Cleveland Bay aficionados have appetite whetted for USA return

As well as meeting other breeders, they were also invited to join a special Cleveland Bay hunt day and are eagerly anticipating a further trip next year.

Liz, from Littlebeck near Whitby, who is president of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society, and Heather, from near York, were following up a visit they made last year to Virginia where they were invited to join a panel to assess pure and part bred Cleveland Bay Sports Horses.

They also took part in a Cleveland Bay hunting day in Maryland at the invitation of the Newmarket and Middletown Valley Hunt.

This time they were again offered horses for the CB hunt day. Liz was delighted to ride a pure bred Cleveland Bay mare, Cholderton Circe, a direct descendant from a stallion that Liz bred in the 1970s. Circe was bred at the Cholderton Stud in the UK by Henry Edmunds and exported to the US as a youngster. Heather, unable to ride due to an injury, was unofficial photographer for the day.

"Seventeen pure and part bred Cleveland Bays took part and considerably swelled the field," said Liz. Huntsman Robert Tay lor, who lived in Cumbria as a youngster, is a CB supporter and next year hopes to be riding a part bred youngster.

The special days are organised by whipper-in Marcia Brody, who rode her part bred Cleveland Bay. Liz, who is a committee member of the Goathland Hunt, thoroughly enjoyed her day. "The mare was responsive, nimble, a lovely jumper, very foot sure and a credit to her owners."

Also joining them for the occasion was CB and event horse breeder Kate Telford from the Pembridge Stud in West Wales. She rode a CB mare, Forest Fancy Girl, exported from the UK and bred by the late David Keenleyside of Middleton Tyas.

"All these pure and part bred Clevelands were a wonderful sight to see and it was a tremendous boost to see so many ridden examples of the breed," said Liz.

On the day before the hunt, Liz, a UK CB horse inspector, and Marilyn Webster, a breeder in the US and an inspector there, conducted the first premium mare inspections in the US which were held in West Virginia.

"This was a huge step forward for the Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America," said Liz. Two mares were inspected and the results will be handed to the breed committee in the UK.

Liz and Heather also visited other CB breeders in North Carolina and Virginia and saw many of the horses which have been exported from the UK and their offspring.