Shanty Bay Stables

The Cleveland Bay Breed

 

Thank you for taking the time to read of our Cleveland Bay horses. We are not really breeders so much as custodians of an ancient line of a breed most hard tested through a millennia of European and North American history.

In 2011 I was honoured to be trusted with the backing and training of Belladonna Isaac, I had dreamed of Cleveland Bays since my childhood in Northern England and all of a sudden in Ontario, Canada a superb, strutting dappled stallion came into my care.

 

In 2014 during a military exercise I came across a marvellous WW1 painting depicting bay horses drawing an artillery piece during battle. They were clearly Cleveland Bays and Yorkshire coach horses and their pride, tenacity, courage, power and steadfastness were palpable even in this century old oil painting. For a moment I forgot my own challenges of fumbling through machine gun testing and realized why this breed fell from its solid stand as carriage horse, farm horse,field hunter, military mount, artillery horse, sport horse and hack in general... Because there were none left after the wars, the Cleveland Bay was such a perfect war horse that the muddy morass of WW1 swallowed them up in their thousands and so few remained that the breed almost slipped into legend.

The thought was heart wrenching.

The breed is so very true to type, so very predictable, so calm, yet proud and brave and tough and magnificent. Shades of ancient baroque horses are still visible in their carriage, splendour and dignity. The remarkable hardiness borne on Northern Moors, soundness, hard blue hoof, 9 1/2 inch cannon bones, wonderful inquisitive yet calm demeanour right from birth. The stamping of type upon all foals even to the second generation. The marvellous hybrids they form when mated to their noble cousins the thoroughbred.

When you own a Cleveland bay you ride alongside the shades of Carthusian monks, British Royalty, Iberian caballeros, medieval knights, adventurous Yorkshire Chapmen, Elizabethan horse lords, honest farmers, steeplechasers, fox chasing hunters, cavalrymen and artillery men of yesteryear and my favourite, the mysterious stallion walkers of the northern fells and dales.

 

Again thank you for you interest.