In which hand should you carry your whip when hacking down the road? I am right handed and prefer to carry my whip in that hand even if I am on the left side of the hounds.
I am right handed but prefer to carry the whip in my left. You should get comfortable with the whip in either hand.
I try to keep my whip in the hand closest to the hounds if I’m close in with the hounds/in a situation where its use might be necessary. I also tend to prefer to carry it in my right hand, so I’m trying to remind myself to practice holding it in my left hand as well even in situations that don’t require it. This isn’t something anyone has specifically told me and I’m a (very) amateur whip, so this advice may not be worth much!
It should be in the hand closest to the hounds when in proximity to hounds.
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Always on the right. If I have to get off for any reason, I don’t have to move the whip from left hand to right if I’m already holding it in the right. Same with mounting up. The whip should be out of your way, and holding it in the right hand accomplishes that.
If you merely need to drop the lash for hounds on your left then just drape the lash of the whip over your horse’s withers. Then when you need to bring the lash up, just hold your right arm outwards with whip in hand to draw the lash up quietly along the horse’s shoulder, and then bring your right arm back into position and gather the lash which is laying ready across your horse’s withers. If you have the whip in your left, then you have to flick it to get the lash to rise up enough to grab it midway, and that makes too much of a visual “negative signal” to any hounds, or horses within sight.
Using your whip to open gates - use it in whatever hand is necessary. Just don’t unroll your lash.
