In case you didn’t know, a riding crop is an “implement” or whip which is primarily designed for whipping horses during horse-riding races to make them go faster or encourage them to do things. However, they’re also very popular in BDSM as impact tools, finding a second niche as BDSM spanking tools for beginners and advanced spankers alike!
As animal rights movements grow stronger, the excessive use of riding crops has come under fire in horseracing, with some Jockey Club committees seeking to ban or reduce to use of these whips. Hopefully that won’t expand to include erotic spanking on humans!
Most modern riding crops consist of a fiberglass shaft which is firm yet flexible and covered in leather or a similar material. The handle is usually thicker than the main shaft, making it easier to hold, and the whipping end has a tress, leather tongue, cord, or a similar piece of material called a “keeper” or a “popper” which is the part that hits the horse/human.
In this guide I want to introduce you to riding crops, explain why impact play is so popular, and give you my recommendations for the 5 best riding crops for BDSM that I’ve found online. Let’s go!
Using Riding Crops for Impact Play
Impact play refers to any kind of sexual or BDSM-related activity where one person hits another person consensually for the purposes of sexual pleasure. Impact play is often experienced in addition to sensation play, where a dominant partner may tease a submissive partner by exposing them to certain sensations with erotic BDSM tools.
For example, a "Cat of Nine Tails" whip can be stroked across the skin seductively, perhaps even tickling the sub before suddenly being cracked across their butt or another safe spanking area. When it comes to riding crops, the dom often strokes the crop across the sub’s bottom, teasing them as they anticipate a spanking from the riding crop.
Only a few areas of the body are safe to spank/impact with decent force – mainly the butt, the back/front of the thighs, and the forearms. Be sure to avoid spanking someone’s love-handles, as you run the risk of damaging their kidneys.
With impact play, it’s important to set boundaries and safewords, especially if you’re going to be spanking pretty hard. Many subs use the “green, yellow, red” safe word code to indicate how painful the impact is becoming. For example, “green” would mean “that feels great, keep going”; “yellow” would mean “that’s good but I’m approaching my pain limit”; and “red” would mean “stop immediately”.
It’s easy for the lines between pleasure and pain to blur, but every sub has a pain threshold where it stops being sexy and it starts becoming dangerous. I’m a wimp so mine’s pretty low.
Why are BDSM Crops so Damn Erotic?
I mean, why is lingerie erotic? Why is sweat erotic? Why is being blindfolded erotic? We could talk all day about complex biology and the wiring of the biggest erogenous zone – the brain – but it’s kind of difficult to explain an innate human interest in something, erotic or not.
Nonetheless, after my little spiel there, I’ll try to give you the common reasons that spanking is so erotic and popular in the BDSM world.
Masochism
Some people simply derive sexual pleasure from pain. They might like vanilla sexy spanking or they might like serious impact play with BDSM crops, paddles, whips, and chains. Masochists find pain and/or humiliation sexually arousing, although everyone has their limits.
If someone’s need for masochism interferes with their personal life, they may suffer from sexual masochism disorder, but this isn’t the case for most people.
Punishment/ Submissiveness
Many sexy spanking fans enjoy impact play because it makes them feel like they’ve been naughty and they’re being punished by their dom. Similarly, being spanked symbolizes one partner being submissive and the other being dominant, and that power-play relationship is a turn-on in itself for many. OTK spanking (over the knee spanking) is commonly accompanied with verbal cues like “you’ve been a bad boy/girl” which indicate a power dynamic between the spanker and spankee.
Roleplay
A lot of roleplays revolve around the idea of being spanked or “punished” for one's actions. For example, schoolboy/schoolgirl and teacher roleplays often involve spanking, as well as parent and child roleplays (i.e. a “daddy” spanking his “son” for misbehaving).
There’s actually a whole porn site dedicated to spanking (NSFW!) for guys and gals who are fans of erotic spanking scenes.
Anticipation
If they’re blindfolded, facing away, or enjoying some OTK spanking, then the spankee won’t be able to see the spanker. This creates excitement and anticipation as the bottom nervously awaits the next impact. This excitement is heightened if the dom teases the sub by gently rubbing or stroking their ass with the riding crop/flogger between spanks.
The Best Riding Crops for BDSM
There’s actually a fair amount of variation in BDSM riding crops, so here I’ve taken 5 of my favorite crop whips to share with you!
BDSM Riding Crops in Various Colors
Black is so played-out!
If plain black is a little bit too boring for you, these riding crops from Bliss BDSM come in various colors including black, red, green, blue, purple, white, gold, and custom combinations. The crops whips are made from 100% genuine braided leather, giving the crops a unique and classy feel.
At 29 inches, these crops are quite large and imposing – great for instilling fear in your sub. They also come with soft pouches for storage when not in use, and you can rest assured that they arrive in discreet packaging. Overall, these are great customizable riding crops with a unique aesthetic.
In case you were thinking that these crops might be for horses, the Etsy product picture depicts a woman licking the popper seductively. She’s either a spanking fan or a really hungry jockey.
PROS: Genuine braided leather, multiple colors and mixtures available
CONS: Pricey
Best Faux Leather Riding Crop
Sexy spanking can be vegan too!
This faux leather riding crop from Bondage Boutique is actually quite small and portable, measuring a mere 18 inches from tip to tip. In case I hadn’t mentioned it enough times already, this crop is totally animal-free, which makes it ideal for vegans and veggies like myself who enjoy the aesthetic of a real leather riding crop.
There’s a wrist loop included which allows you to perform some aggressive sexy spanking without losing the crop – it also makes it very easy to hang this crop on a coat hook or door hook when not in use. Furthermore, the crop handle is textured and ergonomic, so you can be certain that this crop won’t fly out of your hand mid-play.
PROS: Small and portable, faux leather, 100% vegan
CONS: Quite gentle compared to other crops on this list
Heart-Shaped BDSM Crop
Leave cute little heart marks on their bum
This cute BDSM crop with a heart-shaped popper is actually made from nothing but ABS plastic and silicone. I assume that it’s hypoallergenic, but they don’t say “medical-grade” silicone and it is very cheap, so take that with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, this cute heart-shaped riding crop can leave some adorable heart-shaped bruises on your sub’s bottom.
This is the riding crop that a Japanese kawaii anime girl would hold while she coyly giggles with her hand over her mouth.
At 28 inches long, you’re getting a decent amount of riding crop for what you’re paying here. This BDSM spanking tool is actually part of the Fetish Fantasy series by Pipedream, a US sex toy company that's been going since 1973. Call me old-fashioned, but I like buying ball gags and bondage ropes from companies that have been proving themselves for decades.
PROS: Heart-shaped popper, 28 inches long, unique design
CONS: Quite gentle
Best Wide-End Riding Crop for BDSM
Extra-wide for those really mouthy subs
When it comes to BDSM spanking tools and other bondage gear, you can’t go wrong with StockRoom. They might not have the cheapest prices, but you’re paying for the high-quality of their stuff. This riding crop is no exception – its shaft is made from reinforced graphite and the handle from genuine leather. At 26 inches long and featuring an extra-wide popper for added surface area, this riding crop gives you the maximum spank for your buck!
PROS: Reinforced graphite shaft, high-quality construction, leather handle
CONS: Pricey
Best Amazon Riding Crop
An actual equestrian riding crop on Amazon
Just to be clear, this Amazon riding crop is actually a real horseriding crop designed for horses. Nonetheless, many of the customers have clearly bought it as a cheap BDSM spanking tool. You can actually see reviews from jockeys saying things like “anyone actually buy this for a horse?” and reviews from BDSM fans saying things like “perfect for all my horse riding needs 
” with 1,000 suggestive wink faces after every sentence.
The stem of this 19-inch riding crop is made from nylon-wrapped PVC fiberglass, so it’s strong but it has some natural bend to it. The popper is made from 100% genuine leather, and the crop as a whole is very lightweight and easy to use. However, bear in mind that the grip isn’t cushioned (it’s designed for jockeys) so it’s not very comfortable to hold in your hand.
PROS: Genuine leather, 19-inch real riding crop, PVC fiberglass, lightweight
CONS: Grip isn’t cushioned
Wrapping up Riding Crops
Hopefully you enjoyed this foray into the world of riding crop BDSM tools! Remember to be careful, get consent, and use safe words and/or safe signals depending on whether the sub is gagged or not. Also, if someone gives you a riding crop as a present, remember not to look a gift horse in the mouth. There. I did a horse pun. I had to do one somewhere.
Have fun!
