect that threshold, the horse will respond by being more submissive and reward you with its full repertoire of movement(remember its cerebellum % is larger than ours) This is an opportunity for the ultimate partnership so lets respect that.