Cleveland Bays and Yorkshire Coach Horses 35 



The results of this cross of Cleveland Bay and Thoroughbred 

 were mated, and the produce, as might have been expected, was 

 tall and narrow; now and again more Thoroughbred blood was 

 introduced, and the beaux got what they wanted. And then for 

 one reason or another they tired of them. But if they had been 

 instrumental in inflicting serious injury on an old breed, they had 

 formed a new one which the astute Yorkshire breeders, in whose 

 hands it mainly was, were to establish upon a firm basis. 



One drawback to the tall horses with long arched necks was 

 that so many of them developed roaring and kindred diseases. 

 When they brought big prices the risk might be run, and indeed 

 was run, but it is useless running risks for an exploded fashion. 

 The tall horses began to disappear as the special demand for them 

 ceased, and the Yorkshire Coach Horse had a capital sale. For he 

 is a stylish harness horse, and if he has not so much snap of the 

 knee as the Hackney, he looks better in his leather, his long 

 elegant quarters giving him a very taking appearance. 



The Cleveland Bay cross was introduced again to obtain the 

 compactness necessary, and many Yorkshire Coach Horses are very 

 full of good Cleveland Bay blood. Indeed the similarity between 

 the two breeds is very great, and unless a man is an expert judge 

 it is very difficult to differentiate between them. Frequently they 

 are shown in the same class, and it is by no means always that the 

 Coach Horse wins. Indeed, a Cleveland Bay is eligible for the York- 

 shire Coach Horse Stud Book, but a Yorkshire Coach Horse is not 

 eligible for the Cleveland Bay Stud Book. The formation of two 

 breed societies for two such similar breeds has done the trade in 

 neither any good, and it is a great pity that there were ever two 

 societies, for if sufficient precautions had been taken in drawing up 

 the regulations for entry in the earlier stud books, and especially 

 the retrospective volume of the Cleveland Bay Stud Book, the 

 difficulty in all probability would never have arisen. 



The conditions were that there should be three top crosses of 

 pure breeding in the pedigrees of stallions; occasionally amongst the 

 older horses, two or even fewer securing admission into the stud 

 book when they were known and fully recognized as Cleveland 

 Bays. This of course only applied to the retrospective volume. 

 Now, there is not the least doubt that some horses were admitted 

 into that volume which had not nearly so much Cleveland Bay 

 blood in them as some of those that were rejected. For instance, 

 a horse by a Coach Horse out of a pure Cleveland Bay mare might 

 have very little Coach Horse in him if his sire was also out of 

 a pure-bred Cleveland Bay mare; there might, indeed, only be four 



