A crop, sometimes called a riding crop or hunting crop, is a short type of whip

Whip

A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...

 without a lash, used in horse riding, part of the family of tools known as horse whips.

Types and uses

A crop usually consists of a long shaft of fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

 or cane or which is covered in leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

, fabric, or similar material. The rod of a crop thickens at one end to form a handle, and terminates in a thin, flexible tress such as wound cord or a leather tongue. The thin end is intended to make contact with the horse. The handle may have a loop of leather to help secure the grip.

The length of a crop is designed to allow enough leverage for it to be accelerated rapidly with a controlled flick of the wrist without causing the rider balancing problems. Thus, a true crop is relatively short.

The term "whip" is a more common term that includes both riding crops as well as longer types of horse whips used for both riding and ground work. A whip is a little slower than a crop, mostly due to having slightly greater length and flexibility.

Crops are designed to back up the natural aids (leg, seat and voice) of a rider.

• Dressage
  Dressage
  Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
  
   whip is a true whip, longer than a crop, (up to 43 inches, including lash or popper) for horse training
  Horse training
  Horse training refers to a variety of practices that teach horses to perform certain behaviors when asked to do so by humans. Horses are trained to be manageable by humans for everyday care as well as for equestrian activities from horse racing to therapeutic horseback riding for people with...
  
  , allowing a rider to touch the mount's side while keeping both hands on the reins.

• Hunting whips are not for use on the horse, but have a "hook" at the end to use in opening and shutting gates without dismounting, as well as a long leather thong to keep the hounds from coming near the horse's legs, and possibly getting kicked.

The riding crop is still widely seen as the traditional symbol of dominance in BDSM

BDSM

BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...

 activities. Its material is the only obvious link with the (stereotypical) leather fetish in that scene.

Popular culture

• In the horror film Human Centipede, Dr. Heiter (played by Dieter Laser
  Dieter Laser
  Dieter Laser is a German actor.He is known to English speaking audiences for his roles in Lexx, The Ogre and The Human Centipede , for which he won "Best Actor" at the Austin Fantastic Fest....
  
  ) uses a riding crop to discipline the Human Centipede.

• The Street Fighter
  Street Fighter
  , commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
  
   character Poison uses a riding crop as a melee weapon. Also, one of her finishers in Street Fighter X Tekken
  Street Fighter X Tekken
  is an upcoming crossover fighting game being developed by Capcom. The game was announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International by Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono. The game is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Vita sometime in March 2012. The game...
  
  where she repeatedly hits the opponent with a riding crop.