I rarely see Briar mentioned here and nothing much about his produce. Has anyone used him? What kind of mare suits him? What has he produced and what have they done in competition? He’s been around long enough to have babies out there doing upper levels. Just curious. TIA
PennyG
Ditto
Jan Brink was riding his stallion son, Biggles, in Europe, but you don’t see much here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoRjxGmD3kE
Molly and Joe bred some and have a stallion son, and there’s another stallion son, but you really don’t see much of them. I would have had one, but my mare died. It was really hard to get her pregnant, so maybe that’s part of the problem.
Thanks! All of them look like they could be by Briar. Biggles is the bay? He’s lovely!~ Anyone else? I just don’t understand why he is not being used more.
PennyG
Penny, the word I got from some very experienced breeders was that foals could sometimes look a bit “rough hewn”, and he also did not seem to consistently improve quality of gaits. Plus, I know that in many parts of Germany, they are not wild about large blazes and high stockings (feel they look like “farm horses” of yore), so since he was not proving to be the type of “foal maker” that brings breeders back year after year, he didn’t become popular in Germany. I am not sure about how much he has been used in Sweden, though. I do know someone in the U.S. who used his frozen semen some years back, and she described the foal as “okay” but not quite as special as her foals by other stallions.
I think some consider him a nice enough sire of reliable riding horses, but he hasn’t gotten the quality of mares in great enough numbers to produce the kind of outstanding foals/young horses that make breeders really sit up and take notice.
As well the length of back and loin connection was a big concern for many breeders.
Thanks for the candid answers. I looked at a few of his that I could find. He has son named Biggles, competing GP in Europe that is gorgeous and sure has the gaits and one of his babies that I saw u/s also inherited that. He has another son at stud that is almost a full brother that is not as heavy for some reason and also quite a mover. That’s interesting. I’d like to see the dam they used for Biggles.
PennyG
Honeylips – could you comment a bit more about the loin connection and where the information was attained? Thanks!
PennyG
There is someone here in Texas who apparently carries his frozen but it is pricey, $1,600 a dose. She posted in the Warmblood Breedings group on Facebook a few weeks ago (you can scroll down or search for Briar): https://www.facebook.com/groups/398928406817546/
There are a few of them out there. I have a 2001 mare by Briar, and living in BC (Canada) I must say I haven’t seen another in person, or actually heard of any others in Canada. I know a few people told me they tried to get mares in foal, back when Briar was in his ‘heyday’ and that the frozen semen was poor quality, resulting in no pregnancies.
However, I have seen the odd headline about offspring of his. Biggles being one of them. Also there is a stallion named Agostrofos who was imported to the US, and then from what I can tell, was re-exported to Sweden! http://www.ridehesten.com/en/Heste-nyheder/SeNyhed/?ID=16048
Here is some video of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMk3ppTV8TY
There is also a stallion son named Isos, not entirely sure where he is but somewhere in the USA: http://faithhopeloveridingacademy.com/breeding/
And within the last year or two I remember seeing another GP son of Briar on Eurodressage, who was mentioned as being purchased (by some notable rider whose name escapes me at the moment, and this is driving me crazy!).
As for what I can tell you about the offspring - speaking only from what I know about my own horse: I can see what Honeylips is referring to, first of all since Briar himself is a little long in the back, and slightly ‘out behind’, and I can see these attributes in my mare as well.
Temperament wise my mare is on the hotter side, so whether that’s just her or something he throws, I don’t know - although I have heard Jan Brink say that many of them were wild as young horses!
That said, he does also seem to throw the abilities he was known for - specifically for the ‘three p’s’ - my mare has a super talent for piaffe/passage and she is now schooling all of the GP.
So, if I were breeding for an ammy friendly mount, maybe Briar wouldn’t be my first choice, but if breeding for GP I would consider him. Hope this helps. 
Formosus Sporthorses also has a mare named Nordica. I spoke with her previous owner when she was for sale.
Couple of nice ones in Australia. A big palomino stallion (imp from Sweden) named Byerly Briar and a Burlington Bertie.
Ken Borden has a couple by Briar:
a stallion: http://www.littlebitfarminc.com/id72.html
and a filly: http://www.littlebitfarminc.com/id67.html (in the middle of the page)
Briar was always known for being out behind in the trot unless Jan really kept him together.
Some more info. I forgot. Briar’s breeders were at the World Cup in Vegas and talking about him at the Swedish meeting (way cool.) I spoke with his wife for awhile. One of the stories they have about him is that they always keep the stallions put together in herds so they learn to interact. His story about Briar was that he went out into the field and wanted to eat the yummy grass, and young tough stallion kept trying to mess with him. Young toughie kept bugging him and Briar kept walking away. FInally, toughie bugged him too much, so Briar double whammied him in the barrel a couple of times and went back to eating. So, I think he’s kind of a mellow guy. And when Jan would talk about him, and from what everyone I know who knows him, he really knows how to stay focused an get to work.
They all do seem to come out chestnut, and many look just like him.
No info here…… But this is my most favorite Dressage horse. I wish we could see more of his offspring or get semen more easily. Last I looked it was very expensive.
I have personally met 5 of his offspring and all had superior movement and all were very people friendly and not spooky or difficult to deal with. All had very nice conformation as best as one can tell from a variety of ages. All were bred by the same breeder out of a variety of mares. The kids I saw were long-legged with well-built and powerful hindquarters, which is exactly what you want in a dressage horse. She is a grand prix rider and has since taken all 5 of those horses back to Sweden as she went over for training. You just don’t spend $40k on shipping unless you have some pretty darn good horses.
Swedish horses are NOTORIOUS for being exemplary riding horses who are not complicated or tricky to manage or handle and Briar is no exception to that rule. My mare shares the same grandsire to Briar (Maraton). She is hands down a mare with enough try for 3 horses. She will willingly try to do whatever you ask. She can get anxious if she thinks she is not being successful doing what you ask, and this may be what some people think of as “sensitive”. But truthfully, anyone with riding and handling skills can take that kind of try and go all the way with it. Or the wrong iron-fisted person can make that same horse dissolve into a puddle of discouragement, completely breaking their spirit.
He has a BLUP index which you might find helpful. He is getting quite elderly now, so the number of breedings are falling off, but his scores are still high and he is ranked as a stallion who improves the gaits, type, legs, and dressage ability. These rankings are based on what the inspectors were seeing with his foals and, later on, his mares and his sons. He has at least 11 approved stallion sons, which is quite something if you know anything about the Swedish inspections. They are not particularly easy on approving stallions. At least 2 of his stallion sons received 10s for rideability. His mares are particularly highly regarded and many are KWPN IBOP/PROK or premium, and Swedish Class I mares.
http://www.blup.se/en-US/horses/5088-briar-swb
Also, I have a link here on Telex which shows a fair number of his offspring are showing at upper levels, including many at Grand Prix. I am not sure if you need to be registered with Horse Telex to see it, but here it is anyway - http://www.horsetelex.com/horses/progeny/8335
He was Sweden’s highest ranked stallion for at least 5 years in a row. He has been the BLUP index’s #1 breeding stallion. Not just as a sports stallion, but as a BREEDING stallion and that is because he not only does, but can reproduce what he does.
Good luck if you choose to breed to him.
http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2011/11/04/anders-dahls-bukowski-sold-korea
This is the one I couldn’t remember!!
I wanted to breed my mare back in the day to him but was told tbe frozen was very iffy and the cost was way high to gamble
Yep. I can attest to that. I bought semen before he became big for $800. I tried three times at a clinic. The first two, nothing. The comments on the semen were not ideal. The third one my GP mare did get pregnant. She died 4 weeks pregnant, so I don’t have a Briar baby.
My coach bred to one of his sons result was a huge filly! She had massive height and bone compared the dam. One of the biggest youngsters we had bred. She was long in the back, but strong not weak backed. She had big long strides versus our freestyle baby who had tons of suspension. All our babies are calm and non spooky but she was more forward than most. Sweet and gentle.
