What Can Stress To Horse and Rider In Equestrian Performance Tell Us About Performance

Horses Don't Get Stage Fright--But Their Riders Do.  Science Daily.  February 19, 2013.

The study indicates that highly-trained horses and riders differ in how they react to stress in practice and performance situations.  Riders show signs of "stage fright" in front of crowds, while horses seem to have similar stress markers in performance and practice situations.  In other words, the presence of a crowd does not seem to add any additional stress to the horse beyond that caused by the course itself.  And interestingly, the heightened level of stress of the rider does not seem to be communicated to the horse in performance forums.    Could this type of comparative stress studies offer a way to understand the uniqueness of human stress?