I’m moving to a new barn with minimal tack storage. I have a nice trailer with a locking tack room. I was thinking of keeping my Western saddle in the trailer and English saddle inside. Would it be any harder on the leather than an unheated barn? I live in the midwest. My trailer is also insulated. My only other choice is putting it in my friend’s basement. But it would not be readily accessible. Thanks for your thoughts.
Even when I had my stuff in a barn, it’s NEVER been a heated barn. :lol:
It’ll be fine!
Where I board right now, I keep everything in my own horse trailer. I live in North Dakota. The only things I take out of it for the winter are grooming products that might freeze. Everything else stays in there (saddles, blankets, bridles, etc).
My tack lives in my trailer… Pretty much the only place on our property that is rodent and goat proof. It’s no worse for wear and if anything, is less moldy/dusty/dirty in the trailer. My dressage saddle has been untouched for over six months and doesn’t even have a layer of dust on it… Meanwhile in our tack/feed room the tack there gets dusty and moldy within a week.
Wow, thanks for the input! My trailer can be my own tack room now 
Wait , extreme cold and even more ompotantly heat will destroy your leather so this is really about temperature not where you store it. Heat will quickly destroy your saddle and a trailer is better than a car but they still get real hot unless you are parking it under shelter and maybe the summer is over where you live?
FYI I have destroyed two helmets by leaving them in the trailer.
I’m not so sure that temperature will destroy decent quality tack, but maybe it’s worth a google. I don’t know anyone who stores tack in a climate controlled tack room, and I know lots of people with old tack. My tack stays in my non climate controlled tack room, but I’m in a place with humid summers, so anything not being used regularly comes into the house for long term storage due to mold. My saddles are in cases and I do not have an issue with mold growing on them.
Ditto others … I keep tack in my trailer, never any problems. Lived in Chicago area for 8 years that way, now a bit further south where mold is more of a concern, but the stuff in my trailer turned out better off than what was in the barn’s tackroom.
I have found that western saddles store great in a trailer, but english saddles get dry/cracked really fast. I think it’s because the english leather is more “smooth” and harder to take care of. I always store my western in the trailer but my english in my bedroom.
Keep it covered, loosely at least, with something waterproof in case your trailer develops leaks. Had a friend that found this out the hard way.
My hesitation is always humidity (lucky you if you don’t have this issue!). I put DampRids in my tack cabinet in our non-climate controlled tack room and it helps. If you have a mold issue after some time - or know there will be one - I highly recommend sticking one in the tack room with your tack.
Maybe the responses are from people living in colder climates but heat will dry and destroy your leather, the heat in a barn tackroom is not the concern but a trailer outside get real hot. Just like any skin leather will dry out and the dry rot may be in places you can’t see especially on a western saddle.
So the question was about leaving leather goods in a trailer NOT a tack room.
And yes real deep cold will also dry out your leather.
I’m in the south now ,store my saddles in a east facing garage attached to my house ,well ventilated. down here you’ll be fighting mold in your barn tackroom but it will be fine in our mild winters. When I lived in colorado(at 10,000 feet ) most of the saddles stayed in the tack room which was in the center of the barn.Tack kept in a barn Full of horses at night where it was much warmer in the than outside!
Actually I did carry my saddle back and forth from the barn and stored in the house months when it were always below 0 at night.I didn’t have the money to buy a new saddle.
extremes of any temperature variation can for sure shorten the life of your tack… if your tack is not consistently cared after. keep your tack clean and conditioned in hot weather and you shouldn’t have to worry about dry rot - dry rot happens because the leather fibers desiccate. extreme cold can be a little different in that the fibers may be stiff to move so don’t overoil or cover with a liquid that can swell and freeze and you should be all set.
my tack has been “exposed” to all extremes for over a decade. i don’t have a heated/protected tack room. i have a shed that has holes everywhere except the roof, is as weatherproof as a three sided shelter, and i have not had a single issue with any of my tack other than having goats destroy it… but that’s neither here or there. 
Most people here kept their tack in the trailer or in a non-insulated building. Summers are hot - most of last week we were over 100F. Winters aren’t an issue.
If you just park your saddle in the trailer and never attend to it for years it will dry rot, but a saddle getting regular use and care and conditioning is going to be fine in the trailer.
I think the key point here is to take good care of your stuff, as far as conditioning the leather when you should.
Then the weather (hot or cold) really is irregardless.
It will be cared for as I will be riding daily. I will put a gauge in the trailer tack room to keep track of the temp and humidity. Thanks everyone
