Taking a ride with Jackie Lloyd’s latest Endurance champ!

Jackie’s love of Arabian horses goes back a long way: she claims she caught “Arabitis” when she first learnt to ride and was asked to exercise a friend’s horse – an Arabian. It was love at first sight and she went on to buy her first Arabian, Miss April, from the lady who bred her just a few months later. Her love of Endurance came just as ‘accidentally’ when she was out riding locally with her lovely mare one day and came across a number of riders who were engaged in an Endurance competition.

“When I realised that the vast majority were riding Arabian horses because they were the most successful in that discipline, my mind was made up. From there, I haven’t looked back. I started competing in Endurance, bought a couple more horses and started travelling the country with them in tow.”

Last year, Jackie was on the lookout for a new vehicle with a stringent set of requirements; it had to have a 4WD system, a 3.5t towing capacity, it had to be comfortable, nice to look at and have a large load space for all of her kit. “I thought I would have to compromise on some things, but a friend told me about a new pickup truck that might be worth a look. It still hadn’t been launched at this point but it was certainly worth the wait, as it ticked every single box for us”.

With the 2018 endurance riding season underway, the X-Class has already come into its own thanks to its range of practical features. The X-Class has a class-leading 3.5t towing capacity, a one-tonne payload and a large (1,587mm by 1,560mm) load bed, and is powered by an athletic 2.3-litre engine producing 190hp and 450Nm. “Having been used to 4x4s, I’m amazed at how much stuff we can fit into the load area – it really is cavernous. There’s plenty of room for straw, feed buckets, saddles and even our two dogs, Dexter and Beau, who love it because the windows in the back open”.

Having the practicality is one thing but being able to do it in style and comfort is what sets the X-Class apart from the rest, for Jackie. Remarkably for a pickup, the X-Class features multi-link coil suspension, which provides a much smoother ride and the designers worked extensively to keep road and engine noise to a minimum.

As it’s the Power model, Jackie’s X-Class is also decorated with a whole host of styling features, including LED headlights, 18-inch twin-spoke alloys and chrome highlights, while the inside is furnished with plenty of creature comforts and finished in the luxurious ‘Arctico’ leather upholstery.

“It’s beautifully appointed inside and feels like a luxury car; it’s so easy to forget that there is much more behind us. We cover long distances with our horses and the automatic gearbox makes everything so much easier. We love the all-round cameras for parking and manoeuvring, and the sat nav is brilliant! It has diverted us from several traffic jams very successfully more than once, saving us time and hassle, and with horses on board that is very important”.

The Mercedes-Benz X-Class is now available to order. To find out more, visit the below link.