Correct way to swap over dressage whip?

I always hit myself in the face if I do it the proper way, so instead I pull it halfway up in my hand and then change like a short whip!
 
I have never been very dextrous with whips and reins. Now I have an RS-Tor which is a strap to hang on to and swapping that over as well as the whip defeats me. The other day I was trying to shorten my reins for canter and shortened my RS-Tor instead! Normally I change my whip hand over about 3 markers after I should have. :)
 
You will have noted I did not say that is the way I do it !, just that it is the correct way of doing it. Plus the horse needs to be steady to the movement or you might just find yourself in an ejector seat doing a backwards dismount.
 
Put the new hand on the whip with the thumb next to and the pointing the same way as your little finger of the old hand .
To do this you have to flex your wrist.
Then pass the whip in front of your face by turning your wrist .
The whip will end up with your hand the right way up on the new side .
You will then have let drop through your hand until it's in the right place .
 
Goldenstar said:
Put the new hand on the whip with the thumb next to and the pointing the same way as your little finger of the old hand .
To do this you have to flex your wrist.
Then pass the whip in front of your face by turning your wrist .
The whip will end up with your hand the right way up on the new side .
You will then have let drop through your hand until it's in the right place .
Click to expand...

Great explanation, thank you. You've made it sound so simple!!
 
samisheen said:
tobiano sorry to go off topic but can i ask how do you find the rs-tor? does it help? was thinking of getting one to try
Click to expand...

(sorry OP to go off topic too :) ) I really like it, feel more confident and if you grab instinctively its the strap not the horse's mouth. My sister swears by hers too. I have come off twice since I've had it but both times was not holding it!! ;)
 
Mike flips whip up and......Bob the nota cob exits at any letter of your choice at a working gallop. Edited to add that jumping the post and rail was not a good idea Bob
 
tobiano said:
(sorry OP to go off topic too :) ) I really like it, feel more confident and if you grab instinctively its the strap not the horse's mouth. My sister swears by hers too. I have come off twice since I've had it but both times was not holding it!! ;)
Click to expand...

Brill thanks, a friend has said i can try hers to see if i like it.. thanks
 
I do the up and over flick, and can safely say that I have never hit myself! However, I have given myself a nosebleed with my own fist doing up a girth - karma always gets you in the end!
 
Auslander said:
I do the up and over flick, and can safely say that I have never hit myself! However, I have given myself a nosebleed with my own fist doing up a girth - karma always gets you in the end!
Click to expand...

Oh no!

I do 'up and over' too - now having to think about how I do it! I think I generally do it like this...

(E.g. whip starts in left hand) Both hands turn inwards and upside down simultaneously - when left hand turns over, whip points straight up. I rotate left hand a bit further than right, so whip crosses in front of me. Right hand (upside down) grabs whip handle. Both hands rotate back into normal position and whip comes down with right hand. It's much much quicker than it sounds! Tend to give with my reins slightly a fraction before so horse doesn't get confused when I twist my hands.


Have never hit myself in the face with whip :P or when doing girth :P but have smacked myself in the face with a rug strap (don't even ask... I couldn't figure out then how it happened and I sure can't now) so Auslander is definitely right about karma!
 
LittleGinger said:
(E.g. whip starts in left hand) Both hands turn inwards and upside down simultaneously - when left hand turns over, whip points straight up. I rotate left hand a bit further than right, so whip crosses in front of me. Right hand (upside down) grabs whip handle. Both hands rotate back into normal position and whip comes down with right hand. It's much much quicker than it sounds! Tend to give with my reins slightly a fraction before so horse doesn't get confused when I twist my hands.
Click to expand...

Thats really easy to visualise, thank you :)
 
I used to do up and over, but now riding at a classical dressage school and do it totally differently but cannot explain how! I move the reins into one hand and slide the whip through the hand currently holding it, into the new hand and then down again. I was old that this is the correct way and this school compete all over the world so I believed them!!
 
Popos said:
I used to do up and over, but now riding at a classical dressage school and do it totally differently but cannot explain how! I move the reins into one hand and slide the whip through the hand currently holding it, into the new hand and then down again. I was old that this is the correct way and this school compete all over the world so I believed them!!
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting. Which hand do you put your reins into? And how do you slide the whip up through your hand?
 
I can't really explain it any differently, if I could post a vid on here I could show you! If whip is in the left hand, you move reins into left hand (but keeping hands together so you don't really see this) then take top of whip with the right hand and pull it up through the left hand and then down and take the reins back into both hands. Thinking about it I guess it's a variation on what you do with a short crop?
 
It also astonishes me how few riders can bring a short whip from the carry position into action(reversing it in their hand).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top