The Cleveland Bay originates from Britain, in the Cleveland area of Northern Yorkshire and is the oldest of the indigenous breed of English horses. Yorkshire is known as the source of two breeds, the Thoroughbred and the Cleveland Bay. The Cleveland Bay evolved from crossing native bay colored mares with Oriental stallions during the 17th century. Shaped by a harsh environment, a horse of durability, longevity and quiet disposition resulted. These characteristics, combined with the uniformity of bay color, size and substance developed a versatile breed used as hunt horse, coach or pack horse and as an agricultural worker. Originally known as the Chapman horse, after the salesmen who exclusively used Cleveland Bays as pack horses, the breed excelled as an all rounder. During the peak of popularity, in the late 1880's the Cleveland Bay Horse Society of Great Britain published the first volume of its Stud Book which contained stallions and mares selected for the purity of blood. During the 19th century, some Cleveland Bays were bred to thoroughbreds and produced the Yorkshire Coach Horse, a carriage horse with unmatched ability for speed, style and power. With the advent of the mechanical age, the numbers of Cleveland Bays and Yorkshire Coach horses rapidly declined and were further decimated by their use as artillery horses during World War l.

The Cleveland Bay survived in the region of it's birthplace during these difficult times but in the 1960's only five or six mature stallions were found. Due to the foresight and determination of the Yorkshire admirers the breed has survived and numbers have grown. The Queen became the Patron of the breed and the Royal Mews continues the tradition of using Cleveland Bays and crossbreds in ceremonial duties. The Cleveland Bay has successfully been bred to thoroughbred types to produce outstanding performance horses known as Cleveland Bay sport horses in dressage, driving and jumping. It is through these quality animals that breed recognition is becoming known. With the increase of numbers of Cleveland Bay purebreds some are competing along with breeding duties. Although listed as an endangered breed with less than 500 world wide, the Cleveland Bay lovers from Britain, North America, Japan, New Zealand and Australia are dedicated to the conservation of this unique horse.

VERSATILITY

The first Cleveland Bay stallions were imported to Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts in the early 1800's. The 1884 Upperville Colt and Horse Show in Virginia was created to showcase Col. Dulany's imported stallion Scrivington and his offspring. Later William Cody, America's Buffalo Bill chose the Cleveland Bay for his Wild West show. Western states utilized the stallions in their breeding of range horses, noting their staying quality, easy maintenance and a match for the biggest of steers. The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America was founded in 1885, with 2000 stallions and mares registered by 1907. Imported as superb coach horses, the breed interest waned during mechanization but was briefly revived in the 1930's when Alexander Mackay-Smith imported founding stock for hunters. There are currently approximately 125 purebred Cleveland Bays in the United States and Canada, with many Cleveland part bred horses competing in all disciplines of horsemanship. Cleveland Bay horses (pure bred and sport horse) sired by a pure bred Cleveland Bay stallion that has been awarded a Stallion License to breed pure and part bred Cleveland Bays can be registered with the Cleveland Bay Horse Society and included in the society's stud book. Inspection and approval of stallions by the Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America is done as needed.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Great substance, clean legged
  
• Excellent feet, flat cannon bones
  
• Immensely powerful quarters contribute to jumping ability and dressage
  
• Long lived; prepotent transmitting uniformity in type and substance
  
• Moves with ground covering power
  
• Ideal for carriage work with strong and powerful shoulders