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Question:
Can you please
tell me something about the use of spurs? My horse seems to need a
little encouragement but I don’t want to be too forceful.
Answer:
Spurs are a
training aid to assist us to get the horse to go in the direction we
would like it to go. We are looking for a well trained horse,
whether we want the horse to be an eventer, a dressage horse, a
reinner or just a good trail horse. You can look at spurs as the
training wheels on a bicycle. At first they are on the ground but
as the rider becomes more proficient, the wheels are raised and
eventually removed. With spurs it is as if we raise the wheels but
we don’t remove the spurs. They are there if we need them but we
don’t use them unless we have to. Like any other aid, we don’t want
to depend on them to train the horse. We suggest what we would like
the horse to do with a lighter aid and then use the spur as follow
up. I use spurs on a daily basis. I go to dinner in spurs and I
ride all horses in spurs. It is a way of life to me but I don’t use
them every time I ask a horse to go forward, do lateral work (moving
sideways) or any other movement. I do use them as an aid, a follow
through or a motivator. A dressage stick can also be used as an aid
to help motivate and I regularly do mix the use of these two aids.
I mix the use of a dressage stick and spurs so the horse I am
working does not become dependent and respond only to the spurs.
In the
beginning, the spur is the last aid I use to motivate a horse. If I
am asking my horse to turn on the haunches, to move the hind
quarters around the front end, I would bring my leg back to what I
call the number three spot (just behind the cinch) and with the calf
of my leg, ask the horse to move away from pressure. Every horse is
different; some are more sensitive and others more dull just because
of their nature. A cold-blooded horse, like a draft horse will have
a tendency to be less responsive while a thoroughbred will tend to
be a lot more sensitive. I press with the calf of my leg and this
is what I call a pre-cue. This is the aid that I really want to be
able to use to motivate the horse. If the horse doesn’t respond to
the pressure and move the hind quarters, I can pick up the inside
rein and ask the horse to move away from the rein pressure. In
order to further motivate, I can cluck to help put energy into the
feet to create movement and then the last aid I would use is the
spur.
With the spur,
I may just tip into it. Here again, if I have a very responsive
horse, a horse that is really sensitive, just tipping the spur in
could motivate that horse to move off my leg. If I am working with
a cold-blooded horse, or one that has been nagged at or is dull
around the sides, I may have to roll the spur up. In other words,
after I tip the spur in, with my heel I roll it up. If that doesn’t
work, for the sake of communication, I’m going to bump that horse
with my spur. I will keep bumping until I get a reaction. The
moment I get some movement in the hind end, I’m going to stop.
I will do this
exercise in the same order each time. I will pause and then put my
leg back on the number three spot. If I don’t get a response, I
will pick up the inside rein along with the outside rein, cluck and
if there is no movement, tip the spur in, then roll it up. If there
is still no response, I will bump with the spur until the hind
quarter moves over. After a time, I may be going through this
series and the horse will move when I roll the spur or even just tip
it in. By repetition, being specific in my request and asking each
time in the same way, pretty soon the horse will move his hind
quarters when I put the calf of my leg on and pick up the inside
rein.
When does the
horse know the lesson? The horse knows the lesson when I mount and
I put my leg on the horse to move the hindquarters away and the
horse steps away from the pressure without me tipping my spur or
following through with any other aid or other device. The same
procedure can be done using a dressage stick instead of a spur. I
could tap the hind quarters with my stick to get movement. What I
am really trying to do is to get the horse to move the hind quarters
over from just the cue of my leg without using either a spur or
dressage stick. That is the goal but to reach it, it may take
several days or a couple of weeks of repeating this exercise. If,
every time you get on the horse and you are riding the horse, say
five days a week, with consistent practice, the horse may move his
hind quarters over with just a light request by the calf of the leg
within two weeks. If you are only working two days a week, it may
take three or four weeks.
Consistency,
persistence and follow through are the keys. Remember, the spur or
the training dressage stick are the aids of last resort. If you use
a spur every time, you may get results but the horse will start to
get spur sour. With continuous poking, a horse will start
resisting. It is the same with constant use of a stick instead of
using a pre-cue. The horse is going to get dull and not listen or
start resenting the constant tap, tap and start swishing his tail or
other negative behavior such as the ears going back. We need to be
careful using the aids. You should only use the spur or the stick
as the last resort or motivator but when you do use the spur or
stick, you need to get a significant response. We are not looking
for pretty movement, we are looking for a quick response. If you
use the aid and the horse is lazy and grudging in his response, you
are going to end up using the spur every time. My rule is that if I
have to use the spur or stick, I’m going to make the horse react to
it and move quickly. That is follow up to yielding to pressure.
Charles Wilhelm
It’s Never Ever the Horse’s Fault
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