It's interesting that Neil dislikes most what I like most. I'm guessing a hard card-like leather with no draw could easily describe horse butt strips when you get them. They are hard, abrasive, and no draw.

But once broken in they become glassy, super smooth and with....no draw. I have not ever been a big fan of heavy drawing leather, though I do have a bunch of cowhide strops that I tried, some with heavy draw, and didn't like. Maybe I didn't let them break in long enough.

But I love what a glassy horse butt strop does for the edge of a razor. Everyone has their preference, of course. There's no way a strop maker could sell a rough hard horse butt strop untreated to a user where the cohort would include a lot of beginners. But I didn't do anything on mine other than bend it a few times, but about 10 drops of neatsfoot on it and use it over the course of a month. Within about 15 strops, it had lost enough aggression to surpass all of my cowhide strops and within a month, the cowhide strops went to the back of the closet for good.

I have seen other barber literature that described the horse butt undesirable because of the glossy surface and lack of draw. Maybe I'm too lazy for draw! I'm definitely too cheap to buy a pre-made shell strop.