brockles, does it appear that there is a piece missing from the 'business' end? Is it flexible from handle to tip?
At first glance I took it to be a driving whip. While the ones I used did not have the long flexible whip like end, this one would be the shape of a more common driving whip used in standardbred racing,though much fancier than that used in training/racing and not as long. Mind you, that was 40 years ago.
Here is a picture of antique driving/dealer whip with the rope like end I mentioned (with a 64 cm shaft, from 1909) .....
Followed by a picture of a modern standardbred driving whip