I have a HiTie on my trailer-unused as of yet. :lol:
I am preparing for our spring rides with a green horse and am wondering whether the HiTie system or a portable corral is better.
I notice the HiTie has a bungee/velcro/clip accessory. Is this better or worse than attaching with a lead?
What about attaching with a Blocker Tie (to avoid potential panic/pullbacks)?
I am looking for simplicity, safety and horse comfort.
The first safety question is, “Can your green horse break from the HiTie and escape?” I’ve looked at the website. It seems to me that the answer is “yes.” The system does not look very robust. As “day tie” is might be OK; at night, I’d not trust it.
The corral, something most horses are used to, is a pretty compelling alternative. It, too, is not perfect but a portable corral with an electric wire will likely be a better choice.
G.
With a green horse I would practice at home a few times and see how it goes.
The velcro attachment goes on the bar around the u-shaped ring. The u-shaped ring should point up and not down toward the horse. Don’t attach the velcro part to the horse’s halter. You should use the bungee and not a lead rope as it helps prevent pull backs. At night or when you aren’t in view the bungee needs to be shortened (long enough to let the horse lay down but not so long that the horse can get tangled in it).
I’ve also added a ring to the very highest point of the crown piece of my mare’s halter so that at night I can clip her to the bungee between her ears. I’ve seen her use a rear leg to scratch her face when she has been clipped to the ring on the side of the halter and that leg just got too close to slipping between the bungee and the halter for me to feel comfortable.
I always give my horse plenty of food to keep her interested in something.
I’ve used all of them - electric, portapanels, and the Hi-tie. I have to admit the Hi-tie is so easy to use that I prefer it. I’ve seen plenty of horses run through an electric fence (and one hilarious night all our horses except mine had broken through the electric and disappeared - we did find them quite quickly. My little mare was not going through the fence no matter what her buddies did) but then I’ve never had it happen to me. I’ve also seen horses get caught up in porta-panels. And I’ve also seen a horse roll while on a hi-tie and end up against the side of the trailer.
So honestly nothing is perfect which is why I am happy to sleep close to them when camping.
Hey G-didn’t you have a older thread asking about corral suggestions?
If so, did you ever get one-which brand?
Here is the kicker…Hugo can be a fence jumper.:eek:
I have only seen him do it when cornered by another horse-so we can add that into the mix. :lol:
Maybe hot wire corral with HiTie is our option. 
I have narrowed it down to two panel styles
http://www.travelncorrals.com/
These seem to be the tallest at 48-50 inches and have 3 horizontal panels yet are light.
What is the difference other than price?
[QUOTE=LMH;5413945]
I have a HiTie on my trailer-unused as of yet. :lol:
I am preparing for our spring rides with a green horse and am wondering whether the HiTie system or a portable corral is better.
I notice the HiTie has a bungee/velcro/clip accessory. Is this better or worse than attaching with a lead?
What about attaching with a Blocker Tie (to avoid potential panic/pullbacks)?
I am looking for simplicity, safety and horse comfort.[/QUOTE]
how long are you going for- if you have fixtures ie ring ties on the side/inside of your trialer then loop a piece of bailing twine through it likewise inside tie horse to that with a lead rope and plenty of hay 3 haynets as in big ones for journey going there and comming back and one spare to nosh on whilse at the show if its just for the day
[QUOTE=LMH;5414231]
Hey G-didn’t you have a older thread asking about corral suggestions?
If so, did you ever get one-which brand?
Here is the kicker…Hugo can be a fence jumper.:eek:
I have only seen him do it when cornered by another horse-so we can add that into the mix. :lol:
Maybe hot wire corral with HiTie is our option. [/QUOTE]
I did. I’ve not made a final decision and am still looking at alternatives. This has been an expensive winter and resources have gone to “need to haves” not “nice to haves.” 
We don’t do primitive camping for a bunch reasons (the same ones that induced me to join the Navy and not the Marines :lol: ) but some of my friends that do use picket lines and side lines. The latter are lateral hobbles. Correctly applied and adjusted they cause the horse to move in a circle. So if you have a spook the horse will run in circles until it settles. A horse in traditional hobbles can move a fair distance in a straight line and some learn to move pretty quickly. They were standard equipment for the Cavalry from the last third of the 19th Century, on. Of course the Cavalry also used night sentries.
With a green horse I’d put an experienced horse next to it to help keep it calm.
It remains my opinion that a horse should be tied eye high, arms length, with and to something that won’t break. The HyTie looks like it fails that last requirement. I’d not trust it, particularly with a green horse.
G.
I am looking at over night options.
I am still comparing the two I listed above.
One is galvanized steel round tubing. The other is powder coated steel square tubing.
Any reason for one or the other?
Prices are fairly comparable
I know several people that use the Hi-Ties. When horses are tied from above their ability to pull back and fight is greatly reduced. When they are tied with something that has give or stretch, most will pull one time then relax and not pull again. The cons of tying to the trailer is horse rocking the trailer and keeping you awake, horse digging to China and making a nasty pit and pissing off property owner, horse having to live in a nasty, small mud hole if it rains. Some of my friends put up an electric pen or portable pen around the Hi-Tie so they can turn the horse loose to move around/graze but go onto the Hi0Tie for the night or tacking up. An electric pen can work well for this, just have them loose while you are at the trailer, then tie when you are gone or sleeping. One great deal I’ve seen is two hightie arms on the same side of the trailer with a cable strung between the two arms. Then a bungee is put onto the cable and the horse has a much larger area to move around, similar to a cable run for a dog.
I have one of those digger horses and he’s best off is a pen. He will still often dig is the ground is dry so he has a “dust” hole to roll in. Very embarrassing when he gets destructive like that.
chicamuxen
ooh I like the idea of this setup - I might just have to buy another hi-Tie and try it. I would expect that you need some sort of stop that centers the horse between the two arms so that they can’t get wrapped up in an arm like dogs do around a tree? Or maybe not as there isn’t a tree. hmmm something different to try.
They don’t get tangled as it’s all overhead. I like the idea of the halter with the ring on top of it. It would be easy to add a ring onto the crown piece of a halter or have one stitched on.
chicamux
I wouldn’t care for the pea-slick and pawed up ground and mud and poo concentrated so close to the trailer…AKA I wouldn’t want a Hi Tie.
I wouldn’t care to deal with portable panels: they are light enough for a horse to shift and graze through and under. If I DID fiddle with 'em, I’d run a strand of hot on the inside.
If I’m going to do that…I’m going to take some step in posts, battery operated charger, and a roll of white hot tape and a little gate handle.
My ideal is to highline them: I know where they are, no questions asked.
I’ve used them all, HiTies on the trailer, High lines between trees, electric fences.
I primative camp and have had too many deer and elk run through my hot wires, That I would never trust my horses in them at night. But I do often turn my horses out in the meadows to graze with a hot wire around the meadow. We have packed in 1/2 mile of hot wire and surrounded a large meadow and turned out 15-20 head of horses. But they all get high lined at dark.
If the camp area has trees, I will look for a place to set up a highline. I sleep better if I move the horses a little ways off from the trailer where I don’t here their hoof movements, nickering etc.
Some places, like desert rides, There just are no trees. So we have to HiTie. I much prefer that to tying directly to the trailer rings. I never use the bungies. I always tie my lead rope directly to the rod. My horses have spent MANY a night secured to a HiTie. I don’t get any sleep at all if the horses are tied directly to the trailer tie rings. Everytime the horse turns its head and hits the end of the lead, I feel the trailer rock. With HiTies the fiberglass rod buffers any horse movements. I rarely feel the horses moving around at night.
I think they are great investment for any trailer.
So more stupid questions about the HiTie…
G brings up a point-how safe are these? Not in terms of the horse getting hurt-but what about breaking loose?
Is it common?
Of course he has to learn to tie but assuming he can manage-how durable is it if a horse challenges it a bit?
I’ll report that my horse and my neighbor’s horses & mules haven’t managed to break loose from our hi-ties in the 6 or so years that we have used them. I don’t remember attending any rides where any have broken loose. JME though. But I don’t think any of our animals really challenge them they are happy enough to spend thier time eating.
If you put the hi-tie on the side of the trailer w/out the door to the living quarters I haven’t experienced much of a mess though I do scatter or collect the manure once a day.
The more I think about it the more I’m digging the idea of using 2 hi-ties. It could be used more like a high line.
[QUOTE=Bells;5414086]
I’ve also added a ring to the very highest point of the crown piece of my mare’s halter so that at night I can clip her to the bungee between her ears. I’ve seen her use a rear leg to scratch her face when she has been clipped to the ring on the side of the halter and that leg just got too close to slipping between the bungee and the halter for me to feel comfortable. [/QUOTE]
Wow, that’s smart! I’ve had to cut both of mine free at one time or another due to that very same thing…getting tangled due to scratching an ear. Did she take to that right away, being clipped up there?
I just saw a blog showing two HiTies set up as a line.
Quite cool idea.
I have decided to stay with the HiTie for now and wait on panels.
I will put in some time with him on the Tie at home and see how it goes before investing in something else.
If anything, I like the second tie to make a line idea! And it would be cheaper than corrals!
Thanks for the double HiTie link:)
As for clipping the bungy to the ring between her ears -my mare really didn’t notice that it was different. She’s never had too many issues w/ new stuff though.
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