Have You Got a Stranger Piece of Horse Equipment than This?
Now here's something I don't know what to do with. It's a riding crop except it's not flexible. (Click on photo to enlarge.) It's leather with wire wrapped tightly around it. This riding crop means business. I got to thinking about it after reading about Sue's Amazing and Magical Stick of Wonder at her Flying Changes blog.
Well now. I'm not sure whether this is an Amazing and Magical Stick of Wonder, or something else. I haven't come up with a name for it yet, but it would be something along the lines of Amazing and Terrifying Stick of Death, because if you give a pull on the handle, look what comes out. 
Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, it's a dagger, a pike, a sword, a stabber-thingy with a very sharp pointy tip. This is a stabber-thingy of substance. Horse won't trot? Now he will! Won't jump the jump? How high, he'll say. Of course when you fall and impale yourself, you'll be quite dramatically dead and may make the national news.
Here's a not-so-good photo of the tip. The riding crop dagger is square but comes to this ferocious point: 
(You'll be glad to know that's rust, not blood.) And where did I get such a thing? My father said that since I was the one who rode horses, I'm the one who should have it. When he moved to assisted living and had to downsize, he parceled this out to me. Because of my love for horses and the fact that I still keep them. Heaven knows I need all the weapons I can get when I'm riding....
He brought it back from his service in WWII, whether in Panama or the Philippines I need to ask. I suspect it's not from either place originally. And I'm pretty certain it's not for riding, or at least not for use on your horse. I haven't been able to find out much about it's likely origin or history. Here's one link that has better photos of other ones, as well as speculation on their origins. And another photo of the same concept, though the shaft is round instead of square, from Iran.
What oddities do you have in your tack box?
