New dressage whip!

I don’t know about you, but there are some pieces of horse equipment for me that just…disappear. One of those is dressage whips. I’ve probably had half a dozen vanish on me over the years, so I learn not to get too attached to them. Granted, at least some of this is my fault, because I stick them in the holder by the edge of the ring. On the other hand…who walks off with a whip that you know isn’t yours?!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I broke one of my rules and bought a new dressage whip that I really like. So I’m trying to force myself to always bring it back to my tack trunk.

Usually for my job I have a fair amount of travel, and of course that hasn’t been the case over the last 14 months. That changed about three weeks ago, and I found myself 45 minutes ahead of schedule and passing a tack store in a part of the state I hadn’t visited in years. It was actually my main store when I lived over there, and where I bought my first show coat for IHSA, but now it’s a good 90 minutes away.

I stopped to stretch my legs and look around – it’s turned over at least two owners since the last time I was in there, and I was curious about its new selection. I was really impressed overall – they had a large selection of really good stuff!

I poked at a few things, but then I saw this whip and that was it.

The whip I am saddest about losing was a bit similar, and also from Horze. This whip was also pretty, and had something I really like in a whip: it was very long. 48″ actually, too long for regulation dressage use. Joke’s on the rules, we’re not going to compete recognized ever again!

I like them long because I like to be able to just tickle Tristan’s hind legs without moving my hands too much out of the way, and you can see in this photo (this is how I stick my whips while I’m picking his feet as we leave the ring) that it accomplishes that quite nicely. It can also double as an in-hand whip in a pinch, and sometimes I warm up his hind end crossovers in hand.

If I had a complaint it would be that this isn’t quite as flexible as I usually like a whip. I’m sure everyone has their preferred feel, when you bounce it in your hand and see how much bend it has. I like a pretty bendy whip, but this is also not the stiffest whip I’ve ever used. (I actively avoid those, I just feel like I can’t be very subtle with them.)

Here, enjoy this slightly dizzying photo of it in use.

I couldn’t find the model anymore on the Horze website (which is apparently now Equivania?) so I’m a bad blogger for not telling you where you can get your own, but I like it! Hopefully I can hang onto it for a while, as long as I remember to keep bringing it back to my tack trunk.