What is a spur stop?

Question

I am trying to buy my wife a really well bred show horse as a surprise gift. I'm not an English rider but I know the basics and I know how to select a good horse. I found one and I've watched her, and she is just perfect. But in conversation with the owner and she said well she will completely work from the seat and legs, but she won't spur stop. I was embarrassed to admit I didn't know what that was, so I let it go by. What the heck is a spur stop? Is it when you signal the horse to stop with your heels somehow?

Answer 1

Both of my horses have spur stops it is with or without spurs you squeeze with you heels and the horse will stop so when the owner said the horse dosent have a spur stop that means the horse will not stop when you have pressure with your heels.

Answer 2

You'll press your spurs into your horse's side and sit very deep in the saddle, you may also lean a bit back,  to ask the horse to slow down or stop...the degree of pressure applied determines whether or not the horse slows or stops completely......the other manuver used is to lope your horse with their hindquarters (haunches in) movement toward the inside of the arena....you'll see horses moving in crab like movement with their heads moving toward the wall.....purportedly this is another way to "slow" them down....they look ridiculous.

  

Spur stop controversy

A new fad, seen in nearly all breeds, requires a horse to perform with an extremely loose, draped rein at all times. Western pleasure horses have always traveled on a fairly loose rein, but in recent years the visible "drape" in the rein has become exaggerated.[4] However, it requires time, good riding ability, and careful training to correctly teach a horse "self carriage," particularly to slow or stop by responding to only a rider's use of seat position (and sometimes voice) without tightening the reins.[5] Thus, an alternative method of training to slow a horse down without the use of the reins gave rise to a new, highly controversial, technique known as the "spur stop," an unconventional method used by some trainers to train horses to slow down and stop when spur pressure is applied.

Because spur, heel or leg pressure is generally used to ask a horse to go faster, this technique is sometimes referred to by its critics as "riding the brake" and is frowned upon by several major western pleasure sanctioning organizations since at least 2003, when AQHA put out a series of videos on correct and incorrect style and way of going for western pleasure horses, showing a "hit list" of undesirable traits not to be rewarded in the show ring, with the spur stop leading the list.[6]

This controversy in Western Pleasure circles resembles the debate over Rollkur in the field of dressage, particularly over the question of whether the practice constitutes animal abuse.

Experts differ on the validity of the spur stop. As stated by trainer Bob Avila: "the spur stop is “the worst thing ever invented. If I were to get a horse in for training that had a spur stop on him, I could do one event on him, period: Western pleasure.” Taking the opposing view, Mark Sheridan, an AQHA judge and trainer, has said: "You should not have any problems with the spur stop, and the transition to whatever events you decide to do with [the horse]. Personally, I put a spur stop on just the stop and back, on my western riders."

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Just some thoughts from two of the top trainers in the nation...for myself, no way will I ever put a spur stop on a horse.....A spur stop is a very big deal....nothing to poo poo;you'd best know how to ride it.

Answer 3

it most likely means that the horse isnt spur trained... basically spur training is for higher levels of showing.. so instead of using spurs to speed up a horse, they work off spurs. such as getting leads.. usually they get all their cues from spurs if they are spur trained and if you cue the spurs the right way they slow down.. and another way they will come to a stop. its so you dont have to move your body much when showing so it looks like a smoother ride.. its more of a hassle if you have a spur trained horse and you dont know how to ride using spur cues.. you have to learn basically.

if she doesnt spur stop then you probably have to lean back in your seat or pull on the reins.. which in showing doesnt look as nice as your entire body staying still except your heals that are barely noticeable and suddenly the horse just stops like magic.. or so it would appear.

if your wife isnt planning on showing in higher level shows, she will be fine without spur stops, but if she wants to show in high levels, it something you may want to get help with to learn.

hope it helps!

Answer 4

It means if she has spurs on it might be hard to stop that horse.

Good Luck =]

Answer 5

I have never heard of a spur stop. but dont be afraid to ask questions, especially when buying a horse! Im thankfull that i asked questions when i looked for my horse!!

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

Spur stop is basically this:  When you cue the horse to stop, you press the spur in to the horse's side and that is the cue to stop.  The idea is that you could get away from moving your hands to cue the stop, and the pressure against the horses side will hold your leg still during the halt.  I am not personally a fan of the spur stop, the biggest reason is that I don't understand how the horse is supposed to understand the difference between leg pressure to go forward and the pressure to stop.

I hope that this helps clear up the mystery

Answer 7

the spur stop is when the spurs are used to cue a horse to stop. the horse is trained where if you wrap your legs around their sides and squeeze, they will slow down. a spur stop is not a huge deal; if she doesnt have one, its not important. my horse doesnt have it, and it never kept me from winning any classes. all i would do is shift my weight just so, and hum a short, low note without opening my mouth, and he would stop on a dime beautifully. and to break from canter to trot, i would hum slightly higher and longer, and he would drop with no problems. so a spur stop isnt really needed, and if you are doing more than showing, it kind of gets in the way.