Assessing Forces Exerted on Horses Using Varying Riding Crops

Abstract

There is a multitude of whips and riding crops. It is assumed that the whip in Thoroughbred racing must be padded and designed to be energy-absorbing. The new whips have a cushion made of softer material to be presumably more ethical when used on the horses. This study quantifies the forces exerted on a flat target plate using three different riding crops. The goal is to comparatively determine which one is less likely to leave a mark on the equine skin when the same bending level of the crop cores is achieved. Counterintuitively, it is shown that the riding crop even when its popper is made of softer material can still exert forces larger than the traditional crops with stiffer poppers made of leather. The resulting force depends on the combination of the core and the popper, but the crop core appears to have a more significant role than the crop popper.

Keywords: Crop; Equestrian; Forces; Horse riding; Whip.