A saddle locker or horse locker makes your everyday stable life easier, as you can store all your riding equipment and gear neatly in it. However, the purchase of a saddle locker is very expensive in most cases. How about building your own wooden saddle locker?
With a precise plan, the right materials and a little craftsmanship, you can easily build your own saddle cabinet.
You can build a saddle cabinet yourself by first making a precise sketch of how the wooden saddle cabinet should look later, then procuring the necessary materials and finally assembling the cabinet. We have provided detailed instructions for this below.
Before you start building the tack locker, you must first take the time to make a detailed sketch showing how your tack locker or horse locker will look and what materials it will be made of. All shelves including extras such as saddle or bridle holders and the exact location of these must be considered.
It is advantageous to think about the order of the saddle cupboard during the planning phase so that each item has its own place in the cupboard. This way you know exactly how many shelves and at the same time how many screws you need for the assembly.
Also think about how big your tack room will need to be and how much weight you want to put or hang in it so that the thickness of the boards can withstand it. Make a note of the exact measurements for each detail so that you can have the boards cut to size at the DIY store.
The dimensions of a tack locker vary depending on the amount of equipment and can be 1000 mm to 1800 mm high and 650 mm to 1400 mm wide. The advantage of building a tack locker or horse locker yourself is that you can design the dimensions according to your own needs.
Of course, you need to make sure that the size of cupboard you want will fit in your tack room without blocking the way, and that you create enough space in the tack room if necessary.
Also include the length of the saddle in your sketch and remember that the closed door should not touch the saddle.
In the next step, drive to the DIY store of your choice with your sketch and the exact measurements as well as the number of screws, hinges and angles. Here you can get all the material you need to build your wooden saddle locker.
You will need the following materials to build a saddle cabinet:
Once you have the sketch and the material together, it is time to build the body of the cupboard. First screw the back wall to the floor and then screw the side walls to the back wall and the floor. Reinforce these with angles to be able to guarantee a high degree of stability of the walls. Next, you can screw on the top and the cabinet body is ready.
Also think about the feet that you should mount under the cabinet so that the cabinet is elevated and thus protected from moisture and cold. This also guarantees that the doors do not scrape the floor when opening or closing.
In the following step, you should fix the shelves inside where you can see them in the sketch and also reinforce them with angles. A spirit level can be helpful here.
Make sure that there are no large gaps or holes during assembly so that mice cannot get into the cabinet. However, small gaps for optimal ventilation and air circulation are recommended.
When you have finished building the carcase with the shelves, all that remains is to fit the doors. To do this, you need to take the hinges you bought and use them to attach the doors to the top and bottom of the wardrobe carcase.
If you do not use prefabricated doors but cut wooden panels for the doors, you must also attach the handles to the outside of the door.
In order to be able to store your riding equipment such as saddle, halter, ropes etc. in the saddle cupboard, you should fix hooks, bridle and saddle holders with screws inside. Small as well as large storage boxes are also ideal for neatly storing riding accessories.
If you want to ensure that unauthorised persons do not have access to your tack locker or horse locker, you can attach a lock from the outside to make your locker burglar-proof.
Since most saddle lockers available online or in equestrian shops are made of metal and are usually more expensive than wooden saddle lockers, it makes sense to build a saddle locker yourself. The big advantage is that you can design it completely according to your wishes and to suit your needs, and you also save money.
Make a detailed plan in advance of how the cupboard should look and procure the appropriate material for it. With a little patience and perseverance, you too can build your own saddle cabinet.
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