Origin: The Cleveland area of North East England
Colour: All Clevelands are bay with black points.
Height: 16-16.2hh.
Conformation: They have a long, sloping shoulder, strong limbs with plenty of bone, a strong back and hindquarter, and a large head with a fairly straight face.
Character: Very bold and honest.
Uses: Extremely versatile, successful in all disciplines.
The Cleveland Bay is the oldest indigenous horse breed in the UK. Its ancestor, the Chapman was a bay pack horse of around 14hh used by the travelling salesmen of the day (chapmen) to carry their merchandise.
In the last half of the 17th century, after the English Civil War, there were many Spanish horses in North East England. The Chapman and the Barb came together to mould the type of powerful horse whose popularity as a pack/harness horse was beginning to spread beyond the North East.
By the 18th century the Cleveland had become bigger and heavier, largely as a result of better feeding. The result was an extremely versatile, quality horse, which was exported to improve many of the European breeds.
A demand for faster carriage horses resulted in the Yorkshire Coach Horse, a Cleveland/Thoroughbred cross. Yorkshire Coach Horses were exported all over the world during the golden age of carriage driving in the late 18th century.
Following the second World War the Cleveland went into decline and by 1962 there were just four pure-bred stallions in the UK. This was reversed by HM The Queen, who bought the stallion Mulgrave Supreme. He was used on pure-bred and part-bred mares with great success, and within 15 years there were 36 pure-bred stallions in the UK.
The Cleveland Bay is a very intelligent horse with a sensible temperament. They possess a strong character which, if mishandled can be spoiled. They have plenty of bone and substance, are hardy, long lived and have tremendous stamina. As sound active horses with substance, stamina and a good temperament they make excellent police horses.
The Cleveland’s greatest advantage is probably its versatility. The ability to break them to both saddle and harness makes this breed invaluable to the all-round enthusiast to whom one horse can be all things!
