Built-in tack lockers

[froglander]

The BO at the barn where I work and board my horse has been considering doing built-in tack lockers so she can clean up the barn aisles. I told her I would gather some info for her, but I am having a hard time finding much solid information about built-in tack lockers. I can find a few pictures but no dimensions or plans–that is all for personal, portable ones.

Does anyone have experience with tack lockers? I am trying to steer here away from ones that have a top locker and a bottom locker, seems awkward for both!

I need to remeasure the main tack room to see how much space we actually have. There are 3 barns, 2 with 18 stalls and one with 9. Each barn has its own tack room for the most part (although separate) and most of the stalls have a tack trunk sitting in front (which can make for messy aisles because people keep storing things on and around their trunks).

Thank you!

[LauraKY]

Here’s an article from Stable Managment and it includes a source for plans. When I boarded the farm had lockers…they were full length with two saddle racks (eventing barn). Make sure there is some way to ventilate them.

http://stablemanagement.com/article/a-place-to-put-stuff

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I’m pretty sure the barn I boarded at with lockers was one on top and one on the bottom. 30 stall barn. Wasn’t bad. They were much simpler than the ones I see online. You had two saddle racks under a shelf and then you could add whatever you wanted for baskets or hanging (like a whip holder or whatever).

Full length would be very nice if you had the room.

We were allowed one Rubbermaid container on top.

[Lucassb]

My barn has tack lockers in the tack room - which replaced trunks for the same reasons you identified above.

In our case, we have “full height” spaces so there is no issue of having a top or bottom unit. (I’ve been at barns with those in the past and didn’t care for them - those with lockers on the bottom had to practically kneel on the floor to get their stuff in and out, and it also created hard feelings amongst the “favored” boarders who got the prime spots v. the hard to access ones.)

I can certainly understand the desire to keep everything neat & tidy and I do think the lockers help with that aspect of things. As noted above they do need ventilation or you get some icky gross tack in the summer!

The ones at my current barn have an open section at the bottom, a section above that which has a (breathable) fabric covered door, and then some open shelves above for things that are not used as often (extra pads, perhaps, or a cooler.)

They work just fine although in truth I miss my trunk and would prefer to have that plus a “normal” tackroom where the saddles & bridles lived.

[Simbalism]

I just visited a barn that had tack lockers for all the boarders. They had the same number of lockers as there were stalls. I didn’t actually look in them as they were locked, but they were floor to ceiling, and about 3 foot wide. At a barn I boarded at in the past, we had lockers for the boarders. They were about 3ft wide and 3ft high and deep enough for saddles. They had a wooden saddle rack attached to the back and a couple of hooks on the door. I could fit my grooming box and helmet in the “floor” of the locker. They had a rack with hooks for us to hang our chaps(I’m aging myself because everyone had full chaps then). I added a couple of hooks on the inside of the locker to hang my show halter, lunge line,etc. Worked great. Of course I was one of the first boarders there so had a prime spot. The lockers were three across and 3 high in the tack room. The lower ones would have been ok, but the top ones were a pain as they were really too high.

[FineAlready]

I have boarded at places with various types of tack lockers and cubbies and such. The best, in my opinion, are full size top to bottom tack lockers that can be locked with a padlock. You can always choose not to lock them, but it is very nice to have that option. If you want to have some ventilation, you could always have some “open” areas covered in wire mesh or something. To be honest, none of the lockers where I have boarded had much by way of ventilation. In summer, I usually just put one of those “Damp Rid” things in the locker and didn’t have any problems.

[Mallard]

The boarding stable near me has lockers that they made themselves. They are very nice…sturdy.
It is a good idea to keep the tack room neat.

Maybe 3’ x 3’ ? with a metal saddle rack bolted in and a bridle hook on the door.
Some people had multiple hooks on the doors and inside.

They are ‘stacked’ … and I got a top one which was difficult to get into… I am barely 5’ !!

They do keep a nice step ladder in the tack room, but I still could not get my saddle up onto the rack. I ended up throwing my jacket and a couple of pads on it and then placed a towel on the floor and set my saddle on it. I stored some stuff in small plastic containers in the back and had an old milk crate that held my brushes/ woof boots, helmet, etc.
I was only there for 2 months and brought only the bare necessities and left most of my stuff in my own barn here, so it was OK, but for the permanent folk, there was not nearly enough room to keep all your stuff.
They did build 2 taller stand-up lockers for 2 long-time boarders who both had two saddles (one Western!) and even then they were crowded.

[britannia]

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/198088083580015060/

[Jim_in_PA]

There is a new barn in this area that put in tack lockers for boarders in lieu of allowing tack trunks. I personally wouldn’t prefer that since I build high-end tack trunks for folks, but I can appreciate that they wanted to insure that the tack room was always neat and tidy. I don’t recall if they are full height or over/under for that particular barn. I will say that they look great…it’s like a sports locker room!

Another local operation where I’ve sold some trunks to folks has at least one, if not two barns on the property that have tack lockers. They are over/under.

[Blume_Farm]

I always thought if I was going to build a commercial barn I would do something like this:

https://cdn.suddenventures.com/www.newhorse.com/dynamic/2011/06/13/52fe6f24c7a71.1.jpg

[froglander]

Does anyone have any plans or pictures for built-in lockers? I did look at that Stable Management article (had found that previously) but it doesn’t really have any DIY suggestions it seems, just recommends stuff from different vendors.

I have seen 2’6" mentioned as well as 3’ for width. Do you think 2’6" is adequate or does it need to be 3’ to even be worth doing?

Would want to be able to fit 2 saddles, and hooks for bridles, etc. Maybe a shelf at the top for misc stuff, and room at the bottom for brushes, first aid kit, helmet, boots, etc.

[froglander]

Yes, you build lovely tack trunks Jim!

Here, we just each have a plastic trunk in front of our stalls, and it’s getting messy because people will keep a bucket on top of or next to, or their tack trunk is so full it won’t shut all the way…

Also, the aisles are not the widest and sometimes the trunks get in the way of the hay cart (gator type thing) to get through

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=froglander;7991268]
Does anyone have any plans or pictures for built-in lockers? I did look at that Stable Management article (had found that previously) but it doesn’t really have any DIY suggestions it seems, just recommends stuff from different vendors.

I have seen 2’6" mentioned as well as 3’ for width. Do you think 2’6" is adequate or does it need to be 3’ to even be worth doing?

Would want to be able to fit 2 saddles, and hooks for bridles, etc. Maybe a shelf at the top for misc stuff, and room at the bottom for brushes, first aid kit, helmet, boots, etc.[/QUOTE]

2 1/2’ is fine, 3’ is also fine, probably somewhere between that, depending on the space you want to use, whatever fits there.
You may even make some smaller, some wider.

Here are some pictures:

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

The decorative hinges are nice, but from a security standpoint, I think I would prefer hinges that are inaccessible unless the door is open and a place for a big padlock. A door would be a must from a dust and security standpoint.

I boarded at a place that had cubbies out in the aisle in addition to the tack room and the cubbies were useless because the dust was so bad there wasn’t anything you really wanted to put in there.

I would make it wide enough to fit a western saddle, even if everyone rides English. You never know.

[Kimstar]

Where I board, the lockers are floor to ceiling and I’m going to guess are 30" wide. (24" is doable but very cramped.) The top 24"(?) is open but divided from the locker next door. (Used for extra horse clothing, saddle pads, etc.)

The doors are the “French type” - double so they don’t take up as much space in the aisle when opened, which allow for more lockers in less space. More expensive than a single door but very sensible. The interior has a shelf perhaps 18" from the top of the closed portion, and another shelf approximately 18" from the floor. Two bridle racks and one saddle rack are included, but boarders are allowed to “customize” the interior with additional hardware if they wish. Nothing is allowed on the outside of the doors. And I believe the lockers are about 30" deep. Tons of space and well-done.

Originally, they were planning on leaving the centre section without doors, but a lot of people were concerned about security, although to date there has been no issue.

The show trunks are near the entrance to the barn (all matching) and there is room in the back storage area for those who have Stanley wheeled trunks.

Here’s a link to the website - there are a couple of photos on there of the tackroom: http://www.meadowsequine.ca/facility/viewing-tack-rooms