This lightly-used Böckmann Champion Esprit just came in for us to show as a private sale. How lightly used? We’re told it carried a horse once. The horseperson of the family was involved in a couple of sports and just about the time the trailer was purchased, decided to concentrate on the other sport. And that’s why it’s carried a horse just once.
As with other Champion models (not to be confused with the Big Champion), the Champion Esprit is sized for horses to 17 hands and is designed to be towed safely by smaller-than-typical vehicles. The butt & chest bars differ from the other Champions, but apart from that, it offers the features you expect in a Champion-series model.
For starters, that means the Esprit has walls of interlocking anodized aluminum panels capped by a roof of reinforced fiberglass. The anodized aluminum walls are always silver-gray in color. The roof on this one is Black Metallic. The floor consists of extruded aluminum planks to which the floor mat is bonded and the edges sealed. This is great for the durability of the floor, but of more immediate benefit, the bonded & edge-sealed mat means post-trip floor clean-up is a snap. Just sweep or hose it out. No need to lift a mat! It all rides on a chassis of corrosion-protected galvanized steel with torsion axles (with shock absorbers – most brands don’t take this extra step).
With the long-lasting materials covered, it’s time to talk about the features you’ll be using day in and day out…
The Esprit’s body length of nearly 10.5 feet and height of 7’6”+ provide the room for those horses to 17 hands mentioned earlier. There are 2 height positions on the chest bars and 3 positions on the butt bars that let you shorten the stall if required. The hardware is easy to use (read “quick”) and fits snugly to be quiet during travel. There’s even an emergency release on the chest bars. If a horse gets caught under or over a bar, unscrew the exterior tie loop and the chest bar wall mount comes down, freeing the horse without putting someone at risk in the trailer. The stall divider may be easily moved aside or removed and has a clear flexible covering. This design gives the horses a boundary, yet the covering flexes so they can take a wide stance if necessary. And if they load head down, they can see the full width of the trailer through the clear divider.
The Esprit has a groom door on the curb side and there's a nice-sized window near each horse's head. Each window opens 5 ways -flip it out at the front, back, top, bottom or all around. The 5' tall ramp (compare to 4' on many trailers) offers a gentle slope for loading and unloading and lift assist is provided by a pair of gas springs. Unlike the torsion springs common on many trailers, which provide less assist as the ramp goes up, a gas spring provides effective assist throughout its travel. There's a heavy duty self-furling curtain above the ramp. You can run with the curtain closed, but most folks run with it open for added light and ventilation.
This one has the Esprit’s optional tack compartment, easily accessed through its own door on the road side of the nose. The tack compartment comes with two telescoping saddle racks (for English), bridle hooks, telescoping shovel & broom, mirror and storage net. This Esprit comes with a still-in-the-box Trailer Aid (for changing tires) and a quick-release Turtle Snaps lead.
We’ve covered some of the convenience features, but ease of towing is what initially attracts many folks to a European trailer. Böckmann accomplishes this through a balanced design that reduces the tongue weight and an aerodynamic shape that reduces the power requirement. Domestically-produced trailers typically carry 10-15% of their weight on the hitch, for a loaded tongue weight in the 600-800 lb. range. By contrast, a Böckmann carries only 3.75% of its weight on the hitch. Even loaded to the maximum, that’s a tongue weight of about 198 lbs. And for those who think that’s too light, be aware that Böckmann has been manufacturing safe light-tongue-weight trailers for over 60 years and they’re sold in over 30 countries. They’re a very experienced manufacturer and their designs are well-proven over millions of miles on roads (and poor excuses for roads) all over the world. A vehicle with as little as 125 horsepower meets Böckmann’s minimum power requirement, although here in the States, most folks use smaller SUVs or trucks that have over 200 horsepower.
Horsepower gets a trailer moving. Brakes get it stopped. And that’s another area where a Böckmann offers something special. The Esprit’s inertia-actuated mechanical brakes apply braking force automatically in proportion to the load in the trailer. There's no need to fool with the power setting on a brake controller because, with inertia-actuated brakes, you don't need a brake controller in the tow vehicle. The trailer’s momentum determines the amount of braking force applied. Inertia-actuated trailer brakes have been in widespread use for decades. They’re simple, safe and reliable. No electronics to fail, no brake fluid to change and no brake lines to rust out.
Used Böckmanns don’t often come on the market and barely-used Böckmanns are even more rare. Stop by and check out this one. The weather’s warming, inquiries are picking up and we don’t expect this Esprit to stick around for long!
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