34 Breeds of Horses 



horses were shown and made a stir. Then came another falling off, 

 and in the 'seventies Cleveland Bay breeding had fallen to such a 

 low ebb that at the Cleveland Agricultural Society's show there was 

 only one class kept in the schedule, and that not without a hard 

 fight. I believe that Hinderwell and Egton, two local shows on 

 the edge of the Dales, were the only other shows at which Cleve- 

 land Bay classes were to be found, and just before this time the 

 first prize in a Cleveland Bay brood mare class at Whitby was 

 awarded to a grey. The class was cut out in the following year, 

 and was not revived till after the formation of the Cleveland Bay 

 Horse Society in 1884. 



The last few years of the 'seventies and the early 'eighties saw a 

 wonderful revival in the horse trade. The United States were busy 

 expanding and opening up new country, and the Continent had got 

 nicely settled again after the upheaval of the Franco-German war. 

 Trade was good, and everyone wanted horses. The formation of 

 the Breed Societies also undoubtedly gave a great impetus to the 

 trade; the quality and substance of the Cleveland Bay found recog- 

 nition in the markets of the United States and the Continent, and 

 for some few years the trade flourished and big prices were made. 

 Then came another slump from which the breed is now just begin- 

 ning to emerge. 



One cause of the falling off in popularity of the Cleveland Bay 

 has yet to be referred to, and I have kept it to the last, as it had 

 something to do with the development of the Yorkshire Coach 

 Horse breed. The " Beaux of the Regency " took it into their 

 heads that it was the " correct thing " to drive a cabriolet on high 

 wheels, drawn by a tall blood-like horse and with a diminutive and 

 impudent tiger hanging on to the straps behind. The taller the 

 horse and the more diminutive and impudent the tiger the happier 

 the voluminous neck-clothed beau who held the ribbons. Of course 

 Fashion's whims must be gratified, and the want being proclaimed, 

 dealers set their wits to work to find the horses and breeders to 

 breed them. The tallest Cleveland Bay mares were selected and 

 mated with the tallest Thoroughbred stallions, and tall, narrow, 

 split-up horses were soon bred, which suited the exquisites down 

 to the ground as long as the craze lasted. There is no doubt — 

 there cannot indeed be any — that this absurd craze inflicted a 

 severe blow on the Cleveland Bay breed, and one from which it 

 has never fully recovered. There were plenty of mares, especially in 

 the Dales, to keep the breed alive, but there is no getting away from 

 the fact that the best and most stylish of the mares were selected 

 to make the foundation of what eventually became a new breed. 



