THE GRIP 79 



it is necessary to apply it with great discretion 

 and discrimination. Young horses, before they 

 have learnt its application, and when either fretting 

 against the exercises they are being asked to per- 

 form or when failing to understand the rider's 

 intention, sometimes run into the spur, that is to 

 say, instead of edging away from it, they force 

 themselves into it. When this occurs, it is not 

 only useless but wrong for the rider to push them 

 home. The spur should be used to teach a horse 

 to answer to the pressure of the leg, and when that 

 cannot be done its use is at an end. 



If it is found that the horse is running into the 

 spur, it shows that he is behind his bridle, and 

 the solution is to drop the exercise for the moment, 

 let him walk on, and start again, after he has 

 been " legged up." 



A properly used spur should seldom produce 

 blood. The spur is a menace only, and its full 

 power should only be used on rare occasions. 



The poet who wrote, " The horse is a hireling, 

 thy spurs are thine own," represented the atti- 

 tude of mind of, I fear, too many people, even 

 to-day. The bloody spur is a thing all riders 

 should be heartily ashamed of. So that when not 

 doing riding-school work, the blunt spur should be 

 used at all times. This particularly applies to 

 jumping. Even with the most experienced horse- 

 men it is impossible to prevent cutting a horse 

 with the spur on such occasions. When training 

 a horse to jump there are tw^o points we aim at. 

 The first is to get him to be fond of jumping, and 



