History

Whether it was the old Zorro movies, television series like “High Chaparral”, "Shiloh Ranch”, “Bonanza”, or the “Indiana Jones” trilogy, at some point everyone was fascinated by heroes who wielded a whip to ensure that good triumphed over evil. The fascination remained with some people and a few started to devote themselves to learning the art of this thousands of years old craft.

Whips were already known more than 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt. And it’s one of the many misconceptions that whips were used to spur on the workers building the Pyramids... The whips were being used then like they are used now, to goad on cattle. Therefore it’s also called “Bullwhip”, or “Stockwhip” in Australia. Another well-known misconception is that the cattle was being hit with the whips. That’s not true. The herd was steered by the loud noise, the “crack”.

Since then whipcracking has transformed from the everyday working life of a cowboy into an artform. There are championships that count the most cracks per minute and there are championships that look for precision, called “target cracking”. And there are a lot of people who just enjoy going out on a field or meadow to learn or improve how to wield a bullwhip.