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Translated from German to English from an article in the Trakehner Magazine Pferd & Zucht, in 1987
CLEVELAND BAY
THE ONLY WARM BLOODED BREED THAT HAS BEEN PUREBRED FOR OVER l00 YEARS
England and Ireland have always had the reputation to breed highly bred yet amenable and untiring workhorses. When searching for the recipe for success of English and Irish horse breeders one very soon meets one common factor: unlike practices common in Germany, those countries keep repeating the crossing between fullblood and coldblood (Irish draught) or heavy warmblood (Cleveland Bay) over and over again. In Germany there used to be a similar constellation, when in the course of modernisation of the breeding goals, the heavy Oldenburg and Holstein mares were very successfully crossed with full blooded stallions. In contrast to the situation in Ireland and England however there was no economic justification for continuing to breed the "heavy ones" pure, as there is no market for the inevitable geldings and non-brood mares. In England and Ireland, with their tradition of hunting, it is different – it is not unusual for a farmer to participate in the hunt on a pure Irish Draft or Cleveland Bay (which also means that the horses are bred for rideability and staying power despite their weight). With the revival in the driving sport in Germany it now appears possible that a market for heavy warmbloods will develop not for stud purposes but harness work (and why not under the saddle). Thereby the commercial conditions would be met for the direct cross, which is so attractive for breeding reasons - the heavy warmblood would be justified again beyond the realm of the museum. In the meantime however horses of the type of the heavy coach horse which are suitable for breeding have virtually disappeared. There is a lack of good mares and also stallions. For this reason and because Cleveland Bays have once before played a very successful role in the development of the Oldenburg (and consequently the Ostfriesen), a Cleveland Bay stallion (originally imported as a riding horse from England)- has been selected for breeding of the heavy warm blood. Therefore the following closer description of the breed will be of general stud interest.
The origins of the Cleveland Bay go back to the Middle Ages. This heavy warmblood was bred as draught horse, for carrying and for work under the saddle at a time when roads were unsuitable for wheeled transport. The breed was known mainly because travelling traders, known as "chapmen" used them to move about their wares.
The origins of the Cleveland Bay can be traced back to the stallions Manica (son of Darley Arabian), Necromancer, Hambletonian and Grog, which of course are also known as the fathers of the English thoroughbred.
If you wish to go back even further one necessarily enters the realm of speculation, facilitated however by the appearance of the Cleveland Bays- true fathers of the breed were Barbs and Andalusians. To make it easier, one can say that the breeding of thoroughbreds as well as Cleveland Bays has its origin in the crossing of oriental stallions with heavy English warmblood mares- whereby the use of Andalusian (Berber) blood preceded that of the Arabian by about 50 years, and although certainly quite a lot got mixed up in the course of selection, the thoroughbred lost the Andalusian element (but not the Chapman/Cleveland Bay element) and the Cleveland Bay lost the Arabian one.
Even today one finds many Cleveland Bays which show factors in common with Andalusians: the broad chest, the tendency to a ramsnose, the low tail with sloping and strongly muscled rump. From the days of William the Conqueror to the Cromwells the Andalusian was the showy warhorse of the aristocracy, ordinary knights and officers at the time of the Stuart’s couldn't afford them. However during the civil war, the generals rode Andalusians. As many Andalusians as possible were imported (and only stallions were considered in keeping with their riders status). When the war finished the horses of the losers were confiscated, but even the winners could no longer afford so many noble showhorses, thus for the first time a situation had been reached where it was affordable to have Chapman mares covered by Andalusians and thus the Cleveland Bay was created.
A little later, while Sir Hugh Cholmondeley was in charge of the then British province of Tangier at the time of King Charles II, he sent some Berber stallions to Yorkshire and a Berber phase started and the "thoroughbred" stallions mentioned (which at this early stage of the fullblood breed should have shown fairly obvious characteristics of the cross of Arabians an the one hand and Chapman mares on the other) already ended the influence of breed-alien material on the purebred Cleveland Bay (documented since the opening of the stud book in 1884).
Important is the fact that even before the opening of the studbook in 1884 there never was a measurable influence of such popular cold blood breeds as the Shire or Clydesdale. Sir Alfred Pease, responsible for the studbook until 1920, wrote in 1934 on occasion of the 50th anniversary in the foreword of the 17th edition of the studbook about the origins of the breed: I have recorded the Cleveland pedigrees completely for 7 and sometimes 8 generations. In the search for "foreign blood" I have even gone back for 20 generations. The fact alone that names are still recorded so far back speaks for the probability that these stallions were of exceptional value. It is remarkable that similar to the history of the English thoroughbred before the 19th century, there are hardly any records of the descent of the mares. It appears to have been taken for granted that all mares belonged to the old Cleveland breed.
Elsewhere Sir Alfred wrote that 150 to 200 years ago the Cleveland Bay had more of a uniform breed type than any other English breed. But even at this time there were two distinct varieties: on the one hand the heavy farm horse and on the other - developed therefrom - a light carriage horse. With the intention to breed faster and more elegant horses, it was obvious to turn to the thoroughbred and to use stallions with a higher proportion of blood, as long as these brown stallions carried themselves like Cleveland’s and retained their character. The result was an especially elegant carriage and parade horse of highest quality: the Yorkshire Coach horse, in highest demand all over Europe. Pease comments: I have studied the descent of the most named mares and stallions of the Yorkshire Coach Horse breed in great depth and come to the conclusion that even the most scientifically researched system of breeding could not have produced a better horse than the cross of thoroughbred with Cleveland Bays. At the same time farmers in rural areas continued to breed the old type, which was so excellently suited to heavy farm work.
Thus between 1860 and 1880, four different types of Cleveland Bays appeared, although no distinct lines were drawn between them except by the breeders of each type themselves. From the old heavy type, the real and purebred Cleveland Bay, a heavy, medium-heavy and light carriage horse originated. In the early eighties of last century those four types were still recognisable. Then the demands of export led to a restriction to the medium and heavy carriage horse and a distancing from the lightest type. Even so there were still many breeders who would not even contemplate anything with mere "suspicion of blood". The last thing they would have risked was to spoil the colour of the Cleveland or to have to bear the shame of a white nose or a white foot. They alone have to be thanked for preserving a purebred Cleveland Bay breed. The continuation of the pure breed was and is of such great importance, especially for breeders who then wish to cross with thoroughbreds. However because of the bad economic situation in England the demand for pure Cleveland’s dropped so much that the breed was threatened with extinction. In January 1884, the Cleveland Bay Horse Society was founded -- practically at the last minute -as in the Cleveland Bay Stud Book, which was published at the same time only 7 brood mares were registered. This is even more telling when the only condition for entry was the dominance of characteristics of the old Cleveland breed.
This newly founded Society refused to accept some of the best stallions of the lightest type into the studbook whereupon the Yorkshire Coach Horse Society was founded.
Many of its products already had a share of more than 50% thoroughbred, which led to the appearance among the typical bays of an occasional white foot or even a chestnut. The breeders of the Yorkshire Coach Horse were perfectly well aware that they depended on the precious pure blood of the Cleveland Bays. Many of them were also members of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society and bred pure Cleveland Bays as well as the Yorkshire Coach Horse. From the beginning they entered 512 Cleveland Bay stallions into their stud back, which were also registered in the book of the CBHS. After the phase of the Yorkshire Coach Horse at the beginning of the 20th century, the Cleveland Bay breed suffered a hard blow from the demand of farmers for the heavy longhaired breeds of the Shire and Clydesdale. Added to that, a too large number of the best Cleveland Bays were exported, mainly to North America and Canada. Once the breed had taken a foothold there and the Americans had opened their own stud book, a big drop in demand for English horses occurred. In the end the only taker was the army. Their horses had to be as strong and active as possible, with clean legs and the best hooves. Courage and staying power as well as a high level of thrift and good health were demanded. They had to cope with fast marching over short or long distances. All these qualities were and are the breeding goal of the Cleveland Bays. Some of these early studbooks contain examples of the ability of these horses to effortlessly work at good speed over long distances. "One Cleveland Bay carried 400 pounds over 40 miles in 24 hours and did that 4 times each week. No other animal in the world would be capable of that. Elephants and camels could carry the weight, but how long would they take for those four marches?"
Elsewhere it is reported: "One Cleveland Bay left London at dawn with his rider and reached Yorkshire on the evening of the third day, continued its journey the same evening for another 40 miles until Yarm, stayed there for the night only to cover another 8 or 9 miles to Darlington in the morning. Stabled in the royal mews there he ate like a wolf." Caused by the catastrophic economic situation after the two wars, the number of Cleveland Bay breeders declined so much that by 1960 only 4 stallions remained in stud. The turnabout happened in 1962 when the English queen purchased the yearling stallion Mulgrave Supreme, which had really already been sold to the USA. In retrospect this stallion can be regarded as the saviour of the breed. He acted from 1965 until 1981 and was probably the most important carrier of the heredity of the breed. The names of his sons and grandsons are continually found, not only in the lists of successes in the showring amongst his purebred descendants, but especially and more and more often in the pedigrees of successful halfbloods in performance sports of all disciplines.
Before going on in detail about the stud developments of the last 25 years, here an illustration of the breeding goals of purebred Cleveland Bays. This was formulated for the first time in 1827, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society and it was accepted without any alteration as the foundation for the studbook in 1884. According to this the Cleveland Bay has an average height (Stockmass) of 166 to 170 cm. However a variation in the height does not disqualify a horse that meets the other criteria. The colour is always bay without marks. Permissible is only a small star or white hairs in mane or tail, but never a blaze or a white foot. Characteristic are the so called "black points", an especially obvious black colouring of the legs often up to high over the hock as well as the areas around eyes, nose and mouth. "green legs" are not well liked, but are not regarded as a defect. Demanded are a broad chest, short legs, a not-to-long back with well-developed kidney area. The shoulder should be sloping, long and strongly muscled, the croup long and oval. Characteristics are an expressive, not too small head with large, friendly eyes. The neck is long, well muscled and carried in a good arch.
Upper and under hands are strongly muscled, Karpal joint and hock large and closed. The circumference of the"Roehrbein"(pipeleg) should not be under 22 cm and the ankle is strong, sloping and not too long. The legs should not show any draping but be dry and hard. The hooves are broad well formed and have a blue tinge.
The Cleveland Bay moves freely and straight with good ground cover. A high knee action is not typical of the breed. Besides selection with a view to staying power, toughness and industry as well as the ability to pull or carry heavy weights, special emphasis is placed on temperament. The Cleveland Bay is distinguished by great amiability and a great willingness to fulfil all demands made on him. Every year several large shows are organised for judging. Besides all the usual classes for mares of all ages the initial pre-selection for the 10 best stallions is made, from which the winner of the King George V Cup is chosen on the occasion of a grand parade.
In 1984 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the CBHS, the Queen as patron of the society handed over this prize. Winner was the stallion Forest Saga, a grandson of the previously mentioned great Mulgrave Supreme. His father, Forest Superman is the most successful of the 5 selected sons of Mulgrave Supreme, and at the age of 22 is still in the stud business. He himself was 4 times winner of the KGV cup and until now has produced no less than 10 selected sons, 5 amongst them premium stallions. In the showring he was only defeated once, by his father. His son Forest Field Day out of Forest Foursome was 3 times runner up in the KGV cup. From a pairing with Forest Foursome two further top stallions were produced in 1978 Forest Farnon and a year later Forest Fortunate. Forest Superman’s most famous daughter is Gillshaw Katrina, champion of the Great Yorkshire Show in 1973, 1975 and 1978. She is the mother of the stallions Littlebeck Masterpiece and Littlebeck Casanova. Especially valuable for breeding purposes is his son Osberton David out of the first class mare April Love. He was 3 times winner of the KGV cup and in turn can already account for 6 selected sons, three of which are full brothers. Their mother Osberton Decibel is a daughter of Lord Fairfax, a further line founder, whose son Mulgrave produced 9 selected sons. Gerrick Majesty is his most successful son with 8 selected sons, some of which were exported to Australia and Canada.
So as not to create the impression that the breeding of Cleveland Bays was a merely self perpetuating exercise, mention must here be made of the crossbreeding for other uses - especially Lord Fairfax made a name for himself as producer of high calibre show jumpers, notable amongst them Madison Time (Olympics 1976 under Harvey Smith).
Amongst Lord Fairfax’s female offspring special mention must be made of the legendary Spring Fever. She is the mother of the premium stallions Knaresborough Sir Warlock (1967), Knaresborough Sir Robert (1968) and Knaresborough Rebel (1969) from Chapman. Unfortunately her promising son Knaresborough Diplomat (1979) died in an accident. Spring Fever’s last foal was born in 1931 and exported to Germany Knaresborough Toff. His full sister Knaresborough Welcome was overall winner in the 1984 Great Yorkshire Show. Forest Superman is father to both.
If the line of Mulgrave represents the older type with an often rather long back, a certain tendency to a heavy neck rather strong underneck muscles and a rather corse head, then the line of Mulgrave Supreme represents the best type of riding horse with an always compact frame, well developed upper neck and a relatively small head which is carried almost ideally.
A third line is closest to the old type partly because on average it is 10 cm shorter. Founder is Chapman (1960), whose son Fisherman is father of a considerable number of most valuable mares as well as of 5 selected sons.
Showcase for the breed is currently Forest Superman. He is the only representative of the breed who is accepted by the Hunter Improvement and National Light Horse Breeding Society. The tendency of English Hunters to lose substance and staying power has become very obvious in recent years - more and more are of the high blooded point-to-point type. The o1d fashioned hunter who is capable to keep up with the speed of the hounds over two days of hard hunting and to do that every week during the season has become a rarity. For many Englishmen there is really no viable alternative to get back to the old heavy hunter than to cross Cleveland Bay mares with thoroughbred stallions. As England has no consolidated warm blood breeds like Germany the Cleveland Bay is of the utmost importance to the breeding of hunters.
Cleveland Bays however are also distinguishing themselves more and more in other equestrian sports. For example John O’ Gaunt, a son of Mulgrave Supreme out of a thoroughbred mare, was twice the English combined test champion and won the hard three-day eventing championship at Burghley in -1980. Retired from competition he is now enjoying life as a hunter at the age of 18. His halfbrother (by Mulgrave Supreme) Powergame is probably known to everyone in Germany. Under Ruediger Schwarz he participated in the Olympics, and the newest star amongst the half-Cleveland Bays is the 10 year old Powder Monkey from Forest Superman who performs under Lady Joicey at Grand Prix level in dressage with great success. He was a member of the world championship team in 1986 at Cedar Valley.
The Duke of Edinborough known as a passionate four-in-hand driver and participant in international competitions prefers crosses of Cleveland Bay stallions with Oldenburg mares. His teams are distinguished especially by a temperament well suited for the driving sport as well as long ground covering movement and speed and skill over rough terrain. Amongst other successes his team won the international event at Windsor in 1983 and was sixth of 40 in the world championship in Holland. The crossing of Cleveland Bay with Oldenburg as practiced in the royal stud appears to be particularly successful. The combination of strong bones, best temperament, persistence and health of the Cleveland Bay with the roomy movement of the Oldenburg regularly produces top products for the modern sporting horse. The secret in that may be the blood relationship between the Cleveland Bays and the German warmbloods, because as early as 1830 to 1889 Celle had almost 50 Cleveland Bay and Yorkshire Coach Horse stallions. In his "Book of the Horse" Carl Gustav Wrangel wrote about the Oldenburg breed that even earlier in 1820 a bay stallion was introduced who produced the two stallions Neptun and ThoradorI, the two progenitors of the best lines. Neptun (born in 1821) fathered Heros who in turn produced Martens, whose son Landessohn fathered about 1500 live foals. Thorador I on the other hand fathered Hubertus whose son Alcibiades is praised as the best stallion of his time. Which breed the original imported stallion was (he was imported by a man called Staewe and is known as Staewe’s stallion) can not be proved. One only knows that he was born in 1806 and had a beautiful bay colour. Most probably he was a product of the old Cleveland breed. Later, too a few Cleveland Bay stallions and Yorkshire Coach Horse stallions were imported to Oldenburg. Amongst them is a stallion called Astonishment, who in 1844 produced the much valued stallion Der Nobele, and in 1849 Messrs Luebbe imported 4 English stallions, of which Duke of Cleveland, brown, born 1848 from Magistrate out of Conqueror and Lucks-all, brown born 1846 from President out of Godolphin both produced excellent progeny.
Thus the Cleveland Bay has had vital influence in the development of leading German breeds. It is very possible to cross the current mares, who largely consist of high-blooded end products, with heavier breeds again. This would reduce the risk in the indisputably necessary use of thoroughbred stallions. The crossing of any warmblood with a breed that has been homogenised over centuries and has been selected for performance and amiability and one that breeds true could only add bonestrength, musclesubstance , frame and even temperament without leading to the loss of hardness, stamina, dryness and rideability. The English and Irish have long since proved that the phrase "mass with nobility" is more than just a catch-phrase (after all it is frequently heard during presentations of prizes at Badminton or Burghley).
