April 05, 2011

Spurs

I was watching a Julie Goodnight show....love having these new cable channels and finally receiving The Rural Network or whatever it's called.  Anyhow Julie said something that I've long thought was intuition but it's best to repeat here I think!

She was working on a fairly new rider with a horse that had lots of go.  He rode western and part of his attire was spurs.  Now this isn't to say spurs are just a western thing because they aren't!  So here's what she said about this:

"Spurs are not a fashion statement or an outfit accessory.  The are meant to be used by ADVANCED riders, using ADVANCED aids on an ADVANCED horse." 

That summed it up quite well I think!

Many times while leasing Willy the little girl who leased Misty would come into the indoor arena looking into the spur box for spurs.  She's not advanced and neither is Misty.  I wanted to scream what are you doing??!!!  Perhaps for some people they just think spurs are what you do, especially for western or dressage.  Um...no.  I don't see myself ever in my life being where I need spurs but I don't have really advanced goals for my riding.  They have a time and place and are definitely something beginners should NEVER use!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved that episode. Amazing how that mare settled after she stopped him from "yelling" at her. But he was way over horsed.

Been there.

And sometimes I drive thru that neighborhood. Lol

Rosanne said...

Some people just don't get it. I have never used spurs and never plan to. I think spurs are over-used. My horses would freak if someone started poking their sides.