Awarded Your Cavalry Spurs
July 16, 2009 by Aaron Shanty
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The use of boot or heel spurs in a cavalry is a practice that historically was practiced in various different countries. Cavalry spurs were determined as a show of military rank and overall experience in the cavalry and spurs were given to those cavalrymen who had progressed onto being more advanced than just one of the new recruits.
There is an old civil war tradition known as the “Spur Ride” where all of the new cavalry and military recruits perform a series of tests and events designed to test their skill on top of their horse. Also they were then checked on their knowledge of the rules, regulations and history of the cavalry, which they were expected to remember and recite these facts from only their memory. The Spur ride became a way that soldiers were able to “earn their spurs” to prove that they had become better horse riders and soldiers than newer recruit.
After the soldiers had been involved in their first fight, they were awarded a 2nd set of spurs as a form of medal and then were accepted in to “The Order Of The Spur”. The spurs and a certificate were mostly given during a special banquet or event that was known as a “Spur Dinner” where all of new recruits were given their heel spurs, details of comrades killed in battle were read out and any other medals and awards were presented. As well as getting the boot spurs, the soldiers were also given a stetson hat, which was also a sign of accomplishment within the ranks.
The soldiers in the cavalry that had earned their spurs were perceived as a better rank and level than those in the cavalry who had none or were yet to “earn their spurs”. The soldiers may have been of a similar rank, the fact that they had already “earned their spurs” during battle, as part of the “Spur Ride” or a task was a sign of their seniority over those who had yet to earn them.
Cavalry boot spurs were primarily manufactured using silver and were mainly styled on the English Prince Of Wales spurs. Sets of gold boot spurs were awarded to soldiers of higher military rank or those that had been involved in a larger amount of combat scenarios.
There are many types of boot spurs that have been worn and used over Western America. If you come over to the authors web site, you can find a lot more information about heel spurs and see some pictures of Cavalry Spurs and find out detail about the people that made them.
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