# Whip or No Whip?



## Tayz (Jan 24, 2009)

Which do you prefer?

Using a whip to control the horse beneath you?
Or​Using natrual ways to get the horse going.

I personally believe that no horse deserve's being whipped. Sure, some people just give a small tap and stuff, I'm not criticising anyone who does use one. I just don't like whips....

What do you think?

(No Fighting over this topic, no answer is the right answer, it's your personal choice)​


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## claireauriga (Jun 24, 2008)

I think a crop is a perfectly acceptable means of giving leg aids where the rider is not able to give strong enough aids with their legs.


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

I personally dont use riding crops but if used properly I dont have a problem with people that do use them. I will throw a pair of spurs on if needed


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## Snaffle (Nov 5, 2008)

I'm all for crops being used if the 'natural' way isn't working. I don't mean abusing the horse with it though.


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## wanderlust (Nov 18, 2008)

It depends on the horse I am riding. I use it sparingly when I do carry it.


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## Xoras (Sep 23, 2008)

At the moment I don't ride with a crop, but usually when I do, I give the horse a tap when they're being lazy and not doing what I ask.

I'm fine with people using them as long as they don't whack the horse or anything.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

I've never ridden with whips or spurs. I'd rather go down the road of figuring out how to make my horse want to do what i want... I guess more the training side of things as opposed to the 'results, now!' side of things. My horse I have now was lazy as when i got him. It was simply a matter of teaching him that moving forward off a cluck and a squeeze was a lot easier.


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## Kianne (Jan 10, 2009)

I've never used one, but i think if they are used properly then there fine.


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

I use a crop, but I don't like to. If I can avoid using it, I will. I refuse to wear spurs, though. It's all just personal preference.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Tayz said:


> Using a whip to control the horse beneath you?
> Or​Using natrual ways to get the horse going.​


Used correctly - a whip (crop, bat) or spurs are used to reinforce the cue given by your seat and legs.


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## Tayz (Jan 24, 2009)

yeah, but some people kick the horse too hard with their spurs and it can really hurt the horse. If you use spurs correctly then they are fine...
It is amazing how if these items are used correctly they are fine by many....

Out of curiousity, what would everyone do if someone wasn't using them correctly and was hurting the horse?

Me? I would go over and tell the girl/guy how to use it correctly or take them off of her and discourage her/him.


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## moomoo (Feb 21, 2007)

I usually carry a whip but never really use it, moo only needs a waft of it to realise what she has done isnt what I wanted. The only thing I will say is that people sitting on horses and jumping or whatnot isn't really natural anyway, like a horse having a bit in its mouth. As long as the horse seems pretty happy I'm not fussy what the rider is using


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## Shellbe (Mar 19, 2009)

I try very hard to avoid having to use any artificial aids such as spurs and whips. But if needed, after working with a horse which I've exhausted many different ways in which to avoid using a whip or spurs; I will use them. It's all a matter of appropriate use, as well as how the horse reacts. Many horse's will realise that: "okay I've just been told to wake up at listen because I'm being asked something" (for example). These horse's will merely 'pick up' and continue being ridden seemingly unphased by the use of the whip. But some horses really shouldn't have a whip used on them no matter what. As their response to it's use shows they are not acceptive of it at all, and so it is not appropriate. So the use of the whip in regards to it's appropriateness can vary in my opinion. If that makes sense. 

With most of the horses I ride/educate I don't use a whip, and if I do, it's often only now and again if I need to get a horse's attention/response. I really do not like to use them though. However some horses, wether it's their mentality in regards to dominance and submission in their relationship with humans, gender and thus hormones and increased dominating behaviours (talking stallions here) do require the use of a whip. Simply because many other means of having the upper hand in a human-horse relationship don't have the affect (for lack of better word) to inforce/maintain the dominant one. And so, the whip (or lead rope even) is a short, sharp, immediate way to 'lay down the law' so-to-speak. This is the downside of riding and working with stallions as most have had the whip introduced to them as a dominance tool as well as a training tool and it's often something they tend to rely on in controlling their behaviour. :/ Not all of them, but some of them do. Don't want to seem like I'm saying that stallions are the wild uncontrollable beasts some make them out to be. There are many darling ones around . 

Of course outright flogging a horse is down right uncalled for. Although I have seen some horses which have benefitted from a flogging (not drawing blood and the most horribly imaginable event I thought they would end up as , but still horrid), merely because their dominance could only be countered by it. I certainly didn't like it at the time and a lot of words was said (or screamed rather), and I was quite ready to take the horse out of the hands of the handler or separate the 2 in some way. I still don't like it, and I never will. With a particular horse I felt that all was needed wa a completely different approach, but unfortunately what happenned happenned. :l

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tayz, I'd probably take them off him or her . While possibly fighting the urge to use (talking the whip here) them on the person (shame on me ). I don't mean that nastily, like beating them or anything. But if they feel what their horse feels it can teach em alot sometimes. 

Interesting Thread .


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## trashcore (Feb 22, 2009)

I pretty much always carry a crop while riding my Standardbred Gelding simply due to his stubbornness. I only hit him once in a blue moon though. 
Simply moving it makes him go. 

When it comes to other horses that don't need whips though, I would never carry one. Skittish horses or forward moving horses for example.


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## Flojo (Mar 14, 2009)

I never use a whip as i think that they are wrong and do hurt horses 
But it is your own opinion


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

I personally don't like to use one - usually just because it's another thing to worry about dropping lol!! I don't have anything against them though, I know a lot of people who use them -- as long as they're used to tap and not BEAT the horse, and as long as it's as a reinforcement to the natural aids, I think it's fine.


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## horseoffire (Apr 7, 2009)

I use spurs, but when i do dressage i hold the dressage whip. when i jump thought my horse can be rather lazt so i hold the crop but i never hit them with it. welll ocasonly when im training babys i need them thought


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## Joshie (Aug 26, 2008)

Some people are far harsher with their hands than those who use spurs or crops would ever be.

I sometimes ride a horse who is ridden by many different people, including children. Because of this, sometimes he gets a bit testy. He likes to test the rider at times. He sometimes forgets that I'm a stubborn mamma. A very light flick of a crop can do wonders. Heck, I know that my leg pressure is more intense than the light flick of the crop. But....a he can see the crop out of the corners of his eyes so it can be more effective than leg pressure at times.

To me, it's an awful lot like spanking a child. It's much more humane, IMO, to spank a child (we're not talking about beating a child or a horse) than it is to let a child do what he wishes. Just as I'd spank my young child for running out into the street so that he won't do it again and be killed the next time, I would use a crop on my horse. 

I can't think of any method of discipline that can't be used harshly and inappropriately.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I hate to say I use a whip stick or whatever is handy when I can't get my point across in any other way.:shock:
We are saddle breaking a couple of 3 year olds. We rode Saturday in the round pen just doing walk, whoa, back lesson under saddle. Saro would not go forward so I grabbed a saddle string and tapped her on the butt with it. She walked out. :lol: I've decided to carry a crop from now on. I use it as the final cue when nothing else is getting the point across.


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## azarni (Aug 17, 2008)

I sometimes use one on my lesson horse. I always start the lesson without it, but if he's being lazy I'll grab one. However, I have actually never had to use it on him. Just the mere presence of it really smartens him up, and he becomes much more responsive to my leg. 
However, I don't like the fact that he almost relies on it - without a whip, he is like a totally different horse. I have slowly been trying to carry one less and less often. On Monday he was energetic enough that I didn't need a whip the entire lesson.
I'm not sure why he's so responsive just to its presence, but it makes me wonder if one of the other students is using a whip a little too much.


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## Kentucky (Aug 2, 2008)

Used correctly - a whip (crop, bat) or spurs are used to reinforce the cue given by your seat and legs. 

I agree 100% with that, i have never used any of the personally and there have being times when I should of but it didn't have it with me.


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## Sophie19 (Apr 13, 2009)

I used one when Hershey took up the habit of refusing jumps. Most of the time I would tap my boot with the crop to make a sound, instead of taping him, otherwise I got a more extreme reaction than I was looking for.


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## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

I use crops and whips, but only as a training aid, not for inflicting pain.


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

the whip is an extention to your arm. that is all. used in that manner, and not for a beatdown, it's great.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

I feel a crop is perfectly acceptable as a reinforcement for aids that the horse understands but is choosing to ignore. I don't always ride with one, but sometimes there is a time and a place for them and certain horses just need that reinforcement to realize you mean business.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

I use a dressage whip when I'm teaching Norman to pick up the canter. That helps him stay sensitive to my leg aids and not become dead to the spurs. I don't have anything against crops or whips as long as they're used correctly. I think all new riders should carry nothing more than a short crop, though. Whips are too harsh for an inexperienced rider and are easy to overdo. 

I prefer spurs over crops because the reinforcement should ideally come from the leg, but some horses need more. But hey, if your horse doesn't need crops or spurs, that's awesome.


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