It is too easy to "bury your head in the sand" and say theft will never happen to me. But we all know it can. The real question is-are we willing to be proactive and do something to:
- Hopefully, prevent it from happening, but barring that,
- Make it easier to recover our things when they are stolen.
You can and it is a fairly simple process, but you have to keep track of what you are doing and keep up with the records. It is a commitment of sorts. You have an investment in those things-monetary and emotional. That's what we are here for-to help you keep that investment safe.
Here's the process:
1. Using a camera or smartphone, take pictures of each piece of tack. Preferably, you want to do it with something like a newspaper. Why? Because it shows that day's date and the news. It can't be any other day. You can change the day on the camera, but the newspaper is the day it was published. That shows you had that item on that day.
2. Then mark that item permanently-microchip it, use Data-DNA, engrave it, stamp it-whatever you are going to use-and photograph that-how you marked it and the exact location.
3. Place your images in a safe place. We suggest one of two ways of doing this-A. print them out and post them to yourself. When you receive them back, MAKE CERTAIN NOT TO OPEN THE ENVELOPE. This will show to investigators that the materials inside have not been tampered with since the day they were put into the mail. Then store it safely. B. The second method is to keep the records in a digital file untouched. Be sure to keep this in a location where it will not be accidently accessed by someone looking for a spare drive. You want the metadata to show the last time used to be when you put it away for storage.
4. Post signs about your barn, horse trailer, stall, etc. stating that these things have been permanently identified. This is not guaranteed to deter thieves as they are aware that some people do post them without having done the work, but it may give them pause.
Microchipping of tack and some other methods are sometimes of interest to insurance companies as they do allow for traceability of these valuable items and allow for recovery. These methods, by and large, do not harm the tack, and may, in fact, actually add value when you consider that you now have that to identify that saddle as being yours.
(c) Ellen Wright, NetPosse, 2015
Purchase your microchips from Stolen Horse International and help us continue to help missing horse victims with your purchase. We do not use companies that sell the 900 numbered microchips. All proceeds support our Victim's Service and Educational Outreach projects. Click the image below. http://www.netposse.com/storefront.asp
