Opinion piece on whips. Interesting read

[kenyarider]

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/opinion-its-time-to-let-go-of-the-whip/

[StormyDay]

A whip is something you don’t need until you do. It’s a tool to say ‘hey now, we really do need to pay attention and go forward’. Not a thing to punish the horse with. Spurs are the same; a tool that can be misused. And I see he wears those.

I would much rather give a green horse a quick tap in front of a fence so he jumps it and goes away from that round thinking ‘I did it!’ Than have a stop and have the horse thinking ‘wow, that jump was scary. I’m scared.’

Also, on a personal level, I have a bad knee. I also have a horse that when he was younger and greener really needed a forward ride to the first jump on course. I couldn’t get in a deep driving seat and PUSH with my legs because it would only be one leg… so we would have gone sideways. So the crop was essential. One quick touch a few strides out from the first jump was all we needed. It would have been hard for me to get that done without a whip.

[trubandloki]

In case anyone wants to read the comments in the other thread on this topic, there is a thread in the eventing forum about this article too.

Op Piece - Banning Whips in Competition

Full disclosure, I’m no event rider (mostly the jumper ring for me) however the article was penned by an Eventer. https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/opinion-its-time-to-let-go-of-the-whip/ I think he makes a great point re social license. But I’m not fully convinced that removing the whip entirely is the correct answer. I feel like there are some situations where a well timed application can make a difference between a successful jump effort and a crash. Maybe the answer is to pull up instea…

[Calvincrowe]

What we need is education for the rider. Whips, crops and spurs have their place as aids, not tools of punishment. Quality instruction and a willingness of trainers to speak up and redirect clients and use the tools like stewards at shows are the first step.

[CBoylen]

For the most part the whip is an aid, but what are you going to do to correct a horse that kicks out at another horse for example? There are times where a whip is absolutely an appropriate punishment.

[SonnysMom]

My appendix QH can get a little behind the leg, especially in the summer, if you don’t carry a crop. I normally lightly tap him with it once or twice behind my leg to let him know I have it. After that I don’t need it. He seems to know that I have it available.
I will sometimes add a Prince of Wales type spur in the worst of the heat. He can get a bit quiet.

[RedHorses]

The impression I got from the article was to remove the whip from competition, not entirely.