Those who have been reading this blog or following me on social media know that I have been in love with the Zalo Doll Series designer collection. It’s a luxury BDSM set, made of Italian leather with gold accents and rose motifs. I love the style of these pieces and got to write a review for their Rose Ball Gag here. So when it came time to review some new things for SheVibe, the first thing that came to mind was the Rose Riding crop, another piece from the same collection.
The riding crop is made of soft leather and is 24.4” long. (Oddly precise, I know.) It comes in a soft carrying pouch, something I have never seen for an impact implement before. The crop is light, but the stem of it seems pretty durable. I really like the accent of red under the rose design cut out of the crop. 
This piece, upon first inspection, really seems like luxury. That is, until you start to look at it practically. From the bottom up, it has no handle, no grip, just leather covering the entire stem. I didn’t think this was an issue personally, but when Dick was trying it out, he found the lack of handle made it harder to grip comfortably and effortlessly. You are prone to a bit of sliding if you aren’t keeping a tight grip. Instead of a handle, there’s a little tab on the end that sticks out somewhat awkwardly to one side, and I assume you’re supposed to thread some ribbon or something through it to hang it with ease, but this tab then gets in the way if you’re keeping your hand low on the crop and are trying to pivot the direction it’s facing, limiting your use just by its being there. I don’t really know why you wouldn’t put that tab on the very end of the stem facing down, as I feel like the crop would hang easier that way too. Unless this tab is here for another reason that I just haven’t figured out yet. D
The biggest issue I have with this crop is the part that makes it pretty, the rose cut out top. It’s a piece of leather folded in half, with slits cut into it to show a rose silhouette. Beautiful yes, but using it is a bit of a disaster. The leather is not super rigid, and that coupled with the cut outs allowing for airflow gives the crop no resistance, so when swung, the leather end just falls back a bit and makes it really hard to aim. Not only is it difficult to aim, but further lightening a soft piece of leather and allowing air to pass through it (by cutting holes out of it) makes the impact of the hit much softer than a standard crop. Both Dick and I tried this and we found ourselves having to work much harder to both get a hit that lands in the right spot and also hurts the way we want it to. I think that really defeats the purpose of a riding crop, because the other one I have (bought for $10 at a convention) hurts like a bitch with just a flick of the wrist. Also, the stem on the rose crop has more bend to it then other crops I have used, which, coupled with the other two problems I mentioned, makes this piece really difficult to use in any sort of satisfactory way. It’s really unfortunate, because I think the piece is really pretty, but it seems that it was really designed more for form than for function. If you want to get a good hit out of it, you kind of have to ignore the tip of the crop and aim with the bottom half of the crop, closer to where it connects with the stem. But once you’re doing that, it starts to become more of a cane. Aiming with this toy just feels like a precarious game, and that’s something I definitely don’t want if I am trying to craft a fulfilling and safe kink scene. When you do get it to hit right, the sensation feels to me like a soft sting. A caveat to my opinion is that Dick and I play really rough, so this level of pain may be just what someone is looking for. It would be good to use if you’re tapping your partner to get them to move or maybe some light CBT.
Something we found while playing is that this crop is actually surprisingly good for hitting clothespins off someone’s body. It takes them off cleanly and looks really sexy doing it. Hitting clothespins off my tits is one of Dick’s favorite pastimes, so I definitely see us using this for that purpose in the future. But that is a fairly niche use.
I wanted to get Dick’s opinion on this toy, so I asked him some questions:
What was your first impression of this toy? “I think it was: why is this tab here? Aside from that, it’s not really my style but it does look nice.”
What was it like handling it? “Clumsy. The tab I mentioned above kinda digs into the side of your hand if you’re trying to hold it in a comfortable way to hit someone with. I am also not a fan of smooth surfaces. I like a handle that has some roughness to it for better grip.”
How do you feel about the pain it delivers? “It doesn’t really hurt. The only way to get it to really hurt is to use it like a cane, and we have a really spectacular set of canes so why would I use that?”
Would you use this crop again? “Well, after we decided to give it another go and did the whole bit with the clothespins, absolutely.”
Your opinion of the toy since using it? “I don’t really like it. It’s kind of a boring toy, but it looks nice hanging on the wall.”
This toy really suffers from being pretty over practical (but really, don’t we all). Which is a shame, because I found the ball gag from the same line to be a good mix of both. I think if they wanted to improve it, it would really need a complete overhaul. First, make the crop out of much stiffer leather. I thought it would even benefit from a piece of solid leather underneath, so air won’t get through while swinging it. Give it a real handle too. I think the most I am going to get out of this crop is posing with it for pro-domme photo shoots. Other then that, it was a bit of a let down. Of course, your mileage may vary, and if you’re looking for something sexy that doesn’t hurt that much, this might be a great toy for you.
Thank you SheVibe for sending me this toy to review. To see that and many many more toys visit them at shevibe.com
