Monday, 06 October 2008
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June 2007 • VOLUME 22 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine  The Cleveland Bay – The Chapman Horse By Victoria Tollman, Equus Survival Trust From the English vale of Cleveland in Yorkshire comes a robust, bay horse of exceptional utility. As Britain’s oldest indigenous breed of horse, it has long been sought after as a source for improving other breeds. The Cleveland Bay takes its humble beginnings from the peddlers and packmen of the Middle Ages known as the Chapmans. Origins and History During the 16th and 17th Century, the Church played an important role in the breeding of the early Cleveland Bay. Stout packhorses were needed to transport trade goods within the Monastic communities. From an early blending of agricultural and pack types that may have included the Galloway of Scotland, a horse type emerged and became known as the Chapman Horse. It is thought that Andalusian blood was introduced during the English civil war (1642-1649). Then in 1661 the King Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, and a stream of trade opened up between England and North Africa that brought important infusions of the Moroccan Barbs to the breed as well. These Iberian influences are thought to have added elegance, spirit, and strength to the Cleveland breed whose prior background had been strictly as packhorses and for agricultural draft. As the breed progressed into the 1700’s, they increased in body weight and size and moved farther away from their humble beginnings. They were now the undisputed favorites for carriages in the era of coaching and for many years the Cleveland Bay horse was synonymous with the best coach horses available. It was also during the 1700’s that some of the progeny begat by the desert-bred Arabians (specifically those used in the foundation of the Thoroughbred breed such as the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Barb who arrived in Yorkshire) were bred to Cleveland Bay mares. This appears to be the last infusion of any other breed for improvement. Thereafter introductions of any outside blood ceased, and the type that is unmistakably Cleveland Bay became undeniably fixed as the breed headed into the 19th Century The Cleveland continued to ride high as an “improver” of breeds during the 1800’s. Many were exported to foreign lands including America and Canada, for the purpose of crossbreeding and upgrading. In fact, Canada utilized a Cleveland stallion during the 1890’s in their breeding program for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. History in America It is only now becoming more apparent to Americans the role the Cleveland Bay played in American equine history.
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An Equestrian Legacy