September last year I was on the hunt for a tack locker and settled on purchasing a Saddle Locker – specifically the Platinum Medium & Mini Tack Trunk . Despite the struggles to get it delivered in one piece I do love it and wanted to finally get a review up now that I have had it for a few months.
Price: $899 – This is a steep price point but this is one of few metal tack lockers available on the market. If I am spending over $500 on a trunk I don’t want it to be plastic.
Pros: Given the steep premium that you pay for these bad boys I had very high expectations. Luckily I was not disappointed and I love love love my locker. Not only is it secure and durable but it also allows me to keep all of the things that I need on a day to day basis in one location.
Benefits of this locker include:
- The locker comes apart and folds to be fairly easily transported and stays surprisingly clean – the hardest part about moving it is getting all of my things out (tack hoarders anonymous anyone…)
- It comes with 2 saddle racks, 2 bridle hooks, and 2 miscellaneous hooks
- Both the 51″ medium locker and the 30″ mini locker have a set of shelves which help on the organizing front
- There are many options in terms of size and finish which can provide a few different price points
- Both pieces lock which adds some peace of mind if you are storing high value items (read: saddle)
- ETA: the separate locks are actually a nice feature some of the time in that I can provide someone with access to certain items and not others if I never needed to (i.e. leaving access to medical supplies but not tack or vice versa)
Cons: The only things that I would change about this are:
- Does not come with the telescopic saddle rackย (I purchased one for myself a couple weeks ago)
- The shelves are not very adjustable (as in there are only 2 options for heights in the taller locker)
- In this model the bridle hooks are not high enough to hang bridles in a figure 8 pattern inside the door without looping the reins twice – if you have the space and only want one locker you should check out the 81″ saddle locker that is the same size as my 2 lockers combined to resolve this issue
- The locks for both pieces are not the same due to the pieces being manufactured separately in Germany – which as noted above can be seen as a benefitย ย ย Bottom Line: I would buy this again in a heartbeat. If you have the money I see this as a long lasting investment. Not only does almost all of my necessary stuff find inside of it but it looks snazzy too! If any of you have questions about Saddle Lockers please let me know! I am not an expert but I have had mine for a while and do have a few contacts at the company now. ๐
Great product with great customer service to boot – I even got a Christmas card from Saddle Lockers!
What do you all use for storage? Any better ideas for maximizing my space?
Do you have ant pictures that show the full unit?
I just added pictures from the Saddle Lockers website to my post. Unfortunately I cannot get a decent pic of the whole unit myself right now.
i’ve never had the need for a stand-alone locker but can see how one would be useful. the extra looped up reins would drive me crazy tho as i’m pretty much the worst at getting things tangled and knocking them off hooks… that might just be a ‘me’ problem tho lol
Things don’t get really tangled luckily. I just make sure to figure 8 my bridle a little differently now.
We have a saddle locker at work that I have contemplated buying, except that I don’t really need one, haha! I love the idea of everything being tidily kept in one place, but I share my tack room at the barn with one other boarder and have plenty of space for my moderate amount of stuff.
I really really love mine. I have plenty of room in my new tack room too but the locker was perfect for when I didn’t have a tack room at my last barn ๐
Do you still use the locker now that you have a tack room?
Yep I still do. My BO said that I could put it in our tack room (which is actually my preference to the aisle where it was always dusty at my old barn). I love being able to keep my things in one location. Just make sure your BO or future BO’s are open to the idea. Both of the barns I have been at didn’t care but some barns might not be set up to accommodate the size.
Love love LOVE saddle lockers!! The ones at valley view really were the best. I need to order one of my own someday
I LOVE this thing. This may be my next big investment as my old “coffin” trunk just isn’t cutting it anymore as far as organizing and keeping things clean. Thank you for this review!!
These are very similar to the tack lockers provided at my yard. I’ll have to clean mine up some day and snap some.pics for comparison.
I can also take pics of the way I hang my bridles if you’d like an alternative way to keep them neat. I loop the reins through the throat lash – hard to explain but I’ll try to snap some pics tomorrow while Nancy’s part leasee is there to show you how I do it if you’d like another hanging option…
I typically do figure 8 my bridles with the reins hanging on the throat latch but the reins end up hanging too low for the door. ๐
Really cool! I’ve got a trunk and plastic cabinet which seems to work well, but that locker is snazzy ๐
Looks awesome! Definitely not in my budget but maybe someday… It can go on the wanty list, haha.
I learned a different way to gather a bridle during my short stint as a groom. We did this when we were packing the bridles in the trunks to keep them from getting tangled, so it might work for your truck. Instead of doing the standard figure 8, try taking both reins together and folding them over the crown piece (so if it’s hanging up, the crown piece will be on the hook, and the reins will be directly on top of the crown piece, if that makes sense). Then do the noseband and throat latch as normal. You won’t we able to put the TL through the reins, but you won’t need to, they’ll stay put (especially having stationary!).
It looks so awesome! My dad made me a wooden one but I have horses at two facilities…might be a good excuse to purchase another.
Really neat! Not sure id ever be able to shell out for one, but I’ve seen add for the rolling ones before an those have really caught my eye!