The Ouch! Range of BDSM  and bondage products attracted my attention a few months ago and now I have the opportunity to bring you a review of another item from the range – their riding crop. It comes in two versions, PVC and leather. Here I’m reviewing the PVC version, though apart from the surface finish and aroma I suspect the leather one will be pretty similar.

Excluding the practical wrist strap the crop is 67cm long from one end of the handle to the tip of the square tip – there are two shapes of tip so check which one you’re buying, square or heart shaped. The crop comes in several colour variants too, ours is black, but you can get white, purple and pink as well as combinations of these colours.

I suppose the crop is easier to wipe clean if it’s made from PVC and it does look rather nice and shiny in your hand when you’re wielding it 😉 However I would have liked to play with a leather one – I do love the smell of leather. The shaft of the crop that joins the round handle to the flat square tip is covered in plaited PVC with the same shiny finish as the rest of the toy.

The Ouch! Crop does make a lovely swishing sound when you swing it through the air so I was eager to try it out on Alex’s ass. Purely for professional reasons you understand. I had  him strip naked and lay face down on the bed so that I had unhindered access to the skin of his pert buttocks. We both enjoy this type of play, sometimes he’ll be submissive sometimes I’ll submit to him; We both have our own preferences and pleasure/pain thresholds, it’s finding those thresholds which is the most fun.

I began as I usually do, gently rubbing his skin with the tip of the crop, and hit a problem. The shaft of the crop is so flexible that you can’t massage or rub your partner easily with it. So what? You might think if you have not used a crop before, it’s about inflicting a good thrashing isn’t it? Well, no. We think good BDSM is about control, control of your partner and control of the experience for you both. Pain is a part of that but contrasting a stinging thwack with a soothing massage can amplify the effect of a toy and enhance the experience.

OK, I thought I can rub him with my hand. I tried some gentle strokes and found the crop pretty good, though with a tendency to bounce a bit as the blows landed. Harder strokes with a longer swing tended to make the accuracy of my blows increasingly erratic.

Despite the lack of stiffness in the crop I was able to play quite well, inflicting stinging hits with the Ouch! Crop until his backside started to glow. I don’t like to inflict too much pain but on a couple of occasions Alex commented that I had landed an uncommonly harsh switching to his skin. There’s that slight lack of control again, although it did add a little randomness to the fun and made me smile in a sadistic way.

I found that the crop had some unexpected features. The plaited shaft drags across the skin and can therefore provide a different sensory experience to the subject of your play. This was even more fun when I decided I’d had enough of Alex’s buttocks and began to toy with his turgid cock. Laying on his back I gently tapped and rolled his member with the crop, and boy did he enjoy that!

I wouldn’t say the Ouch! Crop is perfect because of its over-flexible shaft but it does have a lot going for it. The construction quality is good and the PVC model is nice and easy to wipe clean after use. It looks the part too being nice and shiny. I can’t vouch for its durability yet having only used it once but what I can say is that it was a lot of fun and is reasonably priced.