The Swede, Jan Brink had a hugely successful career as a dressage competitor. He competed in five WEGs, the first in Rome on Bjorsells Fontana, and the rest with his great partner, the stallion, Bjorsells Briar.

With Briar, he competed in three Olympic Games: 2000 (9^th), 2004 (7^th) and 2008 (12^th).

Jan Brink retired from international competition in 2009, and now has a very successful training, dealing and breeding barn.

“It was a rather personal choice,” he told Horses International, “When at the World Cup final in Las Vegas in 2009 I not only retired Briar, but also put a stop to my own career. Being an international rider means you’re more away than home. Sometimes you see a relationship braking up because of that which also happened to me in the past. Catharina and I got married two years before Vegas and we were ready for babies.”

Since then, he and his wife, Catharina Svensson (a lawyer and former ‘Miss Earth’) have become the proud parents of Angelina.