20 Tips To Help Prevent Tack Theft

NetPosse.com, also known as Stolen Horse International, offers 20 tips to prevent tack theft, covering strategies from marking equipment to using surveillance and microchips. These tips are presented as essential reading for horse owners to protect their investments and peace of mind. 

The risks of tack theft

Tack is a significant investment for horse owners, so taking extra precautions to keep it safe is essential. While many of the tips for securing your equipment are well known, new technology and evolving criminal tactics mean that staying informed is crucial.

According to Debi Metcalfe, founder of Stolen Horse International, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. "We want equipment to stay where it is supposed to be, as well as the horses," she says. "Keeping both safe is part of the mission work of our nonprofit organization. We want people to protect their equipment and horses before the worst day of their agricultural life begins".

The following tips incorporate modern security measures and reminders that the simplest overlooked details can cause significant financial losses and heartache if equipment disappears.

Record and identify your tack

• Keep detailed pictures and videos of equipment and create an organized proof-of-ownership file.
• Record serial numbers for saddles and other valuable equipment.
• Permanently mark or brand tack with a unique identifier, like your driver's license number.
• Consider using microchips in saddles for a more advanced, trackable identification method.
• Add nameplates to tack as a basic deterrent and identification aid.
• Use a tack identification and tracking service like NetPosse ID, which offers an accessible database for record-keeping and recovery assistance.

Upgrade your physical security

• Secure your tack storage: Lock equipment inside a sturdy, windowless tack room or storage building with strong locks.
• Invest in smart locks: Replace standard padlocks with heavy-duty smart padlocks that offer biometric (fingerprint), keyless, and app-controlled access. Some models can even send tamper alerts to your phone.
• Install surveillance systems: Utilize high-definition, night-vision cameras equipped with motion sensors in high-risk areas, such as barn entrances and tack rooms. Post signs warning that the property is under surveillance.
• Use smart sensors and alarms: Integrate an alarm system with smart sensors on doors and windows that can trigger a local alarm and send an alert to your phone.
• Improve lighting: Install motion-sensor lighting around the barn and tack room to startle intruders.
• Lock trailers and vehicles: When traveling, lock equipment inside your trailer and secure the trailer itself with a wheel or coupler lock. Park trailers out of sight from the road if possible.
• Consider a safe: Store expensive or high-value items, medications, and sensitive paperwork in a fireproof safe.
• Use animal alarms: Dogs, geese, and donkeys can serve as early warning systems by raising a commotion when strangers approach.

Embrace technology for recovery

• Explore GPS trackers: Some small, covert GPS trackers can be concealed in saddles or other expensive equipment to aid in recovery if stolen.
• Use social media: Stolen Horse International, also known as NetPosse, is an active non-profit that uses social media to distribute "Amber Alerts" for missing horses and tack.

Enhance your community defenses

• Establish a "Farm Watch" system: Coordinate with neighbors to monitor and report suspicious activity. Please take note of unfamiliar vehicles and their license plates.
• Be cautious with visitors: Screen potential buyers, especially those who show an unusual interest in your equipment rather than just the horse they came to see.

Stolen Horse International

One of the best ways to keep tack organized in a proof of ownership file is with NetPosse ID. Stolen Horse International's NetPosse ID Record-Keeping is a robust database accessible via phone and developed from over 25 years of working with victims.

"We have worked with thousands of victims over two decades," Metcalfe states. "The NetPosse ID registry is like no other type of registry worldwide. The positive and negative experiences of NetPosse victims are the inspiration behind the registry. We throw everything in it but the kitchen sink".

For more information on Stolen Horse International and its programs, visit www.netposse.org. As a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the organization's NetPosse Alert system has been known as the horse industry's "Amber Alert" for over 25 years.

Article updated 10/11/2025