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Why Own a Cleveland Bay?
Two words, great temperament. A Cleveland Bay is a smart horse with a
traditionally quiet temperament. Their history is one
of having multiple uses for a single horse. The farm
family would use them to pull carriages and carts, ride to
the hunt or to town and for agricultural uses. These uses
developed a horse who is smart with good temperament and a
sound body. Recently, I read an
article in the Virginia Horse Journal, which provided the
results of a survey asking horse owners how they used their
horses. Of all the possible uses, the largest category
by a landslide was pleasure use. To me, this means
most horses are owned, trained, and ridden by amateurs who
want to simply enjoy being with their horse or horses.
Wouldn't it make sense to start with a horse that naturally
possesses a quiet temperament?
Cleveland Bays are "easy keepers".
They are quite hardy as they originate from a region of
northeastern England known as Cleveland which is an area
along the River Tees and the North Sea. A friend of
ours told of his trip to the United Kingdom to look at
Cleveland Bays. He was in a field through
which blustery, bone chilling, winter winds were blowing off
of the North Sea. The Cleveland Bay horses in the
field were not at all concerned about the cold or wind as
they continued to graze seemingly oblivious of the weather.
The Cleveland Bay horse requires good quality
pasture and hay, clean water and shelter in their pasture. This adds up to
dollars saved on feed, that a less hardy horse would
need.
Cleveland Bays have very good feet.
In regards to feet, the Cleveland Bay Breed Standard states,
"One of the most important features of the breed; the feet
must be of the best and blue in colour. Feet that are
shallow or narrow are undesirable." I'm sure you have
heard the saying, "No foot, no horse." Unless the
Cleveland Bay is being ridden in situations where shoes are
required for their protection, Cleveland Bays do quite well
being barefoot as their feet are of good quality.
Regular trimming by a good farrier is a must for any horse.
The color bay. What a great color
for a horse and the horse owner. A bay horse's coat
shows very little dirt or manure staining. A good
brushing, wipe down with a damp cloth and presto you have a
clean horse. A bath really spiffs them up. On a
day to day basis, it is so much easier to keep a bay horse
looking clean than it is to keep a lighter colored horse or
a horse with white looking clean. This means more time
in the saddle and less time spent grooming.
Cleveland Bays are versatile in what they
can do. They are used for driving, fox chasing,
eventing, jumping, dressage, trail riding and just plain old
riding. They posses a natural sense of rhythm and are
comfortable to ride. As their history demonstrates, one horse can
be used in multiple disciplines. Often the purebred
Cleveland Bay is crossed with another breed, primarily
Thoroughbreds, to produce the Cleveland Bay Sport Horse.
The Cleveland Bay stamps these sport horses with their
temperament, solid bone and conformation resulting in an
excellent cross drawing upon the best of both breeds.
Cleveland Bays are a majestic looking
horse. Their physical conformation is solid and
characteristic. They possess good bone, are well
muscled and well proportioned presenting a pleasing
appearance. As one of our friends, a Cleveland Bay
breeder, from the United Kingdom said, "This is what a horse
should look like!"
For those of you who may be interested in
helping to preserve the breed, consider becoming familiar
with Cleveland Bay breeding. There are less than 1,000
purebred Cleveland Bays in the world. It is critical
to the breed's survival to increase the number of purebred
horses in a genetically sound manner. One thing is for
certain, owning a Cleveland Bay is one of life'
pleasures not to be missed!
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