Review: Leather Riding Crop from Passion Craft Store

Hit me, baby, one more time.

Kinksters have co-​opted rid­ing crops for per­cus­sive main­te­nance of humans, but many of the old design prin­ci­ples still stand.

Riding crops are like a hybrid of whips, canes, and pad­dles. You could call them a hap­py medi­um for BDSM impact play, espe­cial­ly for beginners.

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What is a riding crop?

Riding crops were orig­i­nal­ly for train­ing hors­es while rid­ing them. The rid­er could grip the crop and tap the horse, urg­ing it to move for­ward, with­out:

• Losing bal­ance
• Marking the horse
• Hitting their own strad­dled legs

Form fol­lows func­tion; the crit­i­cal fea­tures of rid­ing crops reflect that, espe­cial­ly if you com­pare their sil­hou­ettes to whips with lashes.

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Differences among riding crops, whips, et al.

Relative to full whips, rid­ing crops tend to be…

Broader at the tip

Riding crops often have a thin, flex­i­ble "tongue" at the end. It spreads out the pres­sure more than a cane and reduces marks on the skin. On the flip side, rid­ing crop keep­ers also tend to be nar­row­er and more focused than paddles.

On the shorter side

A flick of the wrist is suf­fi­cient for a sig­nif­i­cant impact with a leather rid­ing crop. Whips tend to be longer, demand­ing full-​body weight shift­ing — or at least a vig­or­ous arm swing.

Firmer and more structured

Riding crops con­tain a slight­ly flex­i­ble core inside the woven leather — often fiber­glass, poly­car­bon­ate, or brass tub­ing. The one I have has fiber­glass (fiber-​reinforced plas­tic) inside. It's firmer than a whip's lash but springi­er than canes gen­er­al­ly are.

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Features of Passion Craft Store's handmade leather riding crop

Passion Craft Store is an indie arti­san shop based in Ukraine, spe­cial­iz­ing in hand­craft­ed leather impact toys. They sent me a beau­ti­ful rid­ing crop, wrapped with care in tis­sue paper and dis­creet­ly packed in a long poster mailer.

This rid­ing crop has some SERIOUS bounce to it, bend­ing back and spring­ing for­ward with gus­to. There's an audi­ble WHOOSH when you swing it. Sensation-​wise, it ranges from light taps to stingy smacks. You can, of course, also light­ly graze the edge of the flap against the receiver's skin to tease them. Or focus on using the mid-​shaft for more intense pain.

Leather tight­ly weaves over the han­dle and shaft while the "tongue" is sewn on. There's also a wrist strap affixed by met­al hard­ware. You have 12 leather col­ors to choose from — use one col­or through­out or pair two hues together.

Riding crop measurements

Length

• Overall length: 29.5" (75 cm)
• Keeper/"tongue": 3.6" (9.1 cm)
• Handle length: 7.9" (20 cm)

Width

• Keeper/"tongue": 1.8" wide (4.6 cm)
• Shaft diam­e­ter: 0.35" (0.89 cm)
• Handle min­i­mum diam­e­ter: 0.56" (1.4 cm)
• Handle max­i­mum diam­e­ter: 1.0"  (2.5 cm)

Overall, it's long and lean for a crop but still easy to con­trol, even for begin­ners to impact play.

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Why shop handmade BDSM impact toys?

If you're new to BDSM, you might be won­der­ing about the perks of buy­ing a hand­craft­ed rid­ing crop instead of a mass-​produced imple­ment. As with many cas­es, you get what you pay for.

Cheap BDSM impact toys aren't nec­es­sar­i­ly worse sensation-​wise, but they tend to be less durable and fall apart soon­er. A care­ful­ly craft­ed, authen­tic leather rid­ing crop is much more like­ly to last and hold up to intense play.

(As always, though, check your equip­ment for signs of wear and tear before use. And be sure to read through the safe­ty info in the prod­uct descriptions.)

You also get more cus­tomiz­abil­i­ty. If the options on the web­site don't quite strike your fan­cy, you can email Passion Craft Store's own­ers, Igor and Alesya, for some­thing one-of-a-kind!

Last but not least, you're vot­ing with your dol­lars, pay­ing an arti­san a fair price for their labor and expe­ri­ence. Buying hand­made means fund­ing a cre­ative person's joy and liveli­hood — take pride in that.

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Disclaimers

Hey! Passion Craft Store spon­sored this post and sent me this hand­made leather rid­ing crop free of charge for a review. Thoughts here are mine and freely expressed.

I also can't empha­size safe­ty enough. Stick to impact play on body parts with ample mus­cle or fat, such as the butt and thighs. Avoid joints, bony areas, and the abdomen. Please.