506 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



Cleveland Bays take the name from the uniform bay 

 color of this most useful breed of horses, and the fertile district, 

 Cleveland, County of York, England. Of them Prof. Low, in his 

 most valuable history of domestic animals of British Isles, writes : 

 " It is the progressive mixture of the blood of horses of higher 

 breeding with those of the common race, that has produced the 

 variety of coach-horse usually termed the Cleveland Bay. 

 About the middle of the last century this district became known 

 for the breeding of a superior class of powerful horses, which 

 with the gradual disuse of the heavy old coach-horse became in 

 request for coaches, chariots, and similar carriages. The breed, 

 however, is not confined to Cleveland, but is cultivated through all 

 the great breeding districts of this part of England. It has been 

 formed by the progressive mixture of the blood of the race- 

 horse with the original breeds of the country. To rear this class 

 of horses, the same principles of breeding should be applied as 

 to rearing the race-horse himself. A class of mares as well as 

 stallions should also be used having the properties sought for. 

 The district of Cleveland owes its superiority of this beautiful 

 race of horses to the possession of a definite breed, formed not 

 by accidental mixture, but by continued cultivation. 



"Although the Cleveland Bay appears to unite the blood of 

 the finer with that of the larger horses of the country, to 

 combine action with strength, yet many have sought a farther in- 

 fusion of blood nearer to the race-horse. They are accordingly 

 crossed by hunters or thoroughbred horses, and thus another 

 variety of coach-horse is produced, of lighter form and higher 

 breeding ; and many of the superior Cleveland curricle four-in- 

 hand horses are now nearly thorough-bred." 



Youatt says : " The Cleveland horses have been known to 

 carry more than seven hundred pounds sixty miles in a day, and 

 to perform this journey four times a week." In the latter part 

 of last century, the Cleveland district, on the banks of the Tees, 

 became noted for its heavy horses, suitable for coach and cav- 

 alry. The heavy, lumbering coaches of those days, as well as 

 the poor roads, made a powerful horse a necessity to handle the 

 heavy vehicle. He needed to be as strong as our omnibus 



