I've had a long association with the OTTB - as a competitor, trainer, coach. I love how sensitive and smart they are - brave and bold too! These sensitive types of horse (of any breed) tend to over-react to traditional sharp-ended spurs. Very often when traditional spurs are used the horse will pin its' ears, swish their tail, even grind their teeth. They can remain tense and anxious as they know what you have on your boot.
In 2008 I had a lovely OTTB "Royal" who was an opinionated soul and I dare not use a sharp-ended spur on him. I thought a larger, kinder contact surface could achieve the lateral work without offending the horse or making him hotter. I had a neighbour make me a prototype of the spur I envisioned and I tried it on Royal. That was a big day!
After the initial warm-up I started to ask for lateral work using my prototype spur and his ears never moved!! That's exactly what it should be! No stress, no overreaction.
And that is how the Spursuader was born! It's proven time and again to be a very useful tool for both english and western riders that are not comfortable using a harsher type of spur.
Olympians, top trainers and riders right across the industry have been spotted using the Spursuader.
Read what equestrians using the Spursuaders have to say... read more
