Cleveland Bay

Barb horses landing at Whitby in the 1600s and 1700s, the same imports that went into the Thoroughbred, were crossed onto the Chapman stock. Breeders selected for strength, speed, soundness and stamina, because the job was hauling goods long distances, working a farm, and being ridden over rough ground. Recent genetic work suggests a link to the Turkomen horses behind the Akhal-Teke. The breed reached its modern form by 1800; Cleveland is the Yorkshire vale it comes from.

The British society formed in 1884. Americans had been importing since the early 1800s, and Colonel Richard Dulaney of Virginia started the Upperville Colt and Horse Show in 1884 to show his off. It still runs, and still has a Cleveland Bay class. The American society followed in 1885 and had registered over 2,000 horses by 1907. Buffalo Bill Cody drove four Cleveland Bay stallions in his Wild West Show.

Then the breed nearly vanished. By 1960 there were six purebred stallions left. Queen Elizabeth II bought one of them, Mulgrave Supreme, in 1962 and made him available to breeders; within fifteen years there were 36 purebred stallions in the UK. The North American society was revived in 1985.

Always bay. Black points, black mane and tail, and no white beyond an occasional small star: the color is written into the breed, and a Cleveland Bay of another color is not one.

A big horse. The Conservancy puts them at 16 to 17 hands and 1,200 to 1,500 pounds; the British standard runs 16 to 16.2. Well-muscled hindquarters, sloping shoulders, dense bone and notably sound, durable feet.

Docile and sensible are the Conservancy's words, with intelligent and easy to train in its notes. This was a horse for work that lasted all day, and the temperament was selected for it.

Novice to intermediate is the experience rating, which is unusual for a horse this size.

Driving and sport riding. The pure horse is a carriage and hunting horse, and the British royal stables have used Cleveland Bays for ceremonial carriage work since the 1920s.

The crosses are the commercial story. A Cleveland Bay on a Thoroughbred produces the kind of jumper and event horse that made the breed's modern reputation.

The Conservancy's account is of a sound horse: durable feet, dense bone and a calm disposition, from a line bred for strength, soundness and stamina when the work was long-distance hauling, farm work and riding over rough ground.

Both the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and The Livestock Conservancy list the breed as Critical. The 2020 estimate was about 1,000 purebreds worldwide, with roughly 220 in North America, and 2023 saw just 27 purebred foals born on this continent.

Part-breds are plentiful by comparison: a 2024 North American count found 238 purebreds and 520 part-breds. Numbers like that make every purebred mare a conservation decision.

Purebred and part-bred are different purchases, and the papers say which is which. The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America keeps the book here. A part-bred is often the better sport prospect; only the purebred moves the breed's numbers.

Check the color against the standard: bay with black points, no white beyond a small star. And with 27 purebred foals a year on the continent, expect the search to take longer than the decision.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.