The decree of the King's Council of October 17, 1665, initiated by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, intendant and general controller of finances under Louis XIV, established the principle of royal stallions and set up the status of guardian-stallion to encourage private breeding to produce better quality horses. The Haras (studs) institution was born around the desire to control the production of horses and improve their quality. Their uses as saddle and troop horses were then essentially warlike. The first royal stud was created in Saint-Léger-en-Yvelines in the heart of the Rambouillet national forest in 1668. It was later transferred to Normandy at the Haras National du Pin, built in 1715 in the Orne department.