Rider and Horse Salivary Cortisol Levels During Competition and Impact on Performance

During competition, stress may affect riders and horses. This stress can affect health, welfare, and/or performance. Our aim was to quantify stress levels during competition in horses and riders. We also searched relationships between these stress levels and performance. Twenty riders and 23 horses were followed up during a show-jumping event (26 courses) held at a riding school. Regular saliva samples taken from horses and riders were assayed to evaluate cortisol levels. We studied salivary cortisol evolution during the days of competition. There was no correlation between instantaneous sampling on horses and their riders. However, we did find a parallel between horse and rider salivary cortisol evolution curves, with a similar peak, reached 20 minutes after the course. The increase was stronger in riders than in horses. Correlations appeared between salivary cortisol concentration and performance, but stress in both partners seems to have an opposite influence on performance. Riders who showed a higher salivary cortisol increase were awarded more penalties, whereas horses that showed a higher increase in salivary cortisol performed better. Stress level measurement in rider–horse pairs would thus lead to improvement in competition conditions and performance, for horses as well as for riders.