Portable Horse Stables

Fom their home in the Moonbi Ranges, Craig’s family was strongly involved in the horse scene, bringing Craig up on Polocrosse, Pony Club, sports days, and local shows. It is from here that the true roots of Portable Horse Stables really took seed.

Over his career, Craig developed a keen understanding of product design, engineering, manufacturing, and logistics which provided a solid foundation for the development of the Portable Horse Stable Product range – an ideal solution to a common problem in the equine world and thoroughbred racing industry.

While attending The Armidale School (TAS) in Armidale, Craig took full advantage of the boarding school’s strong ties to agriculture, studying sheep husbandry, wool classing and most importantly, Japanese. The decision to pursue Japanese throughout his education would eventually prove to be the linchpin to his career. Craig would go on to become one of the youngest non-Japanese trading managers for the European, Chinese, and Japanese markets in the wool industry, and a position as import/export manager of food products.
Upon completing high school, Craig returned to the family property and completed his Wool Classing Certificate before working the New England and Queensland shearing circuits.

Within a couple of months, Craig landed a job with a Sydney firm, packing wool containers onto transfer trains for export. It wasn’t long before his very specific set of skills caught the eye of Japanese company ITOCHU Corporation - the largest wool buying and exporting company in Australia. ITOCHU was a leading trading and import/export company in various products such as textiles, machinery, metals, minerals, energy, chemicals, food, realty, finance, information technology and business investment.

Craig’s expertise in buying and trading wool had attracted the attention of the Japanese company. Still, it was his Japanese language skills that added significant value to his repertoire within the organisation. This was the first time ITOCHU had an Australian working for them who could speak Japanese. He became an essential element of ITOCHU’s large-scale wool operation of the 90s, enabling communication between buyers and sellers from Japanese and English-speaking backgrounds, increasing the flow of business.

Three years on and Craig was ready to call Australia home again, and he moved back to Sydney. It was here that he met his wife Gretel, a fellow Tamworth local, through mutual friends. In 2010, after having two beautiful children together, Stella and Harry, the family decided it was time to leave the big smoke and head back to the countryside they had once called home. Having taken the journey from country to city and back to the bush again, the Vincents felt Tamworth was a far better place to bring up their family, and it’s been the best decision to relocate to the region.

“Tamworth has so much to offer a young family. We are spoilt for choice regarding education and sporting facilities. It is geographically located between Brisbane and Sydney and is only a short 3-hour drive to the coast. With an upgraded airport and regular daily flights – we can be anywhere within hours. All of this is so important to me. It means we can have a regional family upbringing, and I can still manage an international trading occupation,” says Craig.

With the changes to trends in the wool industry, ITOCHU’s wool division closed after 41 years, and Craig’s adaptable and transferrable skills saw him move his role to the Sydney food division, importing food and feed ingredients. After some time, Craig set up his own company (KAWA Trading Pty Ltd), and ITOCHU began contracting him to maintain and grow their importing business sector.

Now living once again in regional Australia, it was during this time in Craig’s life and career that his thoughts turned to an innovative solution to a common problem in the equine industry. The idea for Portable Horse Stables started the way any good idea does – over a beer with a mate.

“As a part of my role, I was a regular visitor to China each year (pre- COVID). During one of my visits, I met with a steel fabricator and explained the idea for panels to make free standing horse stables. After discussing ideas with a few contacts I had growing up in the horse industry, I had some samples made up and then ordered a full container load, initially thinking of supplying the local market. Once I started a Facebook page and website, it generated interest nationally. Because they’re a flat pack system, they’re easy to transport anywhere across Australia,” Craig recalls.

“Tamworth has so much to offer a young family. We are spoilt for choice regarding education and sporting facilities. It is geographically located between Brisbane and Sydney and is only a short 3-hour drive to the coast. With an upgraded airport and regular daily flights – we can be anywhere within hours. All of this is so important to me. It means we can have a regional family upbringing, and I can still manage an international trading occupation,” says Craig.

With the changes to trends in the wool industry, ITOCHU’s wool division closed after 41 years, and Craig’s adaptable and transferrable skills saw him move his role to the Sydney food division, importing food and feed ingredients. After some time, Craig set up his own company (KAWA Trading Pty Ltd), and ITOCHU began contracting him to maintain and grow their importing business sector.

Now living once again in regional Australia, it was during this time in Craig’s life and career that his thoughts turned to an innovative solution to a common problem in the equine industry. The idea for Portable Horse Stables started the way any good idea does – over a beer with a mate.

“As a part of my role, I was a regular visitor to China each year (pre- COVID). During one of my visits, I met with a steel fabricator and explained the idea for panels to make free standing horse stables. After discussing ideas with a few contacts I had growing up in the horse industry, I had some samples made up and then ordered a full container load, initially thinking of supplying the local market. Once I started a Facebook page and website, it generated interest nationally. Because they’re a flat pack system, they’re easy to transport anywhere across Australia,” Craig recalls.

After doing some initial research on existing stable manufacturers, Craig discovered that they mainly produced permanent structures that could not be transported or moved once erected in a chosen location.

“People can be hesitant to build permanent structures on their property if they will have to leave it all behind should they need to relocate or change their mind on the set-up,” says Craig.

With the intention to start small and keep from importing significant volumes of product, Craig began by importing a container load of around 45 stables, with a view to bring in more as needed. Since the inception of the product in June 2017, the company has sold around 1200 stables.

“Portable Horse Stables is a second business for me, but one that I really enjoy as it allows me to communicate with so many different equine clubs and disciplines. I have a few special friends and family who have helped with marketing, quality, finance, and logistics. As I had come from a corporate background, I had no experience in starting a new business. Derek Tink from Business Connect in Tamworth pointed me in the right direction,” says Craig.

“Portable Horse Stables combines my love of all things equine with my experience in international trade and manufacturing. Tamworth is an ideal market with a huge equine industry locally but more importantly a state-of-the-art facility in AELEC - which draws equine enthusiasts from all over Australia on a weekly basis.”

“The stables were initially designed as an economical way for people starting out in the equine industry or for those who are leasing/renting and couldn’t build stables. However, we soon found plenty of horse owners/trainers and even commercial entities like racetracks and showgrounds who need to upgrade existing stables or increase the number of stables on site. The Australian equine industry is very diverse and continues to grow,” says Craig.

Designed by experts within the equine industry, Portable Horse Stables are made from 50 mm x 50 mm x 2 mm galvanised steel. Each panel is 3.6 m wide and 2.2 m high, weighing 145 kg, and a gate panel is 175 kg, so they’re incredibly durable and suited for long-term use. These portable horse stables are heavy duty and therefore can be used for long term if needed. Importantly, the design is extremely safe to keep your thoroughbred secure when on the move greatly reducing the need to stable your horse in an unknown area and allowing you to keep a close eye on them.

Portable Horse Stables are a quality semi-permanent solution for the budget conscious equine owner, or trainer and are perfectly designed to erect stables within an existing shed or shelter. They are also ideal for those needing to keep an injured horse or foaling mare close and accessible, especially when more foals come along than expected and additional space is needed in a hurry.

The added value for this product is the high-density polyethylene infill. In the bottom section of each panel, there’s a 10 mm thick HDPE sheet. Traditionally plywood is used, which is not as durable. HDPE is also non-porous, so it’s bacteria-free and can be washed down easily. HDPE is very strong and has some flexibility to bear the brunt of a kicking horse without anything breaking.

The durable panels are flat packed for effective transport and easy storage, with a simple corner pin design for fast and easy set up within minutes. The flexibility of the design also allows for two or more stables to be joined together as needed. The portable horse stable design is the perfect solution for horse owners leasing a property, or clubs and veterinarians needing extra stables at an affordable price.

Portable Horse Stables are based in Tamworth, NSW however stables can be shipped Australia wide.

Craig’s plan for Portable Horse Stables is to continue to focus on the quality of the product, cash flow and customers, and the business should then grow organically. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing. The business also sponsors various local equine events, marketing directly to various equine disciplines assisting these clubs financially to run the events.