3 Alternate Uses For Your Riding Crop

People ask me why I carry a crop when I go trail riding.  Aside from the obvious answer, I have a lazy horse that often needs encouragement to go faster, there are a couple of other reasons I take the crop along.

Use 1:  Fly Swatter
In the summer time, the flies and gnats can be really annoying for both Chief and me so I carry a crop as a fly swatter.  For me, when the gnats keep flying around my face, I swish it around my shoulders, bouncing from one shoulder to the other and back.  This keeps those little buggers from buzzing around my ears.  Also, Chief is plagued by those sweat flies that like to attack his ears.  I put plenty of bug spray on but he sweats and then its all over, enter the flies.  So, I use the crop to brush the flies off of his ears so he doesn't have to shake his head so much.  WARNING:  Be sure to desensitize your horse to the crop so you don't spook him by touching his ears on a ride.  As I get close to the barn, while we are cooling off after a long ride, I do weird stuff while in the saddle to try and throw Chief off.  Since he's tired this a great time to do funky stuff like run the crop over his hind end, over his ears, shift around a lot in the saddle, etc.  This gets your horse used to you not sitting prim and proper so if something spooks him or you, he won't be thrown off by you wiggling around.  It's also good in case kids ever ride your horse, gets them used to the unexpected.

Use 2:  Trail Clearer
Trails are always a work in progress in that there are often trees across the trail or bushes grow and enter the trail space.  These branches and bushes are sometimes hard to grab while riding so I use a crop to push the branches out of my way.  This can be helpful especially while going faster than a trot and keeps you from getting scraped up.

Use 3:  Brier Remover
Just like bushes and trees, briers often take over the trail especially in the summer.  Since chaps aren't a possibility in the summer, (just because its too hot) getting briers off the trail before they get to you can be a big deal.  Those briers hurt and typically will go through a pair of jeans so having a crop on the trail to push those aside keeps you from getting scraped up.

So, on your next trail ride take a crop along and have it handy for multiple uses. The crop you choose to use is also important.  I have a red one so in case I drop it, it is easy to find.  Those English black ones blend in to the scenery so having one a different color like red will stand out if you drop it.  Of course use the little wrist let on the end, but crazy things happen sometimes.

Happy Trails!