Tack etc being stolen, does anyone ever get it back??

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jen1

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Sadly there's always a lot of posts on here about tack being stolen, then people saying that it must be marked, post coded, microchipped, etc I was just wondering though if anyone has had their tack etc found and returned?

I assume most items will get passed on at sales or even sites such as ebay, so what is the chance of getting anything back? I haven't marked any of my tack, so far, I am not being apathetic but just wonder if putting my post code on it will really help? Also a lot of people have said that the police aren't really interested so what's the point? If you bought an item of tack say from a sale or ebay and it had a post code on it would YOU query it with the seller?
 
I've never had my tack stolen, but know plenty of people who have. All mine is marked because I've never heard of unmarked tack being returned but at my friends yard the thieves had obviously parked at the nearest lay by & checked it over because all the marked tack was dumped there. They were told it's not uncommon for the whole lot to be taken so they get in & out as quick as possible, but for them to dump marked stuff as soon as they can to avoid being caught with stuff that can be traced to a crime.
 
You would be suprised by how much tack is recovered after being stolen but because it is not marked the owner(s) can not be traced.

If tack is marked then the owner of the tack can be identified and the tack returned. One of the best methods is to have every piece of your tack post coded (many local police stations will do this by arrangement and come down to your yard). You can also use Smart Water which not only marks the tack with DNA but anyone that comes in contact with it - even after several months will still have the DNA on them ensuring that if they are aprehended they can be associated with previous thefts they have been involved with.

Please be aware that if tack is stolen then the thieves will in many instances return at a later date and steal the new tack knowing that the stolen tack will have been replaced!

Tack rooms are very rarely secure enough to protect from thefts however if the tack is marked there is agood chance of it being returned if it is marked.
 
Are you sure that smartwater is transferred to skin once its dry - I had been told this but when looking on smartwater website there is nothing about this at all ..
 
The police gave us some smartwater to mark our tack with but they didn;t say it was transferred onto the skin.

Over £60,000 worth of tack and tree surgery equipement was stolen from my yard in january 07 and none of it has ever been recovered.
 
My tack has just been stolen - it wasn't marked and I don't hold out much hope of it being returned.

Agree re e-bay - my OH bought a nice synthetic saddle from there earlier this year - lovely, unmarked....but who's to say that wasn't stolen from someone else?
 
I have had tack stolen on two occasions, everything down to the last bloody lead rope. It was post coded and i informed the police but to be totally honest they didn't seem bothered i didn't have anything feed back from them and i never saw my tack again.
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Same experience as girla
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I had to wait 2 days before anyone came from the police
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and when i saw my very distinctive saddle on a horse a week later they refused to do anything
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Our saddles were all marked by Horsewatch with postcodes - but when they were stolen, and then recovered by the police when dumped, the police never contacted us - they were useless!!!!! It was several weeks later when another horseperson, who had been to the policestation to try to find their own stolen tack, got ours by mistake and returned it to us. This actually meant that we had already replaced the tack as we couldnt do without the saddles, so had duplicates. I would never have it marked again - would just make sure I had good insurance.
 
Yes, it can be found and returned but I would guess this is rare. When mine was stolen, I heard on the bush telegraph a couple of weeks later that the police had raided a house locally and recovered alot of tack, and that it was being put on display at a particular yard. I should stress that at no time did the police tell me anything about this find and I would imagine this is the norm - it is just an insurance claim to them. I went down to look - no luck for me but while I was there, a chap came in and identified his saddle. Out of curiosity, I asked him where his had been stolen from and it turned out it was from the very yard where it was being displayed again. Apparently it was taken in broad daylight by some men in a white van who just walked onto the yard and took it. I am 99% certain that my saddle was fenced through a local horse dealer as I am 99.5% I know who pinched it and the two were associated at the time. B****ards!
 
Yes- we have a pretty good idea who did our yard, we have heard a lot of detailed info pointing to 2 particular people - police informed, and thay said they can't do anything- they wouldnt even go have a look for us, we dont want to go round and carry on with these particular people as they are dodgy, obviously - we don't want them coming back and harming/taking our horses.....seems they can do pretty much want they want really....ditto B***ards!
 
The main point to remember is that if your tack is not readily identifiable you will never get it back, even if you personally could account for every scratch and rub on your saddle.

If your tack IS marked you might get it back, and furthermore thieves do not want to be caught with a van full of identifiable property - so if you have signs up around the yard saying that all property is marked, they might just move on anyway.

There is no excuse for not marking tack.
 
poppymoo - in order to 'go and have a look' the Police have to get tiresome things like warrants, and in order to get a warrant they have to persuade a magistrate that there is some substantial evidence to suggest the property might be there......
 
We once had everything stolen - and got it back.
As soon as i discovered the theft i was out visiting dealers and dodgy people it could be offered to. I made it too hot to sell on.
It was dumped in a local river. A fisherman caught a bridle. He got out as much as he could and my husband waded the river for he rest. Two ducks were going by sat on my youngest daughters saddle.
The police were useless. The fisherman got my number and called me as the police failed to. The fisherman was told to hold my things until they picked it up and i identified it at the station. 3 weeks later he had still not heard from them and let me pick it up. I identified things on the phone with discription. I have some Australian stirrup company stirrups that swung it.
I now have leather stamps and post code everything.
I am happy to do any Lincolnshire peoples tack.
 
We've had ours stolen several times - we now keep it at home, it's a pig to have to go ake everything with us each time but better than having it nicked. We;ve been broken into too many times to mention at teh stables. even thoughw e ahve a metal container with rugs etc in they have managed (after several failed attampts) to get in twice - once they hack-sawed through the huge hinges (must have taken hours) and the second time through the locks with an acetiline torch! ALL to get their grubby hands on our generator - oh and a lawnmower - they took a rug aswell (am guessing to cover the stuff).
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The culprits in my mind are the gypsies who just 'happen' to be in the area at the time of ours (and other yard) thefts. plus, who else would want to go to that trouble to get a petrol generator?! Thankfully we now finally have mains electricity to our stables.
 
I had my distinctive saddle stolen a few years ago, the stamps it had served as good identification when it was found. I suppose stamping a saddle is similar to freezemarking a horse, in that it is a visual deterrent, but I doubt that would put off a thief
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My saddle was found because only one man deals in them in the UK so when he received a call to say that a customer had found a cheap saddle on ebay he checked the stamped codes and it matched mine. I could have had my saddle back but I had already claimed on my insurance and bought a new one, so as far as I know the buyer still has it (which I didn't mind as they were not the thief) what annoys me more is that NOTHING was done by the police with regard to the seller on ebay! The seller was advertising many other saddles of varying size etc, and when questioned about it she claimed that she had owned a riding school that had closed... erm I don't think so as some of the other saddles she was selling had also been reported stolen about a month previously! Sorry that's a bit off topic. I think I would choose to have my tack stamped rather than chipped from previous experience, but the likelihood of finding it again if it is not a distinctive item is probably rather slim.
 
Not had tack stolen, but my trailer was stolen a few year ago. We got it back after finding it a few miles down the road in an industrial estate, I'm assuming the thieves had arranged for someone to pick it up but it went wrong! My friend spotted it and we told the police, but if she hadn't I doubt we would have got it back. Our postcode is now etched on it, we'd be pretty unlucky if it happened twice though
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