@Dutchess_III The horse is trained, and like any athlete some will excel more than others based on ability, but the horse does not have the cognitive ability to predict the beat of the music all on his own. He may respond to a familiar song and anticipate the next move but animals do not possess extreme critical thinking skills like humans do. The fire horses of days past may have run to their places to be harnessed at the sound of an alarm but that was all conditioning. They weren’t standing around planning what they would do the next time the fore bells sounded. haha
What some horses have is called heart or willingness. To say a horse is willing means he responds well to his training and is a fast learner. The horses that are not excelling in their fields of discipline are not culled, some racehorses are yes, sadly, but most of the time they are re-purposed in a discipline they naturally excel at. That could be basic equitation, jumping, eventing, cross country or as lesson mounts at a riding academy/school/ stable. SOME horses enjoy their work and others are lazy and just phone it in.
That is what separates the great from the mediocre, as always.
The Dressage moves are all forms of EXTREME discipline and not moves that a horse would normally make on his own. Many disciplines are disciplines used to train war horses back in the day. The Lipizzan of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna preserve the disciplines used to train war horses back in Napoleons time.
Their performances are based on extensive training and trust in their handlers to perform, many, unnatural moves. A well trained horse knows his work but it is all about the training and the animals willingness and ability not their love of the discipline.