The hurricanes that recently devastated parts of the Caribbean and southern U.S. states are another reminder of how important it is to be prepared for disaster. Natural disaster isn’t the only thing that threatens you, your horse, and horse stuff. Fire and theft too can have devastating results. We should all, at minimum have liability insurance on our horses. That way, if our horse causes injury to anyone, we are protected. Many of us also have insurance against the loss of our horse, and against the loss of our horse stuff. The insurance for your horse gear may be included with the contents insurance on your home.
You should have an accurate inventory of all the horse gear you own, especially if it includes expensive items like saddlery, harness, horse drawn vehicles, specialized equipment, and even clothing. It seems tedious and maybe a little silly to start recording every piece of horse equipment you have from hoof picks to silver mounted saddles, but if you need that list because some creep cleared out your tack room, or you had to evacuate and leave your stuff behind because of wildfire, you’re going to have a much easier time than you would trying to remember all the stuff you need to claim or replace.
What do you include in your inventory? You’ll probably need to know what feed, like hay or bulk stores of grain are in your barn. You’ll want a list of all the tools you use for looking after your horse for stall cleaning, barn maintenance, and grooming. You’ll want to have a record of all tack including halters, bridles, harnesses, saddles, pads, blankets, boots, bandages and everything else your horse or you wear that is stored in your barn or home.
There are two ways to inventory tack; written and photographic. A combination of the two is probably best. For example, you might have a custom made saddle. A picture of it might not show how old it is, what the brand name is or other details. But, a written description, along with a photo can provide much more detail. Include the make, age, dimension and other details that could help someone identify your equipment, or purchase similar to replace it. A video is also helpful, allowing you to get a multi-angle view with your commentary.
Plan an afternoon to do this if you have a lot of stuff. Many of us can probably complete this in a couple of hours. As you are going through things, add identifying marks that will dissuade someone from taking it in the first place. Ideally, they should go somewhere obvious. On your expensive tack, you might want your identification somewhere a little less obvious, like under a saddle flap or underside of a bridle strap. Don’t use your social insurance number. Your name or phone number, if you don’t change either too often is probably best. Your driver’s license number would also work.
Once you’ve collected all of your information, you’ll need to store it. You need to store your inventory records somewhere safe. Ideally, backup your records in cloud storage. Include photographs and scan any written records. That way they can’t be lost, stolen or go up in flames.
Remember to update your inventory and make sure the information is the same as your insurance records. Once a year is usually sufficient.
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