CARRIAGE HORSES AND COBS. 185 



As the Flemish mare succeeded the shire horse, 

 so the Cleveland bay succeeded aud vastly improved 

 upon the Flemish importation. Cleveland bays are 

 still bred, constituting with their cousins, the York- 

 shire coach horses, and with the stout fast-stepping 

 hackneys, the three strains of harness horse now 

 to be found in England. I shall have a word to say 

 about them all. 



The Cleveland bays originated, as the name imports, 

 in Cleveland, a district of the East Riding of York- 

 shire, and they date from about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century. Remotely, they sprang from a 

 cross between the native black cart horse, already 

 mentioned, and the thoroughbred ; but the type be- 

 came a fixed one, and is thus described by Frank 

 Forester : — 



"The Cleveland bay, in its natural and unmixed 

 form, is a tall, powerfully built, bony animal, aver- 

 aging, I should say, 15 hands 3 inches in height, rarely 

 falling short of loh, or exceeding 16i hands. The 

 crest and withers are almost invariably good; the 

 head bony, lean, and well set on. Ewe necks are 

 probably rarer in this family than in any other, unless 

 it be the dray horse, in which it is never seen. The 

 faults of shape to which the Cleveland bay is most 

 liable are narrowness of chest, undue length of body, 

 and thinness of the cannon and shank bones. Their 

 color is invariably bay, rather on the yellow bay than 

 on the blood bay color, with black manes, tails, and 

 legs. They are sound, active, powerful horses, with 

 excellent capabilities for draught, and good endurance 

 so long as they are not pushed beyond their speed, 

 which may be estimated at from six to eight miles an 



