Tack room security

[JennBags]

I've just had a stable block built and have a tack room inside the haybarn, with a mortice lock. I'm thinking this isn't going to stop any serious thieves but on the other hand it's a small yard (3 stables), so hoping most serious thieves wouldn't bother.
Does anyone have any ideas about how I can beef up the security?
I'm going to have my 4g camera fitted but the signal is patchy so I'm not even sure if it's going to connect. Also some movement sensor security lights.
The yard isn't at my home but there are houses around.
TIA for any ideas or recommendations.

 

[Red-1]

Bars at the windows, some reinforcement for the roof, and an alarm, with good relations with the people at the houses so someone will call you if the alarm sounds.

Also, always lock the gate. That way the yard is less hospitable for thieves altogether.

Personally, I wouldn't keep saddles in the yard if it is left unattended.

 

[AmyMay]

I also wouldn’t keep tack on the yard, sorry.

 

[OldNag]

I also wouldn’t keep tack on the yard, sorry.

I would agree.

If you can get any sort of signal then definitely remote CCTV . A yard near here had attempted break in recently. They are off grid but gave a remote CCTV set up. The thieves soon legged it when confronted by sirens and someone shouting at them! I think it is a Reolink they have.

 

[meleeka]

I have no WiFi so my cameras just record. I do have a few of them and mixed in are dummy cameras, so anyone looking wouldn’t know which are real and which aren’t. You could always alarm the tack room. My friend has battery door alarms which just work on the contacts being broken.

 

[honetpot]

There is no point in having CCTV if there is no alarm, and they have worked out there is little chance of being disturbed. My neighbour has CCTV, they cut through a gap in the hedge, and took things from an outbuilding in her back garden when she was in the house. I think the only thing you are doing is making it easy for someone to come in and do a supermarket sweep, of what you have neatly stored. They may not even go through the door, they will cut a hole in the wall.
My tack is in the house, or the boot of my car. My yard which is beside my house, has stuff stored in different places, it's my ordered clutter. The side of the yard furthest away from the house has and intruder alarm, and we have a large dog that barks
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solar-Po...951255?hash=item289923c997:g:hqkAAOSw1B9dgLtL
but if they are in and out in 15mins, I have known people have had a lorry and a trailer stolen from the stables next to their house, and you are just trying to warn them off.

 

[OldNag]

^^ agreed. The set up I mentioned has an alarm too not just CCTV. It has some sort of intercom thing too so the owners were able to shout at the thieves. They did leg it.

There have since been other local break ins.

 

[Spottyappy]

Don’t keep anything of value there.
Reolink Go camera, which sends an alert when it detects motion.
Also, put good padlocks on the gates, but not on any form of storage, as they will cause more damage trying to force the locks,so if a cheaper one, they can open it easier and not damage the surrounding areas.

 

[JennBags]

Thanks for all input everyone.
I have a Reolink Go which is being fitted (but my signal is patchy so I'm not sure if it's going to connect).
I don't have electricity so an alarm is pretty much a no-go. I do have good relations with the neighbours who will either text/call me if they see someone there that they don't recognise, or go over and confront them. This has happened a couple of times.
I already keep tack there in the shipping container, have done for over 2 years without a problem. When I was first there, someone clearly tried to jemmy the door open but didn't have any luck. The container and the gate have serious padlocks on them. I was considering padlocking the outside of the hay barn, although as Spottyappy says, they could just do more damage ripping those locks off and that would be relatively easy.
There aren't any windows - the tack room is integral to the hay barn. Roof reinforcement may be worth investigating although if they can go through the roof, they could just as easily go through the dividing partitions.
Someone suggested a roller shutter for the door so I may look into that.

 

[milliepops]

are you going to be insuring your tack? sounds like what you're suggesting would be covered by some policies. I take saddles home now as I don't have insurance for it since a few yard-moves ago, but I've left stuff that wasn't £££££ or too difficult to replace in places where I've had full cover.

I know it's a massive faff but it's not the end of the world then if stuff vanishes.

(you can put different sims in your reolink if you have coverage on one network better than others btw, you might know that already. mine are on 02 at the moment as I have no vodafone signal at the nursery paddock)

 

[HBB]

Are you intending on keeping the shipping container? If so, I'd have the inside lined and insulated to keep my tack in there, it would be safer than a wooden tackroom/door.

 

[Darbs]

You could put the expensive kit in one of these and also have a loud alarm linked to a switch on the door https://www.asgardsss.co.uk/high-security-tack-storage-box

 

[Sprig]

A metal door on the tack room and then tack locked in it's own secure cabinet bolted to a masonry wall in the tack room (or just take your tack home).

 

[Sealine]

I've not read all the replies but I learnt a few things when I had my tack stolen. CCTV however good is useless as the thieves know it's there, don't care and cover their faces. Read the small print on your insurance. My insurance stated a 5 lever mortice lock as a requirement. Despite numerous other locks, CCTV etc the insurance wouldn't pay out. The tack room still doesn't have a 5 lever mortice lock as the yard owner thinks they are less secure than the existing locks which have been added since the break in. I no longer keep my tack at the yard.

Also, don't assume they will come in through a gate. The yard has electric gates next the house and the tack room is close to the house although you can't see it. The thieves parked in a lane two fields away and used wheelbarrows to move the saddles. We know this because they left the wheelbarrows in the field where they'd unloaded them.

 

[pansymouse]

If I had to keep my tack at the yard I would have it in a locked cage or cabinet within the tack room which already has a compliant lock and bars on the window. I think it's also important that it cannot be seen either through the window or the open door. All you can see though my tack room window is bales of bedding and a feed bins, everything of value (mainly rugs) is tuck away out of line of sight.

 

[PeterNatt]

Don't keep anything valuable there and use Smartwater to mark anything you hold of value if you leave it there. Also have a burglar alarm fitted by a professional alarm company. www.smartwater.com Any tack should be stamped with your post code.

 

[humblepie]

If you are looking at insurance, Barclays stand alone sports equipment insurance seems quite good.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

OP does your local horse watch have a tack marking scheme, I had mine marked by North York’s police and they have a dot-peen (I think that’s correct spelling), it imprints a police logo and special number specifically for your saddle, it is then registered on the police database and if it get pinched and found then you’ll get it back.

We used to have a cheap battery operated alarm, which was a motion sensor and it was loud enough to be heard from the house (hubby regularly heard it when I set it off forgetting to input the code). It certainly was a deterrent.

Lock everything down and make it as difficult as possible. Reinforce your tack room roof inside your barn.

 

[Meredith]

Not tack but we had a break in that involved crossing 2 roofs and making a hole in our roof.
Thieves will try anything.

 

[Mrs G]

The best set up ive seen had an alarm, two good locks on a nice solid door leading to a 'dummy' tack room. There was a second hidden door to the 'real' tack room where all the good tack was kept. The idea being if anyone did make the effort to break in they’d steal what they saw first - and just think they’d lucked out robbing someone with crappy bridles, old saddles and mucky rugs!