Franches-Montagnes

Vaillant, born in 1891, and Imprévu, born in 1889, are important stallions in the breed's modern development. The studbook was established in 1924. Mechanisation changed its market, giving leisure riding and driving a growing role. Following the final crosses in 1990–1992, the studbook closed to other breeds on 1 January 1997.

The Franches-Montagnes breed standard targets 1.50–1.60 m at the withers at three years of age. It seeks an expressive head, long sloping shoulder, defined withers, strong back and long, muscular, slightly sloping croup. Clean limbs, well-formed feet and regular, elastic movement complete the assessment. The intended result is a medium-weight horse able to work both under saddle and in harness.

Bay, chestnut and black feature in the standard, which favours limited white markings. Colour forms part of the horse's description without defining its entire identity. Closing the studbook restricts the origins of breeding animals; it does not imply that all Franches-Montagnes horses have the same coat or genotype.

The field test at three years assesses the young horse under saddle, in harness and for behaviour. Stallion candidates undergo further selection, including a station test. These observations connect breeding decisions with practical activities: hacking, leisure or competitive driving, and work requiring a manageable horse.

The Swiss Freiberger Federation (FSFM) is responsible for the mother studbook. The Association Franches-Montagnes de France supports French breeding within that framework. Registration, studbook categories and breeding approval depend on ancestry and the programme's evaluations, rather than simply on the offspring of two horses with a similar appearance.

The Franches-Montagnes breeding programme published in 2025 reports 68 registered births in France in 2022. This is annual French production, rather than the Swiss population or all horses present in France. Within a closed studbook, retaining several breeding families helps prevent ancestry from becoming concentrated around a few heavily used stallions.

The tests detect variants associated with PSSM1, a muscle disorder; Caroli liver fibrosis (CLF), which affects the liver; and hypertriglyceridaemia-induced pancreatitis (HIP), associated with excessive blood triglycerides. The 2026 Swiss selection directives require testing of stallion candidates. A positive PSSM1 result excludes a candidate; CLF and HIP results are published but are not grounds for automatic exclusion. These dated rules concern this selection process, rather than proving that every horse of the breed has been tested.