BriarCroft, our breeding farm in scenic northwest Washington, began in 1985 with the purchase of our first Haflinger filly. We now have a herd of top quality Haflingers, including several broodmares producing exceptional foals each year. These Haflingers have been carefully selected from the offspring of Austrian and Dutch imports to combine the best features of the Haflinger breed: calm, quiet temperament, excellent conformation, beautiful smooth movement, and correct color. Our Haflingers have done field work with harrow, manure spreader and plow, 30 mile mountain trail rides, won in dressage and jumping events, and served as schooling horses for students.
©1998 Mandi Hickman

Visitors to our farm can stroll over well-tended rolling pastures of an old dairy farm with the majestic peaks of the Canadian Rockies to the north, and Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters to the east, and enjoy traditional farm buildings once again filled with hay, grain, and the sounds and smells of our Haflingers. Our family is Dan (an attorney working for local county government), Emily (a family physician), and our children Nate, Ben, and Lea. Stewardship, shown in care of the land and rehabilitation of the older buildings, extends to our breeding program and our desire that people who purchase Haflingers from us will love and enjoy these horses as we do.

Haflingers are a loving and gentle breed, with great grace and beauty, heartwarming to the soul and a delight to the eye. To own a Haflinger is to rediscover the joy of a having a horse become part of your family.

We prefer to keep our herd small so that daily handling is routine for our horses and from their first day, they learn to trust and respect people of all ages.  They are trained in ground work and manners up to age three, when they receive professional schooling under saddle with a dressage trainer, teaching them the fundamental basics that will serve them in any discipline in the future.  Our goal is to raise truly versatile Haflingers on our farm.
In addition, we have participated in the American Haflinger Registry Inspection/Classification Program, with our mature Haflingers being evaluated by an international team of Haflinger experts according to breed standards set up by the World Haflinger Federation. We feel the input from this group of judges is essential to ensure the quality of our breeding program, as well as to provide that information to potential buyers considering a particular Haflinger from our farm. So far twelve of our horses have scored very well, with the average score being a silver-rated 75, with one mare born on our farm rating a rare "gold" score of 81.

BriarCroft Haflingers can be found from Hawaii to Utah to Kentucky and most western states. A listing of our past sales can be found on our sale page.

Our Horses

We have several pages of our Haflingers to view on line, including some for sale and some information about who we are:

• BriarCroft Haflingers for Sale
• Waldheer van de Wortel  (performance photos)
• Marlee, Belinda and Noblesse BCH  
• Foals
• Amos 1984-2008
• Nuance BCH  (performance photos)
• Farm Scenes from BriarCroft
• Emily's page and BriarCroft Weblog
  
  Trainer Jessica Heidemann's page and her barn Cain Lake Stables in Sedro Woolley
  The Northwest Haflinger Gathering in Lynden, Washington
  The Nayborly Farm Training Journal

  

We are a member of the American Haflinger Registry and Emily has served on the Registry Board of Directors for three terms.  Our farm hosts a free on line Haflinger Horses Community for national news, events, features, and ads at www.haflingerhorses.com

Location

A map of our location in the Pacific Northwest, plus some general area information. We are located between Lynden and Bellingham in Whatcom County, Washington

Contact Us: Email address: emily@briarcroft.com