It’s only on his uniform’s right shoe. image 1 image 2
None of the other soldier appear to have it.
They look like spurs.
I believe he is a Calvalry officer, so it must be part of the uniform.
ETA: From here: http://www.royal.gov.uk/ThecurrentRoyalFamily/PrinceHarry/Militarycareer.aspx
" Prince Harry remains a Commissioned Officer in the Household Cavalry."
Yep, those are spurs.
Yeah, they are spurs, and he is wearing one his Blues and Royals dress uniforms - Household Cavalry and Guards Regiments have uniforms for every occasion 
. The other uniforms don’t have spurs because they are RAF uniforms, and hence a bit more sensible.
That sounds…dirty.
It’s on the left shoe as well. You can see it in several of the pictures in the linked article.
I kept thinking that can’t be spurs in 2014. The little pointy wheel is missing.
Here, spurs detach from the boots. I’ve seen cowboys wear them at the rodeos. They pop off easily when they aren’t needed.
thank you for clearing this up.
The U.S. Army uses them too. In Cavalry and Armor units you can wear them. But you have to earn them by going on what is called a Spur Ride and performing certain tasks. The tasks are different from unit to unit. These are similar to the spurs I earned in an Armor unit.
The little pointy wheel is called a rowel.
They are called “Prince of Wales” spurs, interestingly enough. I think only cowboys wear the “pointy wheels”. All of the spurs I have seen in the US Army are the same Prince of Wales style. I earned a pair myself.
You don’t necessarily need a rowel to control a horse. A simple poke in the abdomen usually gets the message across. Remember the horses used by the military are well trained and not wild mustangs.
They are a fine tuning aid to the rider’s communication with the horse. Sort of like the old high end stereo systems that had a small wheel within a large wheel for tuning in stations to the millimeter on the dial.
Rowels are common but not essential on western (cowboy) spurs. English spurs are blunt, just like the Prince’s. Those are just ordinary English spurs.
I thought I understood that the basic aids, in order from finest to grossest, were; shifting your weight, leg pressure, etc.; above that was the use of the reins; first just moving the rein off/on of the neck, then engaging the bit; then, finally spurs - in that order?
I’ve seen people move horses laterally just with leg pressure and get them to move forward and backward just by leaning in the desired direction with no other aids, including reins, at all.
(Mind you, this was a cooperative horse (from the Doc Bar line of cutting horses - Bar Dandy Flynn) with a good relationship with the rider.)
CMC fnord!
Some horse racing allows whips, which probably comes just before spurs. I suppose spurs are the “charge into infantry” last resort.
- Heh, very subtle