Author: Richard Winters

PERFORMANCE HORSEMANSHIP WITH RICHARD WINTERS   Recently our family has started a new...

I train horses and conduct horsemanship clinics for a living. My job requires that I ride numerous horses on any given day. By this time in my career, I suppose I have ridden thousands of horses. These horses have ranged from un-started colts to backyard pleasure horses to the finished bridle horse.

Spurs are associated with horsemanship, right along-side bits and saddles. Yet there remains confusion and sometimes intimidation in regard to their use in some riders’ minds. This article is an attempt to “demystify” spurs and discuss who should use them along with when and how.

When I was 15 years old, a friend loaned me a guitar and showed me three cords to play. I could play almost every cowboy western song I knew with just those three cords! It’s now over thirty years later and I still enjoy playing my guitar. Someone told me recently, “Richard, I don’t know of anyone who has played as long as you have played and improved as little as you have improved!”