Contents
- Early History
- American History
- The Thoroughbred Cross
- CB Characteristics
- CB Breed Standards
- Registry
- SPARKS
HISTORY
As its name suggests, the Cleveland Bay emanates from the Cleveland area of North East England. It is without a doubt the oldest indigenous breed of English horse and has been fixed in type much longer than the Cleveland Bay Society's foundation date suggests.
The church played a very large role in their early development. Throughout the middle ages the Monastic houses in North East England were the principal breeders of the horses' ancestors. A pack horses was needed for the trading of goods between the various abbeys and monasteries and it is most certain that especially on the female side the Cleveland Bay evolved from such pack horses bred in the Yorkshire Dales. Locally at this time the horses were first known as Chapman horses. The name was derived from the term given to packmen and itinerant peddlers of those days--"Chapmen".
In the 17th century, there was an influx of oriental horses into the region and these were bred to the chapman mares. So, by the end of the century the main ingredients of the breed had been brought together: chapman mares, oriental stallions, and a harsh environment. The harsh environment of North East England played a large role in providing the horse with durability, longevity, and a quiet disposition. These characteristics, combined with the uniformity of bay color, size, and substance developed a versatile breed used as hunt horses, coach horses, pack horses, and agricultural workers.
It was during the peak of the breeds popularity, in the late 1880's, that the Cleveland Bay Horse Society of Great Britain published the first volume of its Stud Book which contained stallions and mares selected for the purity of their blood.
With the onset of the mechanical age, the numbers of Cleveland Bays rapidly declined and there numbers were further decimated by their use as artillery horses during World War l. The Cleveland Bay survived in the region of its birthplace during these difficult times, but only barely. In the 1960's only five or six mature stallions were found. Due to the foresight and determination of the Yorkshire admirers, the breed has survived and numbers have grown. The Queen of England became the Patron of the breed and the Royal Mews continues the tradition of using Cleveland Bays and crossbreeds in ceremonial duties. With the increase of numbers, Cleveland Bay purebreds are competing along with breeding duties. Although listed as an endangered breed with less than 500 world wide there is a small but growing and dedicated group of Cleveland Bay lovers from Britain, North America, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia dedicated to the conservation of this unique horse.
THE CLEVELAND BAY IN AMERICA
The first Cleveland Bay stallions were imported to Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts in the early 1800's. In 1884, the Upperville Colt and Horse Show in Virginia was created to showcase Col. Dulany's imported Cleveland Bay stallion Scrivington and his offspring. Later William Cody, America's Buffalo Bill, chose the Cleveland Bay for his Wild West show. Western States utilized the stallions in their breeding of range horses, noting their staying quality, easy maintenance, and their match for the biggest of steers. The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America was founded in 1885 with 2000 stallions and mares registered by 1907. Although the breed suffered the same decline in the US as in Britain, it enjoyed a brief revival in the 1930's when Alexander Mackay-Smith imported founding stock for hunters. Presently, there are around 140 purebred Cleveland Bays in the United States and Canada, with many Cleveland partbreds competing in all disciplines of horsemanship. A total of 10 purebreds and five partbreds call Morgan County, Georgia their home.
THE THOROUGHBRED CROSS
Yorkshire is known as the source of two breeds: the Thoroughbred and the Cleveland Bay. That knowledge makes more interesting the fact that when these two breeds are bred together they produce such an outstanding performance horse.
During the 19th century, a demand for faster carriage horses resulted in some breeders crossing their Clevelands with strong Thoroughbreds. Their off-spring were known as the Yorkshire Coach Horse a tall elegant carriage horse with unmatched ability for speed, style, and power. This horse became in great demand by the rich and royal. The late 18th Century was the golden age of carriage driving. Yorkshire Coach Horses were exported all over the world to provide matched pairs and teams. During the height of the London season, hundreds of pairs of Yorkshire Coach Horses could be seen in Hyde Park every afternoon. To this day one may still detect the two types of Cleveland - the smaller, resembling the Chapman, and the taller resembling the Yorkshire Coach Horses. Both nevertheless retain the bone and substance of their ancestors.
With the advent of the mechanical age, the numbers of Yorkshire Coach horses, along with Cleveland Bays, fell dramatically. Today though the Cleveland Bay has successfully been bred to thoroughbred types to produce outstanding performance horses in dressage, driving, and jumping. It is through these quality animals that breed recognition is widely spreading.
CLEVELAND BAY CHARACTERISTICS
- great substance, clean legged
- excellent feet, flat cannon bones
- immensely powerful quarters contribute to jumping ability and dressage
- long lived; pre-potent transmitting uniformity in type and substance
- moves with ground covering power
- ideal for carriage work with strong and powerful shoulders
CLEVELAND BAY BREED STANDARDS
HEIGHT: 16.0hh to 16.2hh, but height should not disqualify an otherwise good sort.
COLOR: Cleveland Bays must be bay with black points, i.e. black legs, black, mane and black tail. Gray hairs in the mane and tail do not disqualify. These have been long recognized as a feature in certain strains of pure Cleveland blood. White is not admissible beyond a very small white star. Legs which are bay or red below the knees and hocks do not disqualify, but are faulty as color.
BODY: The body should be wide and deep. The back should not be too long and should be strong with muscular loins. The shoulder should be sloping, deep and muscular. The quarters should be level, powerful, long and oval, the tail springing well from the quarters.
HEAD AND NECK: The head characteristics of the breed should be bold and not too small. It should be well carried on a long lean neck.
EYES: Eyes should be large, well set and kindly in expression.
EARS: Ears tend to be large and fine.
THE LIMBS: Arms and thighs and second thighs should be muscular. The knees and hocks should be large and well closed. There should be 9" upwards of good flat bone below the knee measured at the narrowest point on a tight tape. The pasterns should be strong and sloping and not to long. The legs should be clear of superfluous hair and as clean and hard as possible.
THE FEET: One of the most important features of the breed; the feet must be of the best and blue in color. Feet that are shallow or narrow are undesirable. "NO FOOT-NO HORSE".
ACTION: Action must be true, straight and free. High action is not characteristic of the breed. The Cleveland which moves well and which is full of courage will move freely from the shoulder and will flex his knees and hocks sufficiently. The action required is free all round, gets over the ground and fits the wear-and-tear qualities of the breed
REGISTRY
The purebred and part-bred registry is maintained and supervised by the Cleveland Bay Society of Great Britain. Only pure-bred Cleveland Bays sired by a stallion awarded the Certificate for Pure Breeding are eligible. Inspection and approval of stallions and mares by the Cleveland Bay Society of North America is done every year or as warranted.
SPARKS
SPARKS (Single Population Analysis and Record Keeping System) is a software program. This software was developed by the American Zoological Society and the International Species Information System to guide captive breeding programs for the world's rarest and most endangered species. In other words SPARKS helps zoos and others working with strictly controlled captive breeding programs to identified priority breeders and to maintain the widest possible genetic base. The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of both North America and Great Britain has embraced SPARKS but are also mindful that the kind of breeding programs carried out in the closed environment of zoos cannot be replicated with the Cleveland Bay. But that said, the scientific principles are well proven and the software can provide valuable data to guide both the Societies and individual breeders as to which matings will give rise to the best long term genetic health of the Breed.
The measurement SPARKS uses is called MEAN KINSHIP (MK). This is the numerical value of how closely an individual horse is related to every other in the world population of Cleveland Bays. This gives us an indication of just how rare an individual's combination of genes is in the entire population. Animals with a lower Mean Kinship have relatively fewer genes in common with the rest of the population, and are therefore more genetically valuable in a breeding program. An individual animal's MK number is a moving benchmark, which changes as the world population changes with births and deaths, and so every living Cleveland Bay's MK number is recalculated every year and new data is issued. Using this information it is possible through a coordinated strategy to breed to minimize Mean Kinship and maximize the retention of genetic diversity. To simplify the strategy the population is divided into alphanumeric bands, based on Mean Kinship. To cover the range of MK numbers in the CB population seven bands A, B, C, D, E, F, and G have been used. The majority of Cleveland Bay stallions and mares fall into bands C-D and E.
The ideal genetic matings will occur when the resulting progeny has a lower MK number than both the sire and dam, and when the sire and dam are from the same alphanumeric band. SPARKS does not recommend skipping more than one band. The aim is to reduce Mean Kinship, but also to avoid bringing rare bloodlines together. Crossing animals of similar mean Kinship prevents undesirable matings between animals from different rare lines.
So, for example, CB stallion Ready-to-Go has a MK of 0.205, and is from Band C. CB mare Here-I-Come has a MK of 0.209, and is also from Band C. SPARKS tells us that their progeny would have a MK value of 0.195, so this is a good match genetically.
SPARKS does not factor in conformation, type, and other normal breeding considerations, so we must still make sure we look at the horses too!
Contact the Secretary of CBHSNA for more information at cbhsna@aol.com.
Information on this page was taken from, but is not limited to, The Cleveland Bay Society of Great Britain website and The Cleveland Bay Society of North America website
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