Trailers; which is the best..

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Jesstickle

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light weight trailer for a long horse. Not ifor williams, they aren't light weight enough!

I'm looking at Bateson deuvilles, cheval libertes or the robinsons ones at the moment. Does anyone have any other ideas or any opinions?

Ideally the max load would be high enough for my two monsters with the unladen weight as low as possible. Brown horse is also very looooooong even though he is only 15.3hh. I am wondering if there are others which I haven't thought of?

This is all day dreaming/ hypothetical at the moment as my trailer test isn't until next month.And judging by how bad I was at reversing the trailer round the yard today I won't pass anyway but a girl can hope :)
 
Hmm, I don't quite understand why the Ifor Williams is not lightweight enough?

I started off with an old Rice - evil, heavy, manky piece of poo. But all I could afford at the time. Then after a very, very short time of nearly putting my back out trying to do the ramp and having to stop and put a pin in/take a pin out? Can't remember, must've erased it from my memory as soo awful, I made a telephone call - "Helloo, Mr Halifax, please can I have £3,000?" and got my Ifor Williams HB505 (few years ago now - they've gone up lots).

It's fabfabfab. Can just ping the ramp up on my own, almost with my little finger. And I don't know I've got it on the back of the jeep, weightwise.

Although I would LOVE a big fat shiny lorry - until I win the lottery, my trailer is the business.

Don't know anything about the brands you've mentioned but I've seen some Equitrek (?) ones and they look huge and very smart. And very expensive!
 
It is nothing against ifors. They are very nice but unless I am wrong they weigh in at about 900k ? and the others I'm looking at are sort of 750k ish. It is all about working out my weights as I can only tow up to 2 tonnes with my car! I don't want to have to buy a new car so am hypothesising how I can get maximum bang for my bucks, so to speak! I could be talking out of my a*rse mind you!
 
robinsons are stripped cheval libertes that cost more than the higher spec chevals. i have a cheval liberte 2003 which has been fab, we can only tow 2000kg with my car. my old boy doesn't load or travel very well (it took us 9hours to get him home!) but he is fine with the cheval we can load him in 10 mins max.
 
My BF said the same that earlier. something along the lines of 'if they aren't the same trailer I'll eat my hat!' he's a clever dick sometimes!

Can I ask how much you're cheval liberte was? The uk website doesn't seem to offer prices just specs and people are selling on ebay for more than a new robinsons one?
 
We have a Cheval Liber¨¦ XL 2003. It is light to pull as opposed to Ifor Williams. It's easy to tow and looks good!

It's fiber glass. Now due to that, it seems flimsy, all plastic looking and shiney. However, i did read somewhere that fibre glass is strong and can substain quite an impact! I wouldn't know if thats true or not though.

Being a French model, the jokey door is on the wrong side for us! It's a massive jokey door. Both the front and back ramps open as you would expect...They also open like a normal door too! I'm sure it's more to be like a general purpose thing, so that it is, in theory, easier to transport other items that aren't horses!

The partitions runs to the front, so that there will be no fighting and biting if you've two in the box and it seems big. It is slightly wider in the base than an Ifor Williams.

Now, the downside to Cheval. We were transporting a horse and all of a sudden, one of the front flaps swung open! The locks on the front flaps at least, seem very weak. The whole thing fell off over one wee bump...

I can't speak for the newer model but thats the downside to the 2003 XL. It may just be us though too. I was and still am quite impressed with the box though, but thats my one big put off.

Another advantage, for me anyway, was that i bought a mare and transported her in a 505 and she wouldn't settle, when i traveled her in the Cheval, she was perfect!

Personally, if i were looking into buying a trailor, I'd look at the european boxes!
 
Oh I see. Sorry, no idea how much any of them weigh. Actually, I've no idea how much my horse weighs either. Somewhere between 550 and 700kgs I guess - 16.1hh Belgian Warmblood - but I've only got the 1 horse and a big Izusu Trooper 3.1.

Maybe you ought to get your 2 horses weighed so you can see how much you can get away with with the trailer weight?

You really don't want to be overweight or your brakes on your vehicle won't work. I had a proper scare a few months ago when some D-head decided to drive the wrong way up a dual carriageway. All the traffic in the outside lane scooted into the inside lane (where I was) to get out of the way of said D head (and the police car following him) and I had to do an emergency stop. With my booboo on the back. And my trailer brakes didn't work. Thought I was going to crash into the car in front, it was SO scary. Have had the brakes fixed now but it was NOT funny.
 
Thank you! feel a bit rude about talking money in honesty. Isn't polite and all that! I'd really like to find one 2nd hand but there aren't many about. Suppose that's a good thing as it shows people like theirs I guess! I'm hoping if I pass my test (which is on my birthday in November) my dad might buy me something but think brand new is probably taking the pee a bit!
 
well when i looked the 2nd hand were like you have found few and far between, and the prices people wanted for 6yrs old trailers weren't that much off the price off a new one. so after a lot of thought we went for a new one as at least there is a warranty and we knew what had happened to it.
 
boyfriend wants to go and pick one up from France or Germany. Think that's a bit extreme. I might just takeout a bank loan. It's no worse than buying a car really. My car loan will be gone in April so could just start another :) I saw them at your horse live last year and they did seem very nice.
 
jesstickle said:
yikes TBM! That sounds blooming scary! Was your neddy ok?
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you, he was fine. Luckily, my YO was with me and he was very calm - said "I think you need to stop now, gal".

So was I - not. Apparently, screaming "Duck, Duck, DUCK!!!" (or something like that, beginning with F) helps enormously!!!! :D

Tee stamped a bit for the rest of the way home, but he was fine and has been fine going in ever since.
 
I have a Cheval liberte and it is wonderful!! The only problem we have had is ours is for 2 x 16.2hh and the breast bar has two heights, so for my 16.1hh we had the breast bar at the higher height. One day going over a speed bump he must have hit his windpipe against it and ended up with choke, very scary. We now use the lower height, which works fine, but just a warning (though I've never heard anyone else have this problem).

Also we brought my boy up from London to Yorkshire in a borrowed bateson and it was absolutely fab, we zipped along and he seemed to have a good ride!
 
I searched for months for a trailer that was lightweight! If you're wanted a newer modern model that is lightweight your best bets are cheval liberte's or batesons. However I didn't like the idea of the bateson as it turns out it would be lighter than the horse I was putting in it! As I only have one horse I borrowed my friend's single Ifor which was fab. Tried to buy one of them but they were like golddust! Managed to come across a Bahill trailer, it's a good 10 years old but was in fab condition and weighed the same unladen as the single ifor does. Similiar looking to Rice's but a hell of a lot lighter to move etc. That was the sportsman model though, i know they did another model that was alot more heavier.
 
I don't know if they still make them but we have a lovely sluis trailer, its v lightweight (about 700 kgish), and nice and roomy inside.
 
I have a Bateson Ascot but that is around 975 Kg so not sure where you got the 750 from? It will take 2 x 17 hh and is long as well (transported an 8 foot sofa in it with a lot of room to spare!). Equi treks are great but much much heavier than you considering. Something else to consider though is although you are focusing on a lightweight trailer, those are also less sturdy on the road..
 
Originally I had a Bahill which I really liked but some Basta*d stole it!

I now have an Indespension Monarque lightweight trailer and it has been brilliant, they are light airy and tow brilliantly, very stable and I have been on long journeys with mine and it has towed really well. I have it serviced regularly and my chap says its in very good nick and will last for a long time, so they must have got that right.

They no longer make them but you can pick up the odd 2nd hand one. They were French made I believe with a fibreglass roof and had some very good write ups. The only down side is that they are supposed to be for two 16.2's but the length is a little on the short side, but mine are all under that having said that I think they made a much bigger model which I have seen for sale.

In fact there is one on Ebay in Kent.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LIGHTWEIGHT-I...r_Equipment&hash=item35ad100a41#ht_500wt_1156

When I do replace mine it will be with a Bateson though, I am very impressed with them a friend had one and it towed like a dream and was very comfortable for the horses.
 
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