Sam, I gotta disagree.
It really depends on the horse and his training. Yes, I have worked with a couple of Democrat horses, and it was less effort to walk to the top of the mountain than continuously kick the dirty bastard into motion.
But such a critter never made it into my remuda, except as a pack animal. My riding ponies responded instantaneously to a slight lean forward toward the saddle horn and a tightening of the knees. If they needed spurred, it was because the poor thing was simply too exhausted to respond.
