When a horse underachieves because of stress…
Horses that perform well during training can lose their ability to perform owing to the stress of transport, the commotion and distraction of a different environment and the enervating events at competitions. As a result, they respond less attentively and sometimes do unexpected things. Stress caused by fear of the unknown also occurs in young or inexperienced horses during training and they can then react violently. Stress not only affects the horse’s performance, but its condition too.