Tell me about spurs.

Excellant post Tiny!!! Thank you for sharing that!
This exactly!! To add, I was taught that spurs are there to lift the horses back up into the riders seat - not drive the horse forward.

When I rode with Dorothy Crowell last *She is an Olympic Eventer for the U.S.A* she taught me the same thing. She called it "Good Leg, Bad Leg"

You ask the hair, you ask the skin, you ask the ribs - no response - WHAMO. What I mean by "Whamo" was, lift your legs up off your horses side, and slam them down.

The horse moves forward after you let him/her have it, halt and repeat the process.

Ask the hair, ask the skin, ask the ribs - nothing, let em have it.

If you ask the hair, ask the skin and the horse moves off, praise, halt and repeat.

Continue to do this, until you only have to ask the hair. You should beable to use your good leg, to get your horse infront of your leg - if you cannot, then you have to use your bad leg to get your horse to respect it.

Good Leg, Bad Leg.

Well thank you Eventer! I think I was kind of out of my league there, 'cause I don't use spurs and don't have a real grounded opinion about them.

Love that, "hair, skin, ribs". Easy to remember.
I've been riding horses for that last three years that almost never need more than the hair. I have forgotten what it's like to have to work so hard.
Mac will go forward if I lighten the reins and say, "Lets go!"
He is a doll.

I'm glad you posted this thread!
I've been planning on getting a pair of spurs because I hate taking my hands off of the reins to use a whip.
I know I should be making my horse go solely on legs and seat, but it's so hard when you're riding a lesson horse and they've become so dull to leg aids.
I would use them with my horse simply because he does not know any lateral movements and my legs going solo just isn't enough.
Also he is not very desensitized to the whip and will 'run away' with even the slightest tap.

I also ride a lesson horse, and he does get used for some of the more advanced beginners, so it isnt THAT bad....but he still can be pretty dull. The first 20 minutes of warmup are also used for a tuneup, which I learned in a clinic.

The guy that was doing the clinic wanted the horses to be moving off at the very slightest squeeze in the end....so it was a squeeze, nudge SMACK! It only took two times doing that for Bart to start moving off with a smaller squueze. Of course, since its winter and he can be a spazz, I havent been doing this, but its about time to break the crop out again!

I really dislike spurs. They are meant to be used for refinement, not forward. A lot of riders use them whose leg is not good and accidentally spur their horses. It is pretty easy for people to accidentally spur a horse, and pretty hard to accidentally hit them with a crop.

MIE I like the general idea of that method, the one I use it a bit different. The trainer that taught me the most about training horses does not believe in kicking horses. When you take your leg off, that is a release in pressure, then you slam it back on, mixed signals and surprise to the horse. Also for safety reasons some horses you can't comprimize your self by taking both your legs off them.

The progression I teach my horses is: soft leg, medium leg, hard leg, CLUCK [one time only], crop. When they hear the cluck they know whats coming if they don't go forward. They learn this progression very quickly.

I agree with MIE and gypsy - spurs are not for driving horse forward, but for refinement. I've seen people to use spurs on lazy horses for just that reason and the end result wasn't all that good - horse becomes even more dull to the leg. I think whip is a better option for the lazy horse, but its just me.

Thank you for all your opinions.

I have been doing something similar to lesson of the leg, where I wiggle my foot in an attempt to not always been kicking.

I have a hard time keeping him in canter for a full round of an arena, he just needs so much push with everything, which particularly makes it hard to teach him collection as he doesn't have the impulsion.
I was thinking that I didn't want to over use the whip as he would need a good crack all the time. But I guess I will give that a shot first.

I should have said that he is the same way when I lunge him, my whip arm gets more of a work out than he does.
He is not in pain, he is perfectly healthy, just super lazy.

The horse I ride sounds just like your horse, AlexS, she needs some extra oomph also. I wear spurs every time I ride, but I don't use them every time. If she's getting lazy, or not listening to me...I give her a little jab with the spurs and she'll do what I ask.

If your horse needs a lot of push to stay with you, trying spurs won't hurt. You don't have to constantly jab the spur into the horses side to keep it moving, just a quick poke should be all he needs. If you have a steady leg and can control your body, then you should be fine. You should try something like this first...

Dover Saddlery | Ultra Lightweight Spur .

I don't think spurs with balls or rollers or fancy stuff like that are really necessary.

Spurs are for refinement but they DO make a difference to a horse that is dead sided. I use humane spurs and roweled spurs. I do train without spurs to ensure my cow horses do not become dull to the aid but I always wear them when I compete.

Spurs are wonderful to use on a horse that likes to drop a hip or shoulder or pop the rib cage out on a bend. They work beautifully for that nudge to an extended gait.