When you want an impact toy that can be incredibly light-hearted and playful -or- pack quite the bite, there are few choices better than a riding crop.

THE Hot Pink Riding Crop by Flog Me, Baby!

Riding crops are great for their flexibility as an implement and overall ease-of-use. There isn’t much of a learning-curve, and you can get a myriad of sensations out of a single riding crop. I swoon as soon as I smell the leather of them, and I get wet from the fact that they can look so delicate (to the untrained or otherwise-distracted eye).

Flog Me, Baby! was sweet enough to send me their Hot Pink Riding Crop. For you leather aficionados, don’t worry! The leather is not actually hot pink. It’s your standard, sexy black. The handle, wrist-strap and business end of the riding crop are all 100% leather. Black leather.

The slim body of this crop is a brilliant fuchsia weave with accents of black. It’s soft against your skin or your lovers. (The leather parts are soft, too, depending on how you wield the crop. More on that in a bit!)

Things to know: This riding crop measures 28.5 inches long. Its length combined with the flexibility of the shaft make it very whippy. It’s as much of an attention-getter as it is functional. I love the burst of color sandwiched between the matte black leather. The wrist-strap allows you to hang this riding crop for storage purposes, but if you’re not going to hang it, I suggest flipping it around, and storing it upright with the handle down toward the ground.

For me, this is a long, long riding crop. It seems to go on forever. In my opinion, it’s closer to a dressage whip than a true crop because of its length. However, I haven’t felt a need to slip my wrist through the strap while using it. It’s light enough and designed in such a way that it stays securely in my hand.

Initially, I did worry a bit about its accuracy (or, rather, my accuracy while using it) because the shaft is so damned long. (Crops are generally short to deliver effective motivation with a simple movement of the wrist, without causing the rider to lose balance. But I digress, since we’re not talking riding crops for riding.) Anyway, much to my delight, I found that this particular implement is incredibly easy to control… which means that it’s easy crop your desired target right where you’re aiming!

A few times I got caught in the sheer deliciousness of the noise this riding crop makes as it sails through the air. That delectable slicing noise: the sound of an impact toy cutting through the invisible as it’s about to reach out and make contact with that which is visible. The held breath in the liminal spaces. The gasps, moans and screams that come tumbling out over the edge…

For those looking to experiment and the light pain players: If you and your lover(s) or play-partner(s) are into light S&M, and nothing more, this implement could still be a delightful addition to your toy box. It’s perfectly suitable for soft, sweet love taps (your choice whether those escalate into something more, but they certainly don’t have to). This riding crop is also suitable for scaring the bejesus out of someone… You can get up a pretty nice rhythm just from bouncing it through the air. Just make sure if you’re playing with someone who doesn’t like pain that you land the crop next to them and not on their body. Seriously.

Now, for the pain-sluts and harder players: Those of you familiar with impact toys know that the more whippy a toy, the more sting-y its potential when it makes contact with tender flesh. This is undoubtedly a sting-y toy. Moreso than I thought it would be. No one ever expects thuddy from a riding crop, but this baby can feel almost like a cane. Though I don’t really need to say this, I will anyhow: If you’re going for marked-up, deep red, and potentially looking to leave welts (not just tender bits and bruises), please take your consensual bottom’s bottom (or thighs or breasts or what-have-you) through a decent warm-up first! This will make things more pleasurable for both parties, and protect the skin, too. As aforementioned, you can use this same riding crop for a gentle, increasingly penetrating, warm-up. Unless you regularly play with riding crops that go on for almost 30 inches, I think a warm-up provides the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with this particular crop before you’ll be annoyed for aiming incorrectly or hitting too softly when you meant to really leave an impression. Hee.

A word of warning: I am a pink-slut. Fuchsia and magenta shades, especially. If you are not, this pretty riding crop is also available with a black, red, blue, purple, or light pink shaft. I do think there is something wonderful about combining the girlishness of pink with the bite of well-wielded impact toy. Pick your poison over at Flog Me, Baby! and tell ‘em Mistress Arabella sent you.