I was wondering this during finals, when some top horses went around with fresh body clips with fuzzy squares behind the girth. I totally understand why people do it, and how some horses are more sensitive than others, it just seems surprising it was so prevalent in the major medal finals.
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i mean i personally find it to be incredibly tacky and in very poor taste, and a strategically unwise choice in the eq ring.
if the point of the equitation is being so skilled that your efforts and choices over difficult courses appear effortless, why in the world would you call attention to the fact that you aren’t skilled enough with your artificial aids to be able to use them without a visual cover for spur rubs
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Full disclosure, I’ve never left spur patches on a horse (though my old gelding would have benefitted from them!), but I would think that some horses are so sensitive that when clipped, any friction on their barrel will cause a rub. It doesn’t even have to be from an incorrectly applied spur or a leg that moves around too much. There’s going to be friction even if the rider’s leg is perfectly still. Unless the rider’s leg isn’t touching the horse at all, but that would be a much bigger equitation problem! Clippers don’t leave very much hair behind so there’s not very much protection if a horse is already thin skinned.
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Not to mention the hours and hours and hours and hours these horses are ridden.
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My daughter rubbed my mare without spurs in. Her leg is quiet but her boots have a snap over cover for the bottom of her zip and that is what causes the issue. She has to use a spur guard (yes those nasty black bands) while she has these boots. Her next set will be the same as mine hopefully and our problem will be over.
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I have honestly wondered about some boot. Now I have the answer.
I had a horse that would rub from the seam up the back of half chaps or tall boots. No spurs needed.
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Probably not an answer, but…
If the humans can do this one little thing to make these horses a tiny bit more comfortable, why not? I’m all for humane decisions to benefit the horse. (Ahem…leaving whiskers alone).
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I don’t know, but on some horses it is super, super easy to do! For example, I rubbed my older horse with the rubber coverings on my spur shanks today, while flatting. Not the spurs- which are the Stubben roller ones- but the sides of the spurs sticking to his hair and rubbing it off. I wish I had left some of those squares on when I clipped him! 
What does this mean?
So you’re saying that the Grand Prix riders who also leave spur patches on their horses are not skilled?
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Equitation horses work hard.
Whenever I see an eq horse with a spur patch in the clip, it makes me study the rider’s leg. But I’ve ridden enough chestnuts to know that some horses will get a rub if you only look at them, and I’m in favor of helping in their comfort wherever we can.
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I once had a horse I couldn’t ride for a month after I body clipped him clean. Thereafter I always left a saddle patch. I had a foxhunter (3-4 hours working tacked) who got girth rubs after he was clipped. Now I leave a tidy saddle/girth/spur patch on all of them. Obviously they don’t show hunters. Some horses are incredibly sensitive after they are clipped and a spur patch is less homely than a raw patch!
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I don’t love the way they look, but if it potentially makes a horse more comfortable and eliminates irritation, shouldn’t we be all for it? I think in the conversation about horse welfare, this should be pretty low priority. If you’ve ever had to heal a nasty spur rub, you can almost certainly understand why you’d want to avoid them in the first place.
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The texture of clipped hair just seems to create more rubs when any friction is applied to it. My same horses who live in fly sheets, masks and hoods in the summer never get rubs, yet in the winter when clipped end up bald over their shoulders and sometimes even in the back of the saddle pad just from the tiny amount of saddle movement when sitting the trot or canter (yes the saddles fit, yes I had the vet check their backs because I’m neurotic).
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My thin-skinned gelding gets rubs on his girth area if I use a shoulder guard with an elastic strap. This year I got a Bossy Bib and no problem. He has gotten less tolerant of the heat as he’s gotten older, so he’s also clipped in the summer, and I have no problem with rubs from his fly sheet.
Bell boots with fleece also rub his pasterns, so he’s just a sensitive dude.
But not ones without fleece??! Or does he just not wear belt boots?
(Sorry for going off topic. Just curious because when I got my ottb it was fleece everything fore him!)
I am pretty sure a couple of horses at Maclay finals had spur patches. do whats best for the horse
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Yep. Agreed. I feel like the fall is a time where it’s typically happening the most and quite frankly, if it’s hairy vs bloody sides… I’m all for it for the horse’s sake. Why are we seeing it more? Probably bc there’s more and more push rides from clunky warmbloods vs hot TBs… I happened to have a somewhat quiet TB and even 20 years ago it was still happening to me (along with rain rot and a plethora of other fun sensitive horse issues from head to tail that made indoors always a really dicey situation with clipping).
It’s equitation… the focus is on the rider, and it’s neat and tidy way to make horse and rider comfortable. See no problem with it.
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Precisely.
@seviceably_unsound
Why would you think it was a skill issue? I assure you it goes beyond an aptitude factor.
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