THE CLEVELAND BAY. 
PLATE VI. 
STALLION, by Catfos, the Sire of Bay Chilton; Dam by Mr Agres’s Rainbow; bred by Mr 
Robertson of Naperton, Holderness. 
The Black Horse, it has been seen, is widely spread over the central and southern counties of England, extending from 
Lincolnshire westward and southward. But, on crossing the Humber to the north, a change appears in the form and characters 
of the ordinary horses of the country. The black gives place to the brown and lighter colours, and the horses become less bulky, 
and of a form more indicative of activity. This change appears throughout Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, and beyond 
the Tweed, and distinguishes at a glance the northern breeds of the larger horses from the slow and weighty Black Horse of the 
southern counties. 
When we compare the coasts of Britain with those of the opposite continent, we find a striking similitude in their geological 
formation, and in their animal and vegetable productions. All along the British Channel from Land’s End to the Straits of 
Dover, we have a country resembling, even to the indentations of the coast, the countries of France from Ushant to the Pas 
de Calais. Bending northward, the flat alluvial countries of the eastern coasts of England correspond in the closest degree with 
the low lands of Belgium and Holland. The marshes of the Zuyder Zee seem to be reproduced in the fens of Lincoln, and in 
both localities the horses resemble one another even to the colour of the skin. Stretching again from the Humber north¬ 
wards, the country in England corresponds with the Danish dominions of Holstein, Sleswick, and Jutland, and each locality pro¬ 
duces horses tall and strong where circumstances favour the development of their forms, of diversified colours, and differing from 
the great horse of the marshes; and we might pursue the parallel until we reached the granitic mountains of Norway and the 
Scottish Highlands. 
The country from the Tweed to the Humber, forming a part of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, was 
early noted for the numbers and quality of its horses. The Northumbrians, engaged in incessant forays and wars, were distin¬ 
guished as the most daring horsemen of the Island, and their horses are described as stout, agile, and hardy. Durham, although 
it early became the patrimony of St Cuthbert, did not, on this account, become the less warlike and predatory; and Yorkshire long 
retained the sad distinction of being the most frequent arena of the foreign and civil wars which desolated the kingdom. The 
people of these countries have retained their ancient passion for the Horse; and in more peaceful times Yorkshire became a nur¬ 
sery for horses, and is now the greatest breeding district in England. 
The horses reared in this part of England are, of all the varieties, suited to the saddle, the coach, the waggon, and the 
plough. They present every diversity of size, colour, and breeding. The larger kinds used for draught are chiefly reared in the 
northern parts of the district. When unmixed with the blood of horses of higher breeding, they are a tall and powerful race of 
animals, adapted to every labour requiring weight and muscular force. But it is the peculiarity of the entire district, that much 
of the blood of the superior races has been communicated to the common kinds, and that comparatively few of those employed in 
labour are altogether unmixed. This results from the practice long and extensively pursued all over Yorkshire and Durham, of 
breeding horses especially for the saddle and the lighter carriages. From this cause horses of some breeding become employed in 
common labour, and the blood of the Race-Horse is insensibly diffused through the general mass. 
It is the progressive mixture of the blood of horses of higher breeding with those of the common race, that has produced the 
variety of Coach-Horse usually termed the Cleveland Bay. This variety is termed Bay, from the prevailing colour, derived from 
approximation to the superior races, and Cleveland, from the fertile district of that name situated in the North Riding of York¬ 
shire on the Tees. About the middle of last century this district became known for the breeding of a superior class of powerful 
horses, which, with the gradual disuse of the heavy old Coach-Horse, became in request for coaches, chariots, and similar car¬ 
riages. The breed, however, is not now confined to the district of Cleveland, but is cultivated throughout all the great breeding 
district of this part of England, although Cleveland yet preserves its pre-eminence, and supplies with stallions the parts of the 
kingdom where superior Coach-Horses are reared. 
The true Cleveland Bay may be justly termed a Breed, from the similitude of characters presented by the individuals of the 
stock. It has been formed by the same means as the Hunter, namely, by the progressive mixture of the blood of the Race-Horse 
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