# Spur marks/rubs/sores whatever you want to call them!



## Chevylover96 (Dec 9, 2012)

Ok so I was MORTIFIED to get off my mare a couple days ago and see marks from my spurs. My trainer has been getting me to use these big western roweled ones, and she didn't fine in those (no rubs either), but for the last couple rides I switched back to my short english pow ones, just standard spurs. But since they don't move I'm assuming that's why the rubs started! Also she is shedding badly, so I know that can be one of the causes, I didn't use spurs on her this time last year as we weren't doing any major lateral work last year. 

Just so you know, we never use the spurs to get a forward, it's always for the lateral work, I use a whip for forward and only when needed. 

Anyway I feel awful, and I'm embarrassed to even have her seen at the moment! 

She's had 2 days off, and I lunged her yesterday, but my trainer is probably going to make me ride with spurs in my lesson, I'm going to go to greenhawk today and try to find the soft touch spurs with the little ball inside, I've hear that they would good for horses who need a spur, but are still really sensitive at the same time. But if I have to order them in, should I use the western rowel ones for my lesson and put casaline or something on her sides? Obviously outside of lessons I'm going to try her without spurs until it's completely healed. 

So the spur mark is maybe a cm long, and is just bald, it's not actually an open wound. It feels a bit rough to touch. What should I put on it? I've heard mtg, corona, friskes, I've even hear coconut oil. The question is what is going to help it heal the fastest and grow the hair back normal.


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## SummerShy (Aug 3, 2014)

Dab of bag balm? OR just use MTG. I swear by it, works really fast.


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## BugZapper89 (Jun 30, 2014)

It's a long way from her heart. I have lost count of the number of spur marks left behind when training the futurity horses. Happens no big deal
And not a reason to not ride. If she gave when you asked she wouldn't have the rub from you having to ask so hard


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Don't get the spurs with the rowels inside. If you grip suddenly, you will spur your horse. Spurring needs to be intentional. Honestly, I only use spurs so that my horse KNOWS to listen to my leg and knows that I have them on but won't use them very much.
If your horse doesn't listen to your leg, then he needs ground training to listen immediately to a CUE. At some point your horse will tune out the spurs, and then WHAT will he listen to?!?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I think the biggest question I have is why your trainer is having you use the spurs enough to rub the hair off. Even for lateral work, the horse should work mainly off your leg, and the spur should be used sparingly and only for refinement of the cue. To rub the hair off, you'd just about have to have the spur applied pretty firmly for basically the entire ride.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

It doesn't really matter what you put on it, anything will do as long as it is softening.
What I wouldn't put on it is spurs. The balding you see is just the tip of the ice burg, so to speak. I would bet there is unseen bruising also. I would give it a rest.

Your trainer can't make you do anything. It's your horse!


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

I doubt the mark is from the spurs. The turning rowel is easier on the horse than one that doesn't. The worst are the ones sold as humane with the knob on the end. A person needs to have complete control of their legs to use those. When used too strongly I've felt dents in the rib cage.


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## BugZapper89 (Jun 30, 2014)

Note. If this is a professional spur broke horse they are a different ride then any other style of riding. All my show stock is all spur broke your stop steering and speed control are all spurs. The bridle is pretty much decor and a
Lift of finger will drop the head For the new to learning how to properly ride these horses spur marks are going to happen. His is why it's beat to learn on a horse with a good mindset had who doesn't mine the newbie rider and their learning curve


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## Chevylover96 (Dec 9, 2012)

I've been using them for lateral work because she is so green she doesn't really understand the sideways unless it's a much stronger aid. I broke her myself as an off the track standardbred when she was 3 1/2, she's 5 now, and we're really starting to work on the more difficult lateral work, and working on keeping her canter. She'll canter off, but I will need to ask again after 10 strides to keep her going. But 99% of the time my calf will keep her going and I don't even need the spur other than the initial take off.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

Have you done any teaching of lateral work on the ground ever with her? she should move with a touch of your finger.


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## Chevylover96 (Dec 9, 2012)

Yes on the ground she does move with a touch of the finger, and also just with a hand motion. We've been trying a lot of work at liberty, and she will free lunge in a circle around me, switch when told, come in when told, turn on the forehand, and haunches and back up. We've really been enjoying our liberty work.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

Standardbreds are tanks. You NEED spurs to work on lateral work. Your legs are nothing more then a pesky fly to them no matter how much ground work you do with them. So I get why the OP is using them.

MTG works. Don't stress about the spur marks, they happen. I use little bumper spurs on my standie. Thankfully she isn't one of the thin skinned ones that mark easy. However one of the other mares I work with you even lightly tap her with the dressage whip and she has a mark for a week. So I don't know what I am going to do when the time comes to use spurs on her lol.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Chevylover96 said:


> *I've been using them for lateral work because she is so green*...


'O'

BIG no! Have you tried severely shifting your weight as you cue to get her to move laterally. It REALLY does work, and it won't leave marks in the hide.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Just make sure they don't grow to the size of Trooper's spur marks, received on a ranch in Colorado:


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## Chevylover96 (Dec 9, 2012)

Today the marks were the same. I bought those gentle roller spurs, and while she did take a minute to respond since they're really gentle, they did work, and I didn't see anymore marks nor was the initial mark worse. I did put coconut oil on both sides too to help the spur glide better, and I avoided using them as much as possible and just used my calf, but I had to ride with them to get her used to it before my lesson tomorrow!


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Chevylover96 said:


> ... *she did take a minute to respond* since they're really gentle, they did work...


NO, they DIDN'T work! 
I use Prince of Wales spurs on my QH, "Buster Brown," bc he's lazy and NEEDS to use impulsion under saddle, like he does in turnout, or ELSE he wouldn't be safe to ride! I am NOT constantly spurring, just when he tunes out my leg, which is less and less often. 
Buster Brown does NOT suffer from spur marks or bruises. He isn't tender when I brush after a workout, but he DOES listen to the spurs immediately.

What you WANT is for your horse to be as sensitive to ride as a sports car is sensitive to drive.
The horse is the most reactive of all domestic animals. When they WANT to move, they _can move_ lightning fast. Your horse does this, too. ALL training creates a result. Your trainer is teaching your horse that your leg cues are meaningless and only a spur will give a cue, yet your horse is tuning out the spur. *TOTALLY not acceptable!*

This is NOT breed specific. ALL horses are sensitive. Just watch when a fly lands on ANY breed of horse.

_If I was your trainer,_ and your horse wasn't listening to the rider's legs, I would dismount the rider, get on and train the horse to respond correctly, THEN, get the rider back on and teach the rider how to train correctly.
Get a new trainer. Spurs are for refinement. NObody should have to rely on spurs to train a green horse. =/

I suggest that you start watching Dennis Reis on RFD.tv or online. He trains and retrains horses to listen to his weight and his breathing. Horses don't lie and his horses matriculate to bridleless. They are focused on him, the rider and leader, and relaxed.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I want to say that I pay attention to the experienced and excellent owners/trainers on this forum. PLEASE understand that using spurs is wrong if you cannot control your lower leg. I have owned/trained for nearly 30 years and I worked like the dickens for years to keep my toes pointed forward at all times. When I school with a spur it is ALWAYS intentional. Progressively schooling with spurs should result in the rider almost never applying the spurs bc the horse is aware that you are always READY to use the spur.

Again, spurs are for refinement with a finished horse. Not to be used by a green rider on a green horse.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

_"__So the spur mark is maybe a cm long, and is just bald, it's not actually an open wound."

"working on keeping her canter. She'll canter off, but I will need to ask again after 10 strides to keep her going. But 99% of the time my calf will keep her going and I don't even need the spur other than the initial take off"

"while she did take a minute to respond since they're really gentle"

_My horse and I are both backyard creatures, not riding at any high level. However, she changes gaits at the "kiss" sound. Yesterday, at a fast trot, she would start thinking canter. She stayed at the trot, with one ear forward and one ear back, waiting for me to 'kiss' her into a canter.

If you need a spur to get her to canter, or she takes a minute to respond to a gentle spur...then I question using spurs at all - particularly if I was leaving marks on my horse. It sounds like you, with help from your trainer, are making the horse harder instead of softer. 

Of course, since I don't compete in anything, I may be missing something. What is your goal for using spurs?


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

bsms said:


> *
> If you need a spur to get her to canter, or she takes a minute to respond to a gentle spur...then I question using spurs at all *- particularly if I was leaving marks on my horse. It sounds like you, with help from your trainer, are making the horse harder instead of softer.
> 
> Of course, since I don't compete in anything, I may be missing something. What is your goal for using spurs?


Shrugs, I had to start wearing spurs to get Gibbs to transition nicely, you can kiss, cluck or whatever without much success, and besides in the ring I can't use my voice, or a whip, or a rein end, so spurs it is. I ask nicely, I tell, I use my spur. 

The first time I wore them was for a clinic and the second day we were doing lateral work, and on went the spurs. Some horses just need a little more to get their attention, and a touch with a spur can promote more softness than keep nagging with a calf.

Gibbs is now a different horse to ride, he is sharper and more responsive, there is a place for spurs. It's strange how after 40 odd years of riding you can find that they are just another tool, and used properly they are very effective.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I'm not anti-spur. But if one is leaving marks on your horse, and if a gentle spur leaves the horse slow to respond, then maybe something is not right. And as I said, "I don't compete in anything, I may be missing something". I would agree that something needs to be done to escalate things if the horse does not respond to the leg, and that nagging is a fault.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

bsms said:


> I'm not anti-spur. But if one is leaving marks on your horse, and if a gentle spur leaves the horse slow to respond, then maybe something is not right.


Yes, the spur is to gentle, and has just become more nagging. 

If you take a young horse, train it right, ride it properly all the way through, you can be beautifully soft and light all the way through. The more sensitive horses of the world will also listen and respond, then you have the Gibbs of the world. He was ridden by novices and 'spares' for a long time, that and his default mindset means that often we have to get to ugly, before we get to pretty. He is stubborn, he thinks he knows best, he sees no need to even try it my way. 

The trick is to either know, of have a trainer who knows what you are dealing with, and can help you to ask nicely, and then to elevate that ask to a a demand straight away, and at such a level that you have his attention.


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## pixelsandponies (Apr 6, 2013)

As many have said, spurs can be a useful tool to gain sensitivity and to teach a horse to respond quickly and effectively to leg. 

Golden Horse put it well when she said, "I ask nicely, I tell, I use my spur." If you are doing this effectively, your horse should figure out pretty quickly to move off of your leg when you "ask nicely" or "tell." Eventually you shouldn't need to use the spur at all. Once the horse has learned this concept and is moving well off of leg, if he or she ever starts ignoring your leg and needs a reminder, you can use spurs as a memory refresher. Some horses need more reminders than others, and some horses need sharper reminders than others. It all depends on the horse and the situation.

If you have to use heavy spurring ALL the time to get your horse to yield, it's is a sign that your horse has become very dull to your leg cues. I don't know you or horse horse, but it's possible that you are using too much leg and spur without releasing at the right time when the horse gives/yields. I'd recommend talking with your trainer about it and go from there.


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## pixelsandponies (Apr 6, 2013)

Also, don't feel too bad about this! You're doing the right thing by taking care of the marks and reaching out to find ways to solve the problem.


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## Chevylover96 (Dec 9, 2012)

The roller ball spurs (day 2 of using them) are now working so well! Just as well as my old prince of Wales spurs! Also I ALWAYS ask with just a light squeeze of my calf, then only if that doesn't work I use my spur! Also with the leg yielding and such, she needed the spurs quite a bit when she was first learning a month ago, but now she'll start putting her hip in when I just move my leg back! She's always been lazy, but she's actually getting a lot more sensitive to my cues, which I'm really happy about! And I can ride her without spurs, but in my lessons my trainer prefers I have them on for back up! I'm not one of those riders who keeps getting harsher and harsher tack, I'm actually the opposite! She's in a plain full cheek snaffle with copper rollers, as the copper makes her softer in the mouth, and actually half the time I ride without a bridle, with just a rope halter! 

I'm training her to respond to just a neck rope though, as of now she can walk, trot and back up with just a rope around her neck! 

I guess the spur rubs a mix of her coat changing for the year, and me using them more on that particular day because we were doing more lateral work. As I said I feel awful but atleast I'm doing something about it!


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## pixelsandponies (Apr 6, 2013)

Sounds like you're doing everything right! Hopefully these new spurs will continue to work out well and those rubs will clear up. Good luck with it all.


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## eventing.casper (Dec 8, 2020)

BugZapper89 said:


> It's a long way from her heart. I have lost count of the number of spur marks left behind when training the futurity horses. Happens no big deal
> And not a reason to not ride. If she gave when you asked she wouldn't have the rub from you having to ask so hard


if you are getting constant spur marks, you need to take them off and see what is going on to make these marks happen so often.


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## eventing.casper (Dec 8, 2020)

smrobs said:


> I think the biggest question I have is why your trainer is having you use the spurs enough to rub the hair off. Even for lateral work, the horse should work mainly off your leg, and the spur should be used sparingly and only for refinement of the cue. To rub the hair off, you'd just about have to have the spur applied pretty firmly for basically the entire ride.


^


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

eventing.casper said:


> if you are getting constant spur marks, you need to take them off and see what is going on to make these marks happen so often.


Your quoting a banned poster this thread is 6 years old.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

*Mod Note*

Thread closed. Another 'zombie thread'. Until we get it sorted, please check the dates of threads from 'Recommended Reading' before you reply.


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