Video by James Tonery
Farnley Farm in White Post, Virginia, and the Blue Ridge Hunt hosted seventeen Cleveland Bays and Cleveland Bay crosses for their annual reunion hunt. Representatives of the breed―all plain bays!―arrived from all points of the compass on November 13, 2021, and enjoyed a spectacular day of hunting.
Farnley is an entirely appropriate fixture for this annual reunion of Cleveland Bay horses and meeting of the Blue Ridge hounds. In the 1930s, Farnley was home to the late Alexander Mackay-Smith and where he bred the first Cleveland Bays to be foaled in America.
Through the mid-twentieth century, Mackay-Smith exercised an outsized influence in North American equestrian culture. He was MFH of the Blue Ridge Hunt, editor of the Chronicle of the Horse, and co-founder of the U.S. Pony Club, the National Sporting Library & Museum, and the American Academy of Equine Art, to name just a few of his contributions. Mrs. Mackay-Smith, née Joan Higginson, bred and raised champion Welsh ponies―Farnley Ponies―as they are known and celebrated throughout North American pony-dom.
During Mackay-Smith’s travels in England, he had decided that the Cleveland Bay horse made the ideal field hunter. He imported and bred Cleveland Bays and introduced the breed to foxhunters and to other horsemen in the U.S. During the Second World War, a period when Britain could scarcely feed its citizens and the breeding of non-essential animals was curtailed, MacKay-Smith was the largest breeder of Cleveland Bays in the world. After the war, Mackay-Smith sent a Farnley-bred stallion back to England to help repopulate the breed.
Today, the Cleveland Bay horse is dangerously rare. Only about five hundred purebreds are extant worldwide and less than two hundred in North America.
Entering Farnley for hunt teas after hunt meets (prior to Covid), one could easily feel transported back to England. Ancient family portraits cover the walls, including eighteenth-century portraits of Cleveland Bay horses. Today, Farnley remains home to succeeding generations of Mackay-Smiths.
The Breed
The Cleveland Bay is said to be England’s oldest breed of horse. As the name suggests, the breed originated in the Cleveland region of the northeastern part of that country. Descendant mares of the so-called Chapman horses—pack horses bred by the monks at the monasteries in the Middle Ages—were crossed in the mid-seventeenth century with imported barb stallions for both pack use and harness. The Chapmans were the foundation mares of the Cleveland Bays.
In the eighteenth century, these useful Chapman-barb crosses were crossed with Thoroughbreds to increase their speed under harness. The resulting crosses became known as the Yorkshire Coach Horse—tall, elegant, and a favorite of royalty and the well-to-do. We know these horses today as Cleveland Bays.
The distinctive solid bay color is prepotent in the breed and its crosses. The Cleveland Bay is intelligent, versatile, sensible, bold, and honest. Because it has a strong character coupled with a sensitive temperament, it can be ruined by insensitive handling early in its schooling.
The Cleveland Bay breeds true to type (reproduces with consistency), and with its good substance and free movement, makes an excellent cross with the Thoroughbred.
The Hunt and Videographer
The video of the hunting action was provided by James Tonery, a foxhunter from Ireland who leads a busy life. Tonery welcomes hunting guests to J.T. Equestrian in Galway, Ireland where he provides schooling clinics for those who wish to prepare for Irish hunting.
Tonery leads another life in the U.S.A, where he is a professor of equine studies at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. On weekends, he travels to hunt and to conduct hunting clinics.
From watching the video and listening to his comments, it’s clear that the man loves to hunt! For those who may wonder about his running commentary, Tonery’s microphone is located just below his chin, thus keeping his dialog only between him and the viewer!
Posted November 26, 2021
Click for more information about J.T. Equestrian hunting clinics in Galway and America.