[Freemare]

So I am now moved into my nice new horse property. However I would like to build a wall of saddle racks. Do you guys have any ideas? My saddles are western and some can be a bit heavy. I have seen some designs online but I am unsure of what would work best. I dont want to buy and pre-made stuff as they are to costly.


Here is my tack room. The saddle racks will be going on the wall were the white cabinet is.

 

[boots]

Congratulations on getting a good property!

As long as you connect to a stud in the wall, and brace to the stud, you should be fine.

A friend who welds made a really neat revolving rack that holds six western saddles and two sets of harness for their cobs. It fits well in a corner. But, I don't weld, and you may not either.

 

[Freemare]

Congratulations on getting a good property!

As long as you connect to a stud in the wall, and brace to the stud, you should be fine.

A friend who welds made a really neat revolving rack that holds six western saddles and two sets of harness for their cobs. It fits well in a corner. But, I don't weld, and you may not either.

Ya, I am not that good with a welder. LOL. Sadly there is no studs in the wall. All the walls in the barn are metal and do not have anything between them.

 

[Avna]

Seems to me the first thing to determine is whether it is possible to hang something that heavy from the wall and if so, how to do it. The design of the rack is secondary to that.

My husband made me a very useful saddle rack for my car, back when I was boarding at a place where the tack room was like a quarter mile away from my horse and my car became my default tack room. I would think it would be fairly simple to alter the design to make it hang on a wall. Could not be cheaper or easier. It looks like this:

 

[JCnGrace]

I think if your wall has no studs in it then you're going to have to go with free standing saddle racks.

 

[boots]

Ya, I am not that good with a welder. LOL. Sadly there is no studs in the wall. All the walls in the barn are metal and do not have anything between them.

You can use the metal ribs that are there as studs. I wish I'd paid more attention to a barn where I know that was done.

Or you can go with floor to ceiling anchors. You have concrete floors and wood rafters in the ceiling? That will work, too.

Personally, I love figuring out the challenges a new place provides. I've owned a few, and leased many over the years.

Let us know what you decide!

Oh! On a couple projects I contacted the local high school and offered an award for design and fabrication for things. The most recent was a low cost run-in shed that could be easily moved yet provide secure tack storage. The teacher and students had fun with it, and I got a great, functional shed (student built) that I later donated to that area's the vet that handled quarantines for the sheriff's department when they had to rescue animals. Got a write off both times.

 

[smrobs]

Well, just realized that I hadn't read all the responses and didn't notice that the walls are metal with no studs. Dangit LOL. In that case, I would second what boots said, and use the metal ribs (either along the wall or at the ends) as studs.


Most walls do have studs every 18 inches or so....normally, but the studs are only 2 inches wide. Unfortunately, that can make wall-mount saddle racks difficult. I worked around that in my tack room by bolting a 2x12 board with a 2x4 under it on the wall directly to each stud and then attaching my saddle racks to the board. It has worked well so far (about 5 years since the tack room was built) and I have had up to 4 heavy western saddles on each board/wall. This is one of the best pictures I've got, it was still a work in progress then. I now have an upper row on the long wall as well so space for 11 saddles in the room.


Also, as an aside, I get the cost thing since I was on a very tight budget when I was building the tack room, but I don't regret for even an instant spending $20 each for those saddle racks. I've even stacked saddles 2 deep on them (so 80+ pounds) with no problem. Super easy install and fold down out of the way when I don't need them.
Easy-Up® Fold Down Western & English Saddle Rack in Saddle Racks, Carts & Stands at Schneider Saddlery

 

[Acadianartist]

We had posts left over from building the fence so we did something like this:

 

[Freemare]

So I had a thought. What If I did something like this.

The tack room does have metal supports along the edge and middle. However they are not soild. But if I drilled all the way through and put a bolt through it and used something to brace it?

Here is a new picture of the tack room. Also if it helps the barn is made by barn master.

 

[boots]

I really like your idea of putting a frame on the existing wall. I am stumped, though, on how you will attach it.

I can't wait to hear what options you find.

 

[horselovinguy]

Ummmm...
I don't like your idea at all when you refer to a "metal barn". If it is anything along these lines... forget that I went to your barn manufacturers website and browsed around...
MD Barnmaster Modular Horse Barns - Custom Designed Barns | MD Barnmaster
MD Barnmaster Superior Horse Barn Construction Built To Last - MDBarnmaster
View the website and barn pictures carefully....
The "supports", a rectangular tube of thin metal, which then has a "laminated" surface with a 3/4" piece of plywood in the middle attached to it, period.
There are reasons why people can buy and put the things up by hand themself, no lift equipment needed!
So, how many saddles are you planning on hanging off of a support bar?
The weight of each saddle times ???? Concentrated on one wall..
Please don't forget this support rail is still needed and has the added weight of the roof & sidewalls already attached to it....

100% agree that a free-standing unit is your best way to go for safety, longevity of your barn and not having a ruined mess crash down or twist and rack a wall from weight overload.
:runninghorse2:.....
jmo...

 

[Acadianartist]

Having looked at your pictures and description again, I have to agree with horselovinguy. Attaching a heavy wooden saddle rack and adding a heavy Western saddle to those flimsy metal bars seems like a recipe for disaster. Why not build something like this instead?

 

[Zexious]

I know you said they're too expensive, but I'm all for the ones I purchased off of Dover and mounted in my garage for my saddles that I cannot keep at the barn. They were inexpensive and I have had no issues with them. Just something to look into--they may not be as pricy as you think!

 

[Avna]

You can get free-standing metal saddle racks that hold six saddles for $200. Here's one: Stateline 6-saddle rack.

To my mind, you would be ahead to invest in one of those things.

 

[smrobs]

After seeing and actually understanding what type of wall/barn you're dealing with, I also agree with horseluvinguy, definitely need something free-standing.


Coming from someone who builds a lot of things out of wood....lumber is expensive and really doesn't last all that long in the grand scheme of things unless you either buy treated (which is even more expensive) or treat it yourself, which is a pain. Considering buying the supplies (and tools if you need them), the time it would take to build them yourself, and the work put in, buying metal ones would probably end up cheaper and definitely easier.
Easy-Up® Portable Multi Saddle Racks in Saddle Racks, Carts & Stands at Schneider Saddlery