Cheval Liberte - advice

Sparklet

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A friend of mine is looking for a second hand Cheval Liberte....she plans to tow it with her Octavia car so really wants a lightweight trailer. There are several models on the market and she wants to get the right size to fit her 16.3 warmblood (she only intends to put one horse in)

She has found a second hand 2003 model and when she contacted Cherval they said that one might be a bit tight for a horse that size, however the owner said she used it for her 16.3 horse without a problem. There is a 2003XL which is much bigger but is heavier at 830kg.....the 2003 is only 750kg so would be easier to pull with her car.

Her horse is used to travelling in a lorry but has been in a trailer before and isnt the type which needs loads of room as he is quite stable.

So....advice needed about model size from anyone who has one and also weight as she is pulling with her car required please.
 
A friend of mine is looking for a second hand Cheval Liberte....she plans to tow it with her Octavia car so really wants a lightweight trailer. There are several models on the market and she wants to get the right size to fit her 16.3 warmblood (she only intends to put one horse in)

She has found a second hand 2003 model and when she contacted Cherval they said that one might be a bit tight for a horse that size, however the owner said she used it for her 16.3 horse without a problem. There is a 2003XL which is much bigger but is heavier at 830kg.....the 2003 is only 750kg so would be easier to pull with her car.

Her horse is used to travelling in a lorry but has been in a trailer before and isnt the type which needs loads of room as he is quite stable.

So....advice needed about model size from anyone who has one and also weight as she is pulling with her car required please.
I think she would be better off and a lot safer with a more sensible tow vehicle something like a discovery or shogun then there is a bigger choice of trailers as the bigger ones are all around 1000kg then you might have tack a haynet, water and a 16.3 WB thats about 700 kg perhaps so to be on the safe side you need about 2000kg+ tow capacity ...
 
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i have a 2003 and i travel a 16.1 who has to have loads of head room or he panics (claustrophobic) he loves the trailer and has plenty of room. would have issue putting a larger horse in mine.
 
I have a 2003XL and there is oodles of room. My mare is a very upright 16.3 IDx who after me buying myself a lorry decided that she didnt like it after only going in it 6 times so Iv had to go back to a trailer! She had always been great loading and then with the lorry just suddenly started refusing point blank to even put a foot on the ramp, now I think that this was because its not one of the really tall lorries - its not tiny by any means even with her head right up she did only just about touch the roof but think it was enough to make her princess-self feel cramped hence stopping loading. So when I was looking for a trailer it had to have loads of room for her and also my other horse. The 2003XL has this in length, width and height imo, and for the weight of it is fantastic! My only concern was that the ramp door if u like wasnt as near high as the roof is so for a big horse I was paranoid of her hitting her head on the way out - however she doesnt but not knowing the exact measurements of the 2003 model I dont know if this wud be lower again and id for a big horse this wud be my worry. That said Im more than happy with mine! Again tho, as someone else said always better to have as much weight as possible in the tow car as yes in theory u should be border line ok with 1 horse in an octavia but if anything goes wrong with a horse that size then with a smaller weight in front pulling u dont hav as much help to 'pull' u out of trouble.
Dont know that this has even made sense but all in all I would go for the biggest available but this is just my opinion. :)
 
Your friend needs to find out the towing capacity of her car and work out how heavy her horse and the trailer would be together before going any further, to see if she can make them match up.
 
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