CHAPTER XI 



THE CLEVELAND. BAY 



The native home of the Cleveland Bay is in Yorkshire, Eng- 

 land. The breeding center at present is in the counties of York, 

 Durham, and Northumberland. In the Cleveland hills of York- 

 shire it has been bred in its greatest purity and derives its name 

 from this region. 



The origin of the Cleveland Bay is very obscure. Various 

 claims have been made as to its ancestry. Perhaps the most 

 reasonable explanation is that it is the result of breeding Thorough- 

 breds on British cart-horse mares. The use of Scandinavian horses 

 has also been suggested, thus accounting for the black points in 

 the Cleveland. The British studbook states that with the pure 

 Cleveland of merit the ancestry will go back to one or more of 

 the three families that are descendants of Dart (83), The Hob 

 Horse (316), and Barley Harvest (447). 



The introduction of the Cleveland Bay to America dates back 

 about a century. In 1820 R. Patterson of Maryland imported a 

 Cleveland Bay stallion named Exile, which in 1822 was exhibited 

 at the show of the Maryland Agricultural Society, receiving 

 honorable mention. 1 However, the breed gained no foothold. Along 

 in the eighties quite a number were imported. At one time 

 Stericker Brothers, then of Springfield, Illinois, had a large stud 

 of this breed and made most attractive exhibits. The people of 

 the United States, however, have never been favorably impressed, 

 consequently Cleveland Bay interests have essentially died out, 

 and these horses are now unknown in our shows. In 1900 the 

 class for Cleveland Bays at the Illinois State Fair was discontinued, 

 yet Illinois but a few years before had the principal stud of this 

 breed in America. Neither is there anyone prominently advocat- 

 ing in the press or otherwise the merits of the breed. 



1 American Farmer, July 5, 1822, 

 85 



