CHAPTER X 



THE CLEVELAND BAY. 



F 



OR the following description of the Cleveland bay and 

 Yorkshire coach horses, the author is indebted to Mr. 

 Stericker, Pickering, Yorks. 



The early history of the Cleveland bay horse is somewhat 

 enveloped in obscurity. It derived its name from Cleveland, 

 in Yorkshire, and in the Cleveland, Whitby and Pickering 

 districts they have been bred for generations. Many families 

 who reside there have still the same breed, which has descended 

 from father to son, and still do the greater part of their 

 farm work, with mares of this class. From an article which 

 appeared in the Farmers Magazine for the year 1823, it seems 

 that in the latter part of the i8th, and the beginning of the 

 19th century, Cleveland bays existed in fair numbers in York- 

 shire and Durham. No doubt the breed was formed by the 

 progressive mixture of the blood of the racehorse, with the 

 original breed of the district, and by continued cultivation 

 formed a breed which reproduced itself with great accuracy 

 bcth in type and colour, the latter being either light, or dark 

 bay, with black legs, nearly clean of hair, and no white excepting 

 a star, or sometimes a small patch of white on the heel. Cleve- 

 lands are horses of large size, with plenty of substance and 

 good constitution. Manv live to a great age. 



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