Horses

The Selle Français (SF pronounced "Sell-fran-SAY" is a French sport horse, one of the world's finest show jumping and eventing horses, and they are also fairly successful in dressage.

History of the Selle Français
The Selle Francais was officially recognized as a breed in 1958, the breed's stud book however was not publish until 1965.? They were created by crossing regional French horses, with trotting horses, thoroughbreds, Arabians and Anglo Arabians.? All of the breeding horses that made their way into the stud book had pedigrees going back many generations, and they show the Selle Francais to be one of the few national sport horses from Europe where the majority of contributing horse genetics came from within the country of origin.

Of the contributing breeds, the Anglo Norman left the biggest stamp on the breed.? This breed was created in the 19th century by crossing the Norfolk Trotter, thoroughbred and Arabian Stallions with local mares which in turn could be traced back to the middle ages where they were descended from the Norman war horse.? Over 90% of modern Selle Français have Anglo Norman ancestors.? Other regional breeds also played a minor role in the development of the breed, including the Charolais, Corlay, Vendee, Anjou, Ain, and Ardennes.

Exerting? less but still considerable influence on the breed was the thoroughbred.? The first throughbred stallion who stood at the National Selle Français stud was "Orange Peel" from 1925 to 1940. His Grandson, "Ibrahim" was also a wonderful stallion whose genetics were to impact on the breed's development. "Furioso", the most influential thoroughbred stallion in sport horse breeding along with Rantzau and Ultimate were also important stallions in the creation of the breed.? These three stallions appear somewhere in the pedigree of almost all of today's successful Selle Français Horses.

Such is their excellence in conformation, vigor and prepotence, they are now used much as the Thoroughbred and the Arabian as a breed used to improve other horse breed.

Today, there is still quite a bit of cross breeding between Selle Français and other breeds, making it suitable for a wide range of activities.

France has long had a history of passionate sport horse development, in much the same way that the UK has held a passion for horse racing. Without question, this provided the basis for the development of the Selle Français and we could trace back many more years, even centuries, looking at the different stallions and mares that contributed to the breed's development, but since the more recent genetic additions have made such an impact on the breed, is not necessary to do so other than to mention that the local mares used in the breeding program were probably greatly better than the local stock of other European countries.

Selle Français Characteristics
The Selle Français is supple, mobile and has a strong well balanced skeletal structure strong.? They are powerful horses, with great acceleration even up a slope. They are brave, intelligent and willing learners making them easy to train. They have maintained the calm, equable temperament of their cold blooded ancestors. Whilst they are best known for show jumping, the Selle Français stud book details ?a wide range of types including eventing, racing and dressage types. Outside the show ring they make wonderful leisure and riding schools horses.

Most often the Selle Français stands 1.63 -1.65m (16 ?? 16.2h)high, they can be any color though bay and chestnut are the predominant colors.

Selle Français Grading
In order to take part in the national breeding program, both mares and Stallions must be graded, which is done based on the horse's competition success, how well the offspring perform.? Conformation and movement is also examined.(Editor ?? I am always amused to see breeding programs where only the "best" horses can take part in the program, especially when success of offspring is required.? If a stallion was not successful itself, it probably wouldn't get to breed, so offspring would not be examined as they would never have been born. The list of poor performing stallions with amazing offspring too long too ignore )

The grading process has been developed over a number of years, and is applied to both mares and stallions alike. It is broken into three distinct parts, and at least 2 judges score each horse.

1. Jumping ability Inspection (30% of marks). The horse is marked on

• Balance as it approachs a fence.
• Power and scope.
• Movement action and style.
• Mental stamina and toughness.

2. Conformation Inspection (40% of marks) The purpose of this test it to see whether a horse has the physical assets to prosper as a sport horse without incurring injury as a result of poor conformation. Show jumpers and eventing horses compete for twice as many years as racing horses, and thus good conformation that results in longevity is important, many horses take years to mature as a show jumper.

3. Movement Inspection (30% of marks). The following gaits are inspected and scored

• Trot
• Canter
• Walk

The judges advise the owner of the scores, and the reason for high or low marks in any particular section. Most horses fail, as the horse must receive at least 75% to pass, something many good performers would not achieve.

In 2008, "HILDAGO DE L'ILE" a 13 yr old bay Selle Français gelding was the 5th ranked eventing horse in the world,

All marks for each category are given to the person who presents the horse and are announced openly. This ensures the owner gets as a good an understanding as possible of the strengths and weaknesses of their horse while ensuring all judgements are as open and honest as possible. The pass mark is 75% which means a very low pass rate from the general sports horse population. Many apparently very good horses find it hard to get above high 60s and a horse that gets over 80 is truly exceptional.