Blocker Tie Ring II

This post isn't sponsored, just a personal review of a product I love. I hope that other equestrians find it useful. 

When I owned Gambler, I always talked about purchasing one of the tie rings. I believe I heard of them first from some Clinton Anderson enthusiasts. I'm not Clinton's biggest fan, I think he is over-merchandised and sensationalized. However, he is a more talented and experienced horse person than I am and I have learned more than a few useful things from him. That disclaimer aside, I was visiting a friends house one day and I witnessed their new mare flipping herself over multiple times to avoid standing tied. She wasn't hurt and they have since trained her to stand, but the experience was horrifying. A day or two later I tied Avalon at the barn and she started pulling. Flashbacks ensued and I got on Amazon that night determined to avoid ever teaching my horse to flip over to escape pressure. 

This is what I found: the Blocker Tie Ring II. It comes with the tie ring, a clip, and another solid ring you can screw into a wall or post. Since I don't own the barn Avalon is at, I opted to clip the tie ring wherever I want to use it. There is a conveniently placed ring on the hitching post that is perfect for that purpose. You can also tie the ring to a solid object with twine. 

You can't see the tie ring here, it's clipped onto the twine behind the panel .

There are multiple ways to use the tie ring, but I have only ever used one of them. The tongue of the tie ring is magnetic, so you pull it open and put the lead through. It holds quite snugly.

You can see the setup well in this pic.

If the horse pulls just a little, the rope holds as if it were tied normally. However, if a horse goes to pull, the rope slips through. That means that they can't brace against it and get the claustrophobic feeling. I'm sure that there are many smart horses that learn to pull the entire lead through the ring and get free. But Avalon is not a seasoned escape artist. She is just a young horse who is learning. My hope is that by keeping her from bracing she will learn to give to pressure and smoothly transition to being tied without an issue. 

I use the Tie Blocker II as a training tool by using it to tie Avalon and then encouraging her to pull. I might do desensitizing exercises like jumping in her face or beside her, smacking the ground with the stick and string, or bringing her spooky objects. She can pull the lead through the ring, but she can't brace and pull so very quickly she learned not to pull at all. Now she will dance away, or turn her body, but give to any pressure from her halter. 

The only criticism I have of this product is that it has rusted. I keep it in the barn and have left it out in the rain and snow. I'm sure if it was oiled regularly and kept dry it wouldn't have rusted as much, but it is something to be aware of.

**Edit: I discovered that the setup pictured above is flawed. If Avalon tosses her head while she spooks, the clip hits the ring on the hitching post just right and unclips itself from the hitching post entirely. I resolved this problem by tying twine to the hitching post and clipping the tie ring to the loop of twine.**