66 LIGHT HORSES I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



in 1867 came a reaction, as a reaction had come earlier in the 

 century, and singularly enough, the heavy cart horse had 

 something to do with the reaction which set in twenty-five 

 years ago. The Cleveland iron trade had increased with 

 leaps and bounds, and in other seven years was to reach its 

 zenith. The demand for heavy horses, adapted for drawing 

 heavy loads on the roads and in the mines, became larger and 

 larger with each succeeding year, and prices for them were 

 abnormal. The great improvement in the breeding of cart 

 horses, which began to manifest itself about this time also, 

 gave an additional impetus to the breeding of heavy cart 

 horses, and Cleveland Bays were gradually more and more 

 neglected. The foreigners came in, and bought what they 

 could of the best, and the men who kept their mares, bred 

 hunters from them, and crossed them out of recognition. 

 Cleveland Bay classes ceased to fill, and finally were, with 

 one or two exceptions, dropped out of the prize schedules 

 altogether, and it seemed as if the breed must become 

 extinct. 



But when things are at the worst they not infrequently 

 begin to mend. At any rate that was the case with the 

 Cleveland Bays. At the very time when Englishmen gene- 

 rally looked upon the breed with feelings akin to contempt, 

 there was a growing idea in the United States that this was 

 the class of horse that was wanted in their country, and just 

 when the fortunes of this valuable breed were at their lowest 

 ebb, when only after a warm discussion and a close division 

 was it possible to retain even a couple of Cleveland Bay classes 

 in the representative Society of the district, there was begin- 

 ning in a very modest way, it is true that trade with the 

 United States which has since increased to large dimensions. 



In the dales about Whitby, and running down to the east 

 coast of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the Cleveland Bay 

 had been tenaciously preserved. The farmers there were 

 proud of their horses, the breed of which had been in their 

 families for generations, and they never took kindly to the 



