68 LIGHT HORSES I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



of the first prize ; "only one entry, very good," being their note 

 on the class in the official report. She was then eight years 

 old, was full of bloom, and combined quality and substance in 

 a manner that was unknown to many visitors to the Royal 

 Show. No wonder, then, that she was the object of consider- 

 able attention. 



In this same year, too, the rivalry between Mr. Codling's 

 Blossom and Mr. Welford's Madam began to attract the 

 notice of show-yard visitors. Both were Cleveland Bays of 

 good pedigree, both were fine movers, and had remarkable 

 quality ; so when at the latter end of the year 1883, attention 

 began to be called to the merits of the old breed, the public 

 mind in the north of England, at any rate was to a certain 

 extent educated on the subject. 



The formation of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society, in 

 January of the following year, consolidated and gave expres- 

 sion to that vague feeling which had been growing, that the 

 Cleveland Bay was a breed to be cultivated. 



Since then the breed has increased in numbers in a satis- 

 factory manner. All over the country gentlemen have begun 

 to breed high class Clevelands. In Northumberland and in 

 Hampshire, in Essex, and in the neighbourhood of London 

 good studs are to be found. But perhaps even more marked 

 than the increase in numbers is the improvement in quality 

 which has taken place. It has been a frequent remark 

 amongst exhibitors of late that animals have no chance of 

 winning now, that eight or ten years ago would have won 

 readily enough, and good judges have stated that the average 

 merit of the young animals in the Cleveland Bay classes was 

 higher than they ever remembered to have seen, and their 

 memory extends over many years. It is satisfactory to note 

 that the improvement which has been effected in our other 

 breeds of horses has taken place in the Cleveland Bay breed 

 in quite as conspicuous a manner, and it may now be fairly 

 hoped that it will never again run the narrow risks of becom- 

 ing extinct that it has done in the past. 



