Wooden Horse

There are two variations on the wooden horse. The first is a sharply angled device with the sharp point of the angle pointing upward, mounted on a saw-horse like support. The victim, typically female though it was later used on males as well, was made to straddle the triangular "horse" and place their full body weight on their genitals, which rested on the point of the angle. Weights or additional restraints were often added to keep the victim from falling off. A punishment similar to this was used during the American colonial period and later. Called Riding the rail the victim was often carried through town in this predicament, often in conjuction with the punishment of tarring and feathering. The crotch can be injured and the victim unable to walk without pain.

A less immediately painful variation, often dubbed the wooden pony, is a single plank of wood supported (either again with wooden legs or suspended from the ceiling) horizontal from the floor on its side, with the thin edge up. Usually this edge is filed to a blunt point or rounded off. The victim is made to straddle the plank, which is adjusted (raised or lowered) in order to make the victim stand on her tiptoes or rest her body weight on her genitals on the plank. This less intense variation was probably developed for and more commonly used in BDSM play.