To train a horse that’s both responsive and relaxed, you have to balance impulsion exercises with suppling exercises. Too much of either one is no good. “If you focus on only impulsion exercises, your horse will readily move forward, but he’ll likely be stiff and heavy. If you only work on suppling exercises, your horse will be soft and light, but when you ask him to move forward, he’ll cop an attitude,” Clinton explains.
When he begins to work on suppling exercises with a horse, Clinton introduces spurs as a training aid. “Spurs are nothing more than an extension of your leg, just as the Handy Stick is an extension of your arm when you’re doing groundwork,” he says. “Spurs are only to be used to move the horse’s five body parts and to soften and supple his body. They should never be used to get a horse to speed up or to make up for shortcomings in a horse’s training.”
In the summer 2018 No Worries Journal, Clinton explains why or why not a rider should use spurs and how to safely introduce using them to a horse. Read the article now by logging on to the Downunder Horsemanship app or the No Worries Club website.
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