3 strand, poly rope is plenty strong (over 2,400 pounds breaking strength) and more resistant to abrasion than other materials. Pretty much any modern good-quality rope, properly treated against UV damage, is extraordinarily resilient and will last for many years.
Ingredient Variations:
Carabiners
These lightweight, metal snap-links can be used for a wide variety of tasks. While not a necessity, including a few carabiners into your highline recipe adds a lot of versatility by providing quick attachment points, improved adjustability, reduced friction and increased mechanical advantage (leverage for tightening). If you choose to use carabiners be sure to use devices certified for rock climbing NOT the cheap links sold at the hardware store.
Knot eliminators and rope winches – For the knot averse campers these gadgets are expensive, heavy, and often redundant “solutions” that sometimes create more unwanted hassles. Use them at your own peril.
Highline Assembly:
“Mise en Place” is a French term that translates into “putting in place” and is used in professional kitchens when organizing ingredients for a meal. As horse campers we can use this practice to make our camping experience more efficient by helping prevent mistakes or forgetting crucial ingredients when you need them most.
1. Find a Good Location - Where we set up our highline is very important.
Don’t keep stock too close to camp. Setting up your highline away from your immediate campsite will help you get a better night’s sleep as well as keep your camp site much cleaner for you and future campers. There’s not much worse than trying to camp amongst manure piles.
Pick a location where the the damage
minimized such as on hard packed dirt or rocky soils.
Your highline should be at least 100 feet away from water sources such as streams or lakes (some areas require a longer distance).
minimized such as on hard packed dirt or rocky soils.
Your highline should be at least 100 feet away from water sources such as streams or lakes (some areas require a longer distance).
2. Place the Tree Savers - Wrap your tree saver straps around the two trees you’ve selected. Place the tree savers as high as possible so the highline is above the horse’s head.
3. Lay Out the Highline Rope – Loosely stretch your rope between the tree savers and tie one end to the first tree with a bowline knot.
Use a quick release bowline
4. Tie an inline loop in the rope about 5 feet from the second tree
The Alpine Loop is secure and very easy to untie when breaking camp.
5. Run the remaining rope through the second tree saver and back through the inline-loop you made in step #4.
With this arrangement you’ve just created what is known as a “Truckers Hitch” a type of block and tackle arrangement that gives you a 3-to-1 mechanical advantage and the ability to get a line good and tight.
6. Pull tight and secure with a couple of half-hitches. Tuck any left-over rope behind the tree where a curious horse cannot get to it.
7. Decide where to place ties for your horses lead lines and attach a prusik loop at each point.
Make sure to place tie points so that the horses cannot chew or rub on the trees or get into mischief with one another.
8. Tie horses lead ropes into the prusik loops with a quick release knot.
Tree saver straps
Prusik loop (hitch or knot)
Rope Cleat Closure Bar, Knot Eliminator & a Highline Safety Tie
Trucker's hitch, a type of block and tackle arrangement that gives you a 3-to-1 mechanical advantage and the ability to get a line good and tight.
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