Re: RC: Whips and Spurs in Endurance

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/21/00 11:51:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us writes:

<<  Though I still won't ever believe that a rider needs to wear 
 spurs on an endurance ride.  I don't think they need whips either.  I feel 
 that a horse should be able to complete a ride without having aids to 
 'push' them along, and that's what most people do that I've seen ride with 
 whips and spurs. >>

I agree that in endurance, there is more harm than good coming from use of 
spurs.  Sometimes this is because riders get fatigued as much as it is that 
they don't know how to use them.  However, to disallow them altogether takes 
them away as a tool for those riders that DO know how to use them, or who 
have horses who can tend not to "listen" to a more subtle cue.  I feel the 
same way about spurs as I do about martingales and a whole host of other 
devices--they have a place in the right hands, most folks use them wrongly, 
but I would hate like hell to take them away from the folks who DO know how 
to use them.  And as for whips--well, I often carry one on our stallions, 
especially at the beginning of the ride, and most folks appreciate that the 
boys are well behaved.  They got that way and they stay that way because they 
know we don't put up with anything but business.  But once in awhile it takes 
a reminder.  And I wish everyone who rode a horse with any tendency to kick, 
etc., would carry one.  That said--not everyone needs them, but we would be 
fools to legislate them out of the right hands that DO use them wisely.

Heidi