1870. As Finnish nationalism arose and increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, crossbreeding of the Finnish horse essentially ended and a new direction was taken by Finnish horse breeders. The breed was considered a symbol of the nation, and thus it was desired that it be as purebred as possible. On 20 November 1894, Finland's first horse breeding association Hevoskasvatusyhdistys Hippos (now Suomen Hippos) was founded to breed and improve the Finnish horse by the means of purebreeding, and in 1905, a governmental decree was issued for horse breeding associations to be founded throughout the country, leading to the establishment of the Finnhorse stud book in 1907. At first the only notable objectives of the Finnhorse breeding programme concerned appearance, especially the colour, of the breed. The aim was to remove "foreign" characteristics. Later, in the 1920s, trials of performance were introduced, and since then, the main objectives of the Finnhorse breeding programme have continued to encourage improvements in the capacity, movement, conformation and character of the breed. Since the establishment of the Finnhorse stud book it has been closed and the breed has been bred pure. While accidental and even intentional Finnhorse crossbreds exist, they are not accepted for the Finnhorse registry and have not been used to develop new breeds within Finland. The Finnhorse stud book remains in the control of Suomen Hippos. Impact of World War II Horses were a central asset to Finnish military forces during the Winter War (1939–40) and Continuation War (1941–1944), when tens of thousands of horses were the main locomotive power of the army due to the shortage of automobiles. Animals were procured from private owners in a systematic procedure, but to ensure the continuity of Finnhorse breeding, neither stallions nor any nursing, pregnant or studbook-approved mares were enrolled to be eligible for military procurement. All procured horses officially remained their private owners' property, were marked for identification and as necessary, were returned or reported dead. The program was successful in preserving the breed, as the horse population rebounded to its pre-war count of over 380,000 animals as soon as 1945. The great number of Russian horses captured as matériel during wartime became a threat to the Finnhorse's purebreeding: many Russian animals were stallions, and there was no way to ensure new owners would not crossbreed them with Finnhorses. For practical and political reasons, Soviet Russia would not accept