72 LIGHT HORSES : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



strong clays, Cleveland Bays have been known to hold their 

 own, as the following anecdote goes to prove. In the early 

 part of the century a large farmer moved from the neighbour- 

 hood of Darlington to Northumberland, and as a matter of 

 course, he took his Cleveland Bay horses with him. Then, as 

 now, Northumberland was the home of the heavy and power- 

 ful draught horse, and the Northumbrians justly prided them- 

 selves on the excellent breed of horses they possessed. It 

 was only to be expected that they would hold the compara- 

 tively light horses of their new neighbour in derision, and 

 they were very free in their criticism of his teams. But 

 the new comer was not to be chaffed with impunity, and one 

 market night he was stung into challenging the country to a 

 ploughing match. His challenge was speedily accepted, and 

 the terms, which were very simple, were arranged without a 

 hitch. They were as follows. Each party was to produce a 

 pair of horses on the following Monday morning, and they 

 were to plough from Monday morning till Saturday night, the 

 pair which had ploughed the most land in the time to be 

 declared the winner, the stakes being 50 a side. On 

 Monday morning they commenced to plough accordingly, but 

 before Wednesday night the heavier horses had had quite 

 enough of it, and the Cleveland Bays were declared the 

 winners. Though I should scarcely be inclined to recom- 

 mend the modern Cleveland Bay for heavy farm work on the 

 strongest clays, yet there is no farm on which an active 

 Cleveland Bay mare cannot be made to pay her way, and pay 

 her way well. The countless jobs which require activity 

 rather than massive strength, and which it would be tedious 

 to enumerate, are much better done by an animal of this type 

 than by a Clydesdale or Shire horse. In olden times Cleve- 

 land Bays have been used on occasion as hunters, but with 

 the pace hounds run now-a-days that occupation for them is 

 out of the question. They are still, however, occasionally 

 used as carriage or dog-cart horses, and if not so showy as the 

 Hackney or so stylish as the blood Coach Horse, they have 



