The Cleveland Bay

See also:

Shire Horses | The Suffolk Punch | The Clydesdale

The Percheron | Dales and Fell Ponies

From the Cleveland district of North Yorkshire, these distinctive horses were bred from cob-like packhorses, known as Chapman Horses.

Most draught horses have military origins, but in this case, the monastic houses of Whitby, Rievaulx and Guisborough developed the Bay Horse to carry produce from the estate farms and the local fishing industries to other monasteries further afield. They cleared valley enclosures in which, semi-wild herds were kept with good stallions. Gifts from Spain and North Africa brought Andalucian and Barb blood to increase size and swiftness and to create a fine coach-horse for use on the roads. Crossing with Thoroughbreds created the Yorkshire Coach Horse.

The original breed still earned its keep on the farms and as purebred stock and the Cleveland Bay Society was formed in1884.