Theault horseboxes - does anyone have one?

Weezy

Weezy

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As the title
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I want a small lorry, don't need living and this is winning me over.
 
We looked at them, at a sh6w, although decided that we needed a larger lorry and were out off purely as they would /could not tell us the payload and just kept repeating ' there is room for two large horses'
Maybe just unfortuante salemen that day, but other makes were happy to say what thye had and what could be done for an uprated chassis.
 
Please can you tell more - seriously tempted also did you buy in France believe that you can avoid VAT by doing this?
Which one did you get and do horses who have been used to travelling herringbone adapt easily to going backwards?
 
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Yes we have one - and I could not recommend highly enough. They are brilliant!

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Excellent
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Which model do you have and do you have a 3 or 5 person cab?
 
We have the 5 person cab.

We have herringbone. forward facing and rear facing lorries. I would give rear facing no 1.

Yes it will hold 2 17.2HH - but in all honesty it would I think be overweight with this. However (and you would need to check exact details) you can up rate to 4.2T. The Theault however is lighter than many other 3.5T vehicles as they use aircraft alum. By using this they are still able to maintain the strength.

Horses travel absolutely fantastically in the lorry.
 
I've been most impressed by the Theault. I hire one from atacanter when I need to travel further than is practicable in my 30 year old lorry. Very easy to drive, feels very stable, good quality fittings.

The USP on them, I believe, is that the breast bars and rear door are designed that should it be necessary you can walk the horses out of the back.

I don't know if you've already looked into it but atacanter would hire you one to try and have a good play with and do occasionally have second hand ones available.
 
Thanks jemima - yes have looked at atacanter site but they do not have any second hand ones listed ATM - am waiting Theault to come back to me with prices....I have a snag as it needs to be an auto so will prob have to have it made for me as autos are like hens teeth, but at least they offer the option! Otherwise I should just do my test again in a geared car (no one told me over here that if you sat your test in an auto then you got an auto license - silly rule and one that only happens over here I think!)
 
I would definitely recommend you hire on for at least a weekend to road test and make sure your horse is happy in one.
My cob loves his (OK it's not a Theault - personally I feel that the 5 seater takes too much space from the horse area - it's a HORSE box not a PERSON box!) and he has had major MAJOR travelling problems in a trailer and cannot cope with herringbone travel at all.
I hired one for the weekend and spent all weekend loading, unloading, standing in it with ramp down and up then went on a short journey on the Saturday and a longer one on the Sunday.
Then I bought a Renault Master off EBay and got it converted!
 
Good point jnb, will do that
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I have 2 children and an OH, so if we ever want to go en masse to an event then I am just not going to be able to fit us all in (and dog!), so have to think hard!
 
It is a good point.

The horses I've travelled in the Theault (5 seat) were firstly a 16.3 6'9 rug ShireX and tbh she fitted fine but travelled better in my herringbone lorry which is far too small for her.
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The other horse who's spent time in one is a 16.2 6'3 rug and there was plenty of space for him and he travelled fine.

The 15.2 and unders have had masses of room - but you want to travel significantly larger animals than that I think!

I've found that the horses all loaded extremely well with the short side ramp.
 
The Marlboroughs come in Auto, I think? However, I think the Theaults are the only ones except the Equi-Treks that are built on brand new vehicles, which if I could afford, would definitely recommend, having had a new engine in my Master @ £2800 plus fitting!!!!!

Weezy, have you looked at the Equi-Trek Sonic etc? Are you restricted to 3.5t, or did you just want a smaller lorry? If so the Equi-Treks look good (are built on a brand new Peugeot chassis) and will be at Badminton - well, they were last year! for you to have a nosey.
Unfortunately, for me, they load from the driver's side and I'm not sure my cob would be able to cope with this - he's 100% happy with what he's got and I don't want to rock the boat! Also the head room in them leaves a bit to be desired - not in the clearance, but in the fact that they shutter off the horse from the tack area.
Anyway - good luck! I love my little box and I get 38mpg from it!
 
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I think they are £35k plus to buy!! But lovely lovely little boxes.

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I think youre right, they were very expensive when we looked at them.
Hence we bought the Ascot instead.

We had a Marlborough, it was brilliant.
 
Give Charlton Horseboxes near Swindon a ring on 01793 840567. They build the smaller lorries and I was given a rough weight with the specifications I requested before the build started and a final exact weight when it was finished. They do 3.5T, 5.5T and 6.5T.
 
I have been reading this thread with interest as I work for Theault and would like to point out a couple of things.

Firstly the feeling that the 5-seat cab takes too much room from the horses is unrealistic as the horse space is no smaller, the difference in size comes in the rear storage being smaller on this model. The weight distribution is however better as the weight is between the axles. You have to remember that each axle has its own individual weight allowance which add up to the total allowance.

So far as not being able to give payload, I would point out that as we build in France we are dutybound to put the unladen weight on the side of our vehicles together with the metal plate that proves crash testing homologation, you will therefore see a plate showing unladen, gross vehicle and individual access weights on the side. The reason for not being over specific about payloads is that it is not possible to be as all vehicles re specd to the customers requirement so each individual vehicle will weigh differently.

Regarding other manufacturers giving unladen weights, I visited a few at shows last year and was interested by the weights given. I know the result of independent weighings by a chassis manufacturer on 3 rival manufacturers all of whom had a lot less payload in reality to those given by the salesman at the show. Remember, there is no law in England requiring accurate info to be given to you, it is still very much buyer beware.
 
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As the title
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I want a small lorry, don't need living and this is winning me over.

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I have driven the ECS Horse Tranport Theault boxes and they are great, very easy to drive, ample storage and well finished - I would recommend them
 
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