128 VARIETIES OF THE HORSE 



established varieties, can only receive an approximate answer, and this is 

 by no means astonishing when it is remembered that the horse now under 

 consideration can be traced back to the commencement of the eighteenth 

 century. In fact, that not invariably reliable authority, " the oldest in- 

 habitant ", has asserted that the black-pointed bays were common in some 

 parts of Yorkshire long before the importation of the Darley Arabian 

 was an accomplished fact. This may, however, be cpite possible without 

 afiecting the correctness of the contention put forth above, to the efiect 

 that the Cleveland Bay originated in an Arab cross, as undoubtedly 

 Eastern horses had been imported into England years and years before 

 the Darley Arabian appeared upon the scene; but under any circumstances 

 full credit for the production of the Cleveland Bay is due to the district 

 from which he derives his name. 



The strong probability that a Thoroughbred cross was introduced some 

 hundred and fifty years ago into the mares which have produced the modern 

 Cleveland Bay is referred to by Mr. AV. Scarth Dixon, in his admirable 

 article on the breed which appears in Light Horses, as he there states that 

 many of the best pedigrees trace directly back to a m}"sterious stallion 

 known as "Old Traveller", of which no further information is forthcom- 

 ing. There are evidences, however, to prove that a Thoroughbred stallion 

 named " Old Traveller " was at the time covering mares in the Yarm dis- 

 trict at a low fee, and there is much reason to believe that this animal 

 was the horse whose name appears in many Cleveland Bay pedigrees. 



It must not be supposed, however, that the horses which were bred two 

 hundred years ago in Yorkshire under the name which heads this chapter, 

 were all utilized as coach-horses. On the contrary, the majority of them 

 were relegated to duty on the farm, a feet which is referred to in the 

 Fai-mers' Magazine of seventy years ago, which states that, when a lighter 

 class of animal came to be the fashion for carriage traffic, the Cleveland Bay 

 was permitted to become practically extinct until its value for agricultural 

 purposes was noticed by some practical farmers in the north of England. 

 This statement would go to prove one of two things, namely that the 

 Cleveland Bay of that period was a far more powerful animal than the 

 modern possessor of the name, or that farm-work was not so heavy; and 

 indeed it may be very likely that both these conditions are reconcilable, 

 for oxen were largely utilized for the heaviest work. At the same time, 

 the certainty that exists that Thoroughbred blood had been introduced 

 long before the period to which the Farmers Magazine refers, shows that 

 the then existent Cleveland Bay was not a heavy horse; and assists in 

 substantiating the correctness of the contention jjropounded some lines 

 above, that the Cart-horse was not a component part of the variety. 



