The Cleveland Bay is a breed available in the Horse Reality game that can be obtained from the Foundation.
| Cleveland Bay | |
|---|---|
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| General Information | |
| Origin | England |
| Horse Reality | |
| Colours | Bay, Black, Chestnut, Seal Brown, Flaxen, Sooty |
| Whites | White Markings |
| Not yet in-game | / |
| Height | 162 - 172 cm |
| Registry | Cleveland Bay Horse Society |
| Alternative name | CB |
| Origin | Foundation |
| Status | In-game (2018) |
| Artists | |
| Lineart | D. Grochowska (2025) |
| Greyscale | D. Grochowska (2025) |
| Colours & patterns | D. Grochowska (2025) |
¶ History
The Cleveland Bay is England’s oldest horse breed. During the Middle Ages, the ancestors of the Cleveland Bay were used as pack horses in the county of Yorkshire. They were known as “Chapman Horses”, as they were used by travelling merchants, called "chapmen". They were also used for farm work and riding, making them an essential part of everyday life. The Chapman Horses were bred with Barb and Iberian horses; these crosses are believed to be the foundation of the Cleveland Bay breed.[1]
During the 17th and 18th centuries, they were selectively bred into a heavier, draught-like horse as the introduction of coaches demanded a stronger horse. This became known as the agricultural type Cleveland Bay, combining their typical colour and association with the Cleveland district of North Yorkshire. As roads improved, and lighter, faster coaches were developed during the 18th century, speed became more important rather than strength. The Cleveland Bay became a more refined, flashy coach horse as a result, with possible influence from the Thoroughbred and Arabian Horses.[1,2]
In the late 18th century, the breed was used to improve many other breeds, including the Oldenburg Horse and Yorkshire Coach Horse. In 1884, the Cleveland Bay Horse Society (CBHS) was formed to preserve and promote the breed, and that role continues today. Although exports to North America shortly increased the breed's popularity, mechanisation and losses during the two World Wars caused the population to decline dramatically. By 1960, only a handful of horses were left. The Queen herself stepped in by purchasing a Cleveland Bay colt and putting him up for public stud. The breed once again became more popular. The breed's situation is still critical today, however, and inbreeding due to their small population size remains a problem.[1,2]
¶ Characterisitcs
Cleveland Bays are a tall and muscular breed. The body should be wide with a deep chest, well-muscled shoulders, and powerful hindquarters. They have long, lean necks with a bold head. Their eyes are large and kind, and the breed typically has large ears. The legs have little to no feathering, and the Cleveland Bay has very strong feet.[1]
¶ Colour Genetics
As the name suggests, Cleveland Bays are characteristically bay. The registry allows a small white star on the forehead, and nothing more. Although most breeders prefer bright bay, all shades of bay are allowed as long as the horse has solid black points.
Horses with more white than a small star or chestnut colouration are possible but outside of the breed standard.
¶ Chestnut, Flaxen, and Black Cleveland Bays
Currently, Cleveland Bays typically come in bay only. However, due to the influence of other breeds such as the Thoroughbred throughout their history, recessive alleles like the extension e-allele could still be hiding in their gene pool today. For example, even though the registry might not allow for horses with different colours to be registered, on rare occasions, chestnut Cleveland Bay foals or chestnut foals with one Cleveland Bay parent are born. It is possible that other recessive traits, such as flaxen or the a-allele, are also still present, albeit very rare.
¶ Alleles
All alleles available for the breed can be found below, highlighted in green. For better clarity, we bolded alleles that impact coat colours (eg. grey G vs non-grey g).
| Base Colours & Modifiers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Extension | Agouti | Grey |
| E, e | A, At, a | g |
| Dilutions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cream-Pearl | Dun | Champagne | Silver | Mushroom |
| n | nd2 | ch | z | n |
| White Patterns | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frame | Appaloosa | PATN1 | MITF | SW2 | KIT |
| n | lp | patn1 | n | sw2 | n |
Please note that the table includes a hidden agouti allele (At). In addition to testable genes, there are also untestable ones present: flaxen, sooty, and white markings (head markings, etc.).
¶ Uses
The Cleveland Bay is a versatile horse breed. Throughout their history, they were used as pack horses, for farm work, pulling coaches and artillery. They are still used to pull all royal carriages today. Cleveland Bays and Cleveland Bay crosses are also a popular choice for dressage, jumping and hunting.
¶ Artwork Updates
The Cleveland Bay is one of Horse Reality's older breeds, introduced in-game around 2018. It has not received any updates or coat variations since then, but the breed will receive the following updates:
- On June 28th 2023, white markings were added to the game through new Foundation horses[5]
- On February 5th 2025, the Cleveland Bay received new artwork, and the missing sooty allele was added to the game through the Foundation. The breed was also migrated to the new art system[4][6][7]
¶ Artwork Legacy
If you're curious about what the Cleveland Bay looked like before the artwork update or just want to reminisce about good old times - search no more.
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| Stallion | Mare | Foal |
This beautiful art was created by very talented artists. Horse Reality is forever grateful for them being a part of its history.
| Artists | |
|---|---|
| Linearts | S. Jullelin (2015) |
| greyscale | Soihtu (2017) |
| Colours & Patterns | T. van den Berg (2017), D. Grochowska (2020), J. Moulis (2023) |
¶ References
- Cleveland Bay Horse Society; Access: July 2026: History https://www.clevelandbay.com/history
Breed standard https://www.clevelandbay.com/breed-standards - Dell A, et al., Genetic analysis of the endangered Cleveland Bay horse: A century of breeding characterised by pedigree and microsatellite data, 2020, PLoS One
- https://v2.horsereality.com/news/127/community-update-massive-sales-quarter-horses-redo-art-survey-results-art-plans
- https://v2.horsereality.com/news/136/community-update-28th-june
- https://deloryan.notion.site/Horse-Breeds-Artwork-Genetics-6d0a84be35284b12806976bbb8cc886c
- https://v2.horsereality.com/news/209/announcement-cleveland-bay-redo-has-arrived