THE CLEVELAND BAY COACH HORSE 1 63 



for heavier horses ; and the improving of the public roads, 

 resulting in the use of lighter vehicles, thus calling for 

 lighter horses for road work, all of which operated to 

 reduce the demand for a heavy coach horse. It was more 

 profitable, therefore, to breed the heavy draft horse for 

 draft and the lighter and more active horse for the road 

 and so the Cleveland Bay fell into disfavor and was 

 neglected. 



After some years the breed began to adapt itself to 

 condition, and from 1851 to 1867 it was in considerable 

 favor, when there came a second decline in its popularity. 

 Perhaps the development of the railroads was respon- 

 sible for this decline. When the outlook seemed darkest, 

 the American trade opened up, and in 1884 the Cleveland 

 Bay Horse Society was organized and a stud book estab- 

 lished, the object being to promote the purity of the breed 

 and to put it in proper relation to the public. This did 

 not stimulate the anticipated interest, for in 1885, at the 

 show of the Royal Agricultural Society, held in the 

 County of York, the stronghold of the breed, but one 

 entry of a Cleveland Bay was made, and that was a mare 

 in foal. During the last decade of the nineteenth, and the 

 first decade of the twentieth century, the breeding of 

 Cleveland Bays has attracted some attention, as is shown 

 by the show of the Royal Society in 1900, again held in 

 York, when 41 entries were made. Since then a number 

 of creditable exhibits have been made in various English 

 shows. 



The Yorkshire Coach horse. — Because of its relationship 

 to the Cleveland Bay the Yorkshire Coach is mentioned 

 here. In England there is a Yorkshire Coach Horse So- 

 ciety in addition to a Cleveland Bay Horse Society, and 

 each has established a stud book, so that the horses are 

 registered separately and the two breeds are distinct. In 

 America, however, the Yorkshire Coach horse and the 

 Cleveland Bay horse are considered as one breed, and are 



