CHAPTER XIV 

 THE CLEVELAND BAY COACH HORSE 



Although the oldest of the large-sized coach horses, 

 the Cleveland Bay has not met with so popular a favor 

 in America as some other breeds of coach horses, par- 

 ticularly the blockier, more symmetrical and more stylish 

 sorts. In England the breed has been more successful. 



The native home of the Cleveland Bay coach horse. — 

 This breed was developed in northeastern England, in the 

 counties of Durham, Northumberland and more especially 

 Yorkshire. It is in Yorkshire, among the Cleveland hills 

 in the North and East Riding, that this breed is found in 

 its greatest purity. The conditions were eminently suitable 

 for the production of superior light horses. The people 

 were horsemen, and the fertile valleys and hills, underlaid 

 in the best grazing districts with limestone, were very 

 productive of nutritious grasses. 



The origin of the Cleveland Bay coach horse.^ — There 

 is no authentic data regarding the origin of this breed, and 

 the first records of the Cleveland horse connect him with 

 being a pack or Chapman horse. Many theories have 

 been advanced as to the probable origin, of which four 

 are worthy of mention. First, it is asserted that the 

 breed is a descendant of the "Old War Horse," improved 

 by crossing with Oriental and English stock; second, 

 that it has been gradually developed from the horse of 

 southern England; the adherents state this is supported 

 by the fact that a similar breed formerly existed in 

 Devon, in the south of England ; third, that it is a descendant 

 of the old Scandinavian horse, improved by careful breed- 

 ing under the different climatic conditions of England, 

 and this claim, it is stated, is supported by the black 

 points in the Cleveland horse ; and, fourth, it is asserted 



