Spurs and the Great West

[nrobertb]

For a change of pace, here I am with the afore mentioned saddle. No spurs.

[nrobertb]

Here is a pair of Visalia spurs. Inside the heel band it says "Visalia Stock Saddle Co. San Francisco". They were a resale outfit and sold spurs produced by many makers.

[nrobertb]

Here is a pair by Vascal.

[nrobertb]

The Visalia Co. mentioned 2 posts above sold lots of saddles. Here is a photo of a modern copy of an 1870 Texas style Visalia saddle.

[nrobertb]

Some people think spurs are to jab the horse into submission. Not so. Here is a good explanation.

[nrobertb]

Here's a pair of Crockett spurs with the original box, an unusual find.

[nrobertb]

This might be the Rocking Y Ranch in Joshua Tree, Ca.

[nrobertb]

The little curved piece on the shank is called a chap guard or chap hook, designed to keep your chaps from interfering with the rowels.

[nrobertb]

Here is an extravagant pair by Edwards. The brand looks like Rafter Lazy J.

[nrobertb]

A Mexican style pair by Griffin.

[nrobertb]

Some later spurs were serially numbered. This pair by Blanchard looks unworn.

[nrobertb]

I put the wrong pair of Blanchard spurs in the above post. This is the one I meant to show.

[OLDGUNNER]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parelli_N ... rsemanship
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It’s funny, how spurs can have so much history in Horsemanship when in reality they should have had no use at all. They were just part of a ‘UNIFORM’ of the times.
When I was a kid we had more than a dozen different horses, but usually not more than two at a time. When we first moved here my wife worked here for Pat Parelli for a while.
Pat Parelli is a real Horseman. He use to have a plane and fly between rodeos just to get in more action..and money.
He has two training facilities, the one here and one in Florida. Most of his students come from outside the country, around the world.

[OLDGUNNER]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ho ... &FORM=VIRE
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Okay, one may say that I was over simplifying the nonuse of spurs. Here are two videos, this one and the following one. I am definitely not a Horseman, so take your pick. I say that if one has to use a spur, they have not properly trained their horse. All the time that I was growing up, I do not recall seeing anyone use a spur. I think that one should ALWAYS want their horse to be their friend...and this isn’t done by punching it in the flanks with a spur. I can see where some may have trouble with an untrained horse and use them.
Usually twice a year they have a round-up of wild horses here and they sell off the good looking ones by auction, and what is left for 75 each. We went to one but they had the sale fours before the advertised time of the sale. There were maybe 100 left and the guy said, “Take your pick.” But they would not sell us one with a ‘one horse trailer’. And why I asked, “It is too dangerous to get them into the small trailer.”
I was really pushing it buying one when I was 60, so I have given up on that idea all together.
There was one guy who was buying these and trucking them to Texas and putting them on a boat and shipping them to France, where horse meat is popular.
Someone complained about this and the Government said, ‘Hey it is costing the tax payer a bunch of money maintaining these herds’. If you want them, then buy them. I don’t know how that ended up.
And now I have seen on the news that they are going to start euthanizing them. Just in one area they have 40,000 too many. I would think that if one would want a free horse, they maybe be able to come and get it. And then again, maybe they won’t bother with this.
They do have wild Burros also.

[OLDGUNNER]

http://www.capitalpress.com/Opinion/Let ... se-problem
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Just some Trivia on the wild horse problem.