A spur is a metal instrument composed of a shank, neck, and prick, rowel (sharp-toothed wheel), or blunted end fastened to the heel of a cowboys or horsemans boot for the purpose of goading the horse. It is usually used to refine the aids (commands) and to back up the natural aids (the leg, seat and voice aids). The spur is used in every equestrian discipline. There are rules in most equestrian organizations about spur use and cruelty issues.

The word deribes from Anglo-saxon sputa, spora, related to spornan, spurnan, to kick, spurn; cf. Medieval HighGerman sporn, modern German Sporn, Dutch Spoor

Spurs differ between the Western and English-style disciplines. Western spurs tend to have rowels, and are designed to be used not by poking the horse, but by running the rowel across the horse's side. The spurs are usually longer, to accommodate the leg position of the Western-style rider, where the leg is held more off the side of the horse than in English-style.

English riders tend to use a spur that is shorter, as they merely need to turn their toe to activate the spur. Rowels are not as popular as a plain blunt end, although there are types that include a rowel-like end. The English spur should always be worn pointed downward, sitting on the boot's spur rest, with the buckle on the outside of the leg.

A dressage rider's spur tends to be blunt and shaped so as to give a signal but not cause pain for a horse. Their purpose is not to speed up a horse, but to give him accurate and precise aids in lateral movements or more complicated movements, such as airs above the ground. A hunter/jumper rider may use a flatter end, such as the Prince of Wales design.

No matter the discipline, it is important that a rider has a correct position before using spurs. A swinging or unstable leg may inadvertently jab the horse with the spur as the rider sits, irritating, distracting, frightening, or deadening the animal to the leg aids.

The spur's use cannot with certainty be traced further back than Roman times. Early spurs had no neck, a prick being riveted to the shank. Prick spurs had straight necks in the 11th century and bent ones in the 12th. The earliest form of the horsemans spur armed the heel with a single prick. In England the rowel spur is shown upon the first seal of Henry III, but it does not come into general use until the 14th century.

The spurs of medieval knights were gilt and those of esquires silvered. "To win his spurs" meant to gain knighthood as gilded spurs were reckoned the badge of knighthood. In the rare cases of ceremonious degradation they were hacked from the knights heels by the cooks chopper. After the battle of Courtrai, in 1302, the victors hung up bushels of gilt spurs in the churches of Kortrijk and Maastricht as trophies of what is still remembered by the Flemings as the Guldensporendag. For another reason the English named the French route beside Thérouanne as the Battle of Spurs.

In the 15th century spurs appear with very long shanks, to reach the horses flank below the outstanding bards. After this time, and until the beginning of the modern period of costume at the Stuart Restoration, they take many decorative forms, some of which remain in the great spurs worn by Mexican cavaliers.

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•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Spurs, their history and usage: http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/spurs.htm