Saddle security

Brownmare

Brownmare

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I'm just about to take delivery of my first ever brand new saddle having always had second hand before. Needless to say I'm just a little concerned for its safety considering it is worth nearly double the purchase price of my horse! (OK so she was very cheap but still... )

It will be kept in a locked tack room attached to our house and within hearing of the Jack Russell alarm system :rolleyes: but I'd like to add an extra layer of security too. Someone has suggested microchipping - do the police do that or saddlers? I presume I couldn't get the vet to do it! And I assume there should also be a mark of some kind on the leather to say its chipped? What happens if the chip gets taken out during reflocking, or by a thief? Would postcoding be better? Or should I just chain it straight to the dog :eek:

I would love an alarm system on the tack room but the best I can do at the moment is a motion detector on the outside light...
 
As far as I know, chips4tack put a chip somewhere in the saddle and also stamp the stirrup bar, so even if the chip was removed, you still have a form of marking on it.
 
My neighbour has managed to get a padlock that has: 1, an alarm on it & 2; it sends a text to 1 mobile number if the padlock has been tampered with.

Poss worth looking into? Could fit onto the door of the locked shed?

Also think about the cheap versions of a pull-trigger rape alarm - properly rigged up with thin 'invisible' wire to the trigger, this is a very cheap way of alarming things - I use on the yard gate.
Friend uses one on her saddle in her tack-room at the livery yard she is in as it stopped people 'borrowing' in a hurry
 
If you go down the micro chip route, becareful of getting the one that is inserted into the flock as it I have had some in to repair/ remove the chip over the years because the chip has migrated down in the panels and has ended up pressing through the panel hide onto the horse, causing a gall.
Think of it like the princess and the pea!
People have also been known to be able to find them and remove them, one customer found hers quite easily and pulled it out with a pair of long nosed pliers and handed it to me to look at!

I used to micro chip saddles by inserting a chip but it was a printed circuit that was applied to the tree, so a saddler would be needed to insert it as well as remove it.
I also stamped the postcode of the customer on the sweat flaps both sides, this method is about the most secure way of chipping and marking it but if someone wants to steal it, it is only as good as the people who buy it off the criminals and if they get it scanned.
I did 2 beautiful new western saddles for a customer years ago, he had both stolen with in a month and never got them back as no one bothers to scan at auctions, sales, online auctions or when they are shipped out somewhere.
 
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The Fuzzy Furry said:
My neighbour has managed to get a padlock that has: 1, an alarm on it & 2; it sends a text to 1 mobile number if the padlock has been tampered with.

Poss worth looking into? Could fit onto the door of the locked shed?

Also think about the cheap versions of a pull-trigger rape alarm - properly rigged up with thin 'invisible' wire to the trigger, this is a very cheap way of alarming things - I use on the yard gate.
Friend uses one on her saddle in her tack-room at the livery yard she is in as it stopped people 'borrowing' in a hurry
Click to expand...

That's a very good idea.Prevention is far better than a cure as VERY few I have had reported stolen to me by customers are ever found again.
 
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Safe guard your saddle :


  1. Buy a boltable saddle rack
  2. Organize the police to do tack marking (usually free)
  3. Ttake photographs of the saddle from every angle
  4. Engrave your postcode into the stirrup bars
  5. Keep the serial number stored away safely
  6. Take the saddle home and store it in the garage not an obvious place for tack thieves
  7. Get you local Horse Watch to stamp it with their unique ink stamp
  8. Uv markers can be used with your name under a hidden area and wont be seen to naked eye till scanned ( can faid due to absorbtion)
  9. Tagging - an electronic tack hidden within the saddle
  10. Contact Farmkey who offer Microtack
 
Wow thanks for all the replies! Some really useful ideas there, I too would love to know more about the alarmed padlock please. The rape alarm idea is ingenious but I often ride early mornings and I can so see myself setting it off while I'm half asleep and waking the whole family :D
 
Just spoken to another friend (locksmith) and he says a padlock which is alarmed etc is fine - until would be thieves enter building another way, or smash off the hasp, or they just crop the padlock (which is easy to do on many types).

He advises covert CCTV (not huge stuff as passing thieves then think you do have something worth nicking :rolleyes: ), internal trigger alarm (he did start to get into laser alarms but I just started yawning :o ) but also agreed that any alarm is only as good as those who will hear & take action! Not good if text sent when you are away from home......
He likes my rape-alarm at the yard & also where I keep my tack, simple but effective, scares off would be thieves.

If something is really precious, he says; you insure it for full value (keep purchase reciepts) & make sure its kept as safe as the insurance company need it to be. Apart from that, you will never stop a thief taking something if he/she really wants to.
 
Oh it will be insured, no question of that! I actually need to compare what's on offer between my house contents insurance and my horse insurance.

With the alarmed padlocks, what triggers the alarm if smashing off the hasp or taking bolt croppers to it doesn't?
 
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