Cleveland Bay History

The Cleveland Bay are an ancient breed.  One of the earliest original  purpose bred warmblood horses. They originate from North Yorkshire and are the oldest indigenous breed of horse in England dating back 400 years. The breed society was formed in 1884, it’s aim “to preserve on old breed” so they really are steeped in history. Own a pure bred Cleveland Bay and with a bit of research, you will be able to trace it’s family tree back 125 years.

The Cleveland Bay’s main asset is their versatility, combining strength, stamina, speed, agility and a workman like temperament. Over the centuries with peoples changing needs and strides in technology, the breed has been adapted as a pack horse, an agricultural animal, a coach and riding horse.

They have had a hard time over the last hundred years with the onset of the mechanical age, and huge decimation on the battle fields of World War I where they were almost driven to extinction. By the 1960′s there were only 5 stallions left. H M Queen Elizabeth II (Patron of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society) bought one of these stallions Mulgrave Supreme to save him from export abroad. A breeding program began at the Hampton Court Mews and continues to this day.

The Cleveland Bay has been sculpted and retitled, to become what it is today. Therefore you do tend to find slight variations.  There is the sturdier horse with heavier, shorter bone. These are more like the original “Chapman”  horses, as they were called. Named after the travelling merchants of the same name, that used them as pack horses in the Middle Ages. Barb blood refined the horse in the 17th century which is where you can see the Spanish “hawk like” head in some horses.  Then there is a finer, leggier stamp, which is a throw back to the “Yorkshire Coach Horse” where Thoroughbred blood was introduced  in the 18th century, to produce elegant coach horses which were the Rolls Royce of the era.

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Therefore you can find a Cleveland Bay today to suit most people. They have the agility for jumping, movement for dressage, stamina and sanity for hunting. Clevelands make lovely show horses with their hunter stamp and regal demeanour, which can only be appreciated in the flesh. Their uniformity of colour also makes them perfect for creating driving teams. For the modern competition rider though a thoroughbred or similar cross is required to add that extra athletisism.

There are some super part breds doing well out there at top levels, in all the main disciplines. They actually make excellent crosses with all sorts of breeds from Arabs, Welsh Cobs and Quarter Horses to name but a few.

They have been used as an outcross over the centuries to create many of todays fashionable European warmbloods such as  Oldenburgs, Holsteins and Hanovarians. Because the Cleveland Bay is such an old breed and their genes well ingrained, they stay very true to type when being bred and if you look, you can see the Cleveland’s influence in many of these horses.