THE CLEVELAND BAY 89 



breed and made most attractive exhibits. The people of the 

 United States, however, have never been favorably impressed 

 in a large way, consequently Cleveland Bay interests have mainly 

 died out. Specimens of Cleveland Bays are now almost unknown 

 in our horse 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 any breeder prominently advocating the merits 

 of the breed, and importations are rarely made. 



Cleveland Bay characteristics need but a brief consideration 

 here. The color is always bay, either light or dark, with black 

 legs, mane, and tail. White is not permissible, except a small 

 star in the forehead or few white hairs on the heel. More white, 

 the breeders say, indicates foreign blood. The color may be dap- 

 pled, and dark bars may occasionally be seen on the lower arm 

 or possibly above the hock. The height ranges from \6\ to i6| 

 hands, and the weight from 1200 to 1550 pounds. A pure-bred 

 mare, Jessica 214, owned by the Ohio State University, weighs 

 about 1350 pounds in moderate flesh. The stallion Lord Derby 

 231 (740), a first-prize winner at the Yorkshire show, and 

 imported by Galbraith Brothers, weighed about 1550 pounds. 

 The body of the Cleveland Bay is of the larger coach type with 

 long sloping shoulder and high, broad croup. The head has been 

 regarded as lacking in refinement, while the limbs have not as 

 much quality as the best market demands. In action the move- 

 ment is strong and powerful, but not stylish. The breed is per- 

 haps the largest of the coach type, and lacks somewhat the quality 

 of the prominent coach breeds. William Scarth Dixon, one of the 

 best English authorities on the breed, writing in 1902, says : 



The Cleveland Bay is distinguished for his size, the peculiar quality and 

 amount of his bone, and for his general symmetry. Color is indispensable. 

 . . . " What we want is more quality," say breeders and dealers alike. 

 Admitted, but at the same time I must point out that quality is a very elastic 

 term ; that there is a so-called quality which is certainly of a very mere- 

 tricious character, for it tends to eliminate from a breed its most valuable 

 characteristics. And it must be urged, even to the point of tediousness, that 

 as the quality of the Shire horse is different from the Thoroughbred, so in 

 character does the quality of the Cleveland Bay differ from the quality of 

 the Yorkshire Coach horse. 



