First-time AgQuip exhibitor Portable Horse Stables talks about event, product

Craig Vincent has combined his equine interests and importing logistics experience to design and import Portable Horse Stables.

He only got started about two months ago, and said it looked like his first field days event would easily pay for itself.

Along with trusty mascot Rusty – who got a few pats in just the short time The Leader visited – Mr Vincent said his product had been getting some strong interest.

Mr Vincent was born and bred in Tamworth, and grew up riding horses.

After 20 years living in Sydney, working in importing and exporting, he moved back to his hometown with his young family about five years ago.

Mr Vincent said he launched his product after seeing a gap in the market for cost-effective, flat-pack, portable stables made with 2mm steel frames and high-density polyethylene panels.

“Usually they use plywood, which is obviously breakable; breaks down due to UV over a few years; horses chew at it,” he said.

“This product is UV-resistant, bacteria-resistant, flexible, and … you can put a sledgehammer into it and it doesn’t break.”

Mr Vincent had a manufacturer in China make a sample, travelled over and approved the product in March/April and had a container load shipped back home in June.

“Stables have been around for years, but I found there was an area to be able to offer a lower-priced product by having them made offshore, brought in a container straight to Tamworth, unloaded here and stored here,” he said,

The gates and sides are all the same size, which allows them to be transported as flatpacks and put together in different configurations.

Mr Vincent said they could be assembled in minutes, in an shed or out in the paddock.

“My main target was the ponyclubbers, the people who are just starting out that have the horse, have the machinery shed,” he said.

“They can put these inside their machinery shed at low cost, and if the kids lose interest in ponies two or three years later, they can sell these on eBay and get the machinery shed back.

“That was the whole concept behind it, but I’ve found even {people involved in] the thoroughbreds, the cutting horses, the showjumpers … they’re finding that the product’s for them as well.

“They’ve got the big shed already and they’re can line five or six of them up for the same cost as they would probably do two or three [stables] normally.”

Mr Vincent said equine vets had also shown interest.

He said the exposure he’d gained at the field days was “incredible”.

“[People are able] to get immediate quotes and the price is attractive enough for them to make a decision straight away, so it’s been really positive,” he said.

“AgQuip will definitely be a good thing each year I can do .. Not knowing which way to go with advertising as a new business, it’s hard to know, but this is a definite one for us to come to again.”