Horseytalk.net Special Interview

Margaret and Colin Green

Cleveland Bay Breeding

Margaret and Colin Green have been breeding Cleveland bays for over 30 years. This is their personal story

The Cleveland Bay Breed is a rare breed but also breeders are a rare breed too as with the success of any breeding project, there must be people willing to make personal sacrifices to follow such a specialised interest. There are not many people who are breeding pure bred Cleveland Bays and after 32 years of breeding pure bred Cleveland Bay horses, following a number of years of breeding Thoroughbreds, Margaret Green and I, Colin Green, of Tregoyd Cleveland Bays, know just what dedication it takes.

Certainly any rare breed will cost and this is not just financially, although that is certainly the case, but also in terms of time, commitment, energy, inconvenience and not least of all through the emotional energies and heartache following difficult breeding experiences and losses. Breeding is a roller coaster ride following the vagaries of the economy with it’s ups and downs.

<< Tregoyd Journeyman Stallion: Reserve Champion at the CBHS Stallion Championship 2003
Now in USA

The Cleveland Bay breed in particular has been on a roller coaster ride throughout the last century and a quarter. They gain in popularity and breeders think that this is the 'breakthrough' as the economy rises only to be followed by slumps and recession and resultant pessimisms and return to low breeding numbers. This has happened time and time again over the decades and only slow progress has been made in increasing the numbers bred. However as dedicated breeders we carry on with eternal optimism.

In our 32 years we too have experienced these rises and falls a number of times but our aim has always been to be able to ensure the survival of the Cleveland Bay and strive for continual improvement and increasing the respect and recognition by the horse world.

Tregoyd William Cleveland Bay stallion
Now in Oregon USA >>

So who are we and what brought us to being involved with this historical Yorkshire breed?
Margaret and I are both from the great county of Yorkshire which is also the home of the Cleveland Bay Breed. Margaret rode as a young girl doing all of the usual pony activities and joined in on local hunt days. I however as a young boy, never went near a horse (just after the war and times were hard and horses were only ridden by posh girls with rich parents - I thought) so I never rode until after college and was actually introduced to it by Margaret during our courting days. (So I eventually married a ‘stuck up, snobby girl!! Margaret of course was not like that). I quite took to it as I was PE trained and found balancing not a problem and quite enjoyed the challenges. I had changed my opinions of horses!

<< Colin Green, President of the CBHS meets Her Majesty and talks about the King George V Trophy for the Champion Cleveland Bay presented to the Society by her Grand Farther in 1921

Soon after we were married a decisive event took place - Margaret bought a TB mare, Marshland Gazette. Unfortunately before long ‘Zette’ developed back problems and couldn’t be ridden. We took the vet’s advice to breed from her and this became the point where our horse breeding interest began. Before long, we had two young Thoroughbreds, their mother and two riding horses. We obviously needed land and, after some difficulty, managed to buy 26 acres right up at the bottom of the steep Black Mountain face. The original mare had died giving birth and with the position of our land and other considerations we looked for a hardier type of horse to breed from as a replacement.

Cleveland Sporthorse Spring Pascal
Part bred Cleveland Bay wins the Winter Championships 2009 at Hartpury. Cleveland Sporthorse example not bred by Margaret and Colin Green. Ridden by Samantha Thurman-Baker FEI Junior Champion 2009 >>

The search led us to look for a horse of the Cleveland Bay breed which Margaret had known as a child. Eventually we found a yearling filly, Farnham Lady Marygold, from near Knaresborough. That was 32-years ago. She proved to be an excellent choice as she eventually turned out to be one of the most successful, modern day females of the breed ultimately having 13 sons and daughters registered in the Cleveland Bay Stud Book. It’s either a record or very close to being a record. She actually died only a few weeks ago which shows the tremendous stamina of this wonderful breed and of her in particular.

However, when we bought FLM we also saw a mare who was in foal so we talked to the Bank Manager and bought her too. As it happened this was another stroke of luck as she, Magnolia, gave birth to a pure bred filly, Tregoyd Country Girl. The luck continued as Country Girl herself later also became another very successful breeder of daughters with the amazing record of having 8 daughters in succession.

<< Tregoyd Sportsman: Bred by Margaret and Colin Green Competing Junior Novice eventing. Ridden by Rhiannon Eustace

Our first stallion was a 3 year old bred in North Wales who turned out to be a wonderful introduction to stallion ownership for inexperienced stallions owners. Penrhyn Gladiator was easy to live with and was hardly any trouble. He was keen but kind and patient. On one occasion when approaching a mare for covering I had him in-hand and then just a couple of yards away from the mare I slipped on the wet footing and he stopped too, waited, looking down at me like saying "what are you doing down there, come on, hurry up" until I was back on my feet and we could continue to complete the task. This gave me great confidence with him too. Breeding was easy and we were very successful in making many entries into the CBHS stud book but we were less good at selling. We kept saying, "Let’s keep this one to see how it turns out."

Cleveland Sporthorse This is a part bred Cleveland Bay - not all are bay Natter Jack Toad. Cleveland Sporthorse example not bred by Margaret and Colin Green.
Ridden by Rachel Pickard CB Ridden Champion 2008 at Royal Show >>

At our peak we had 39 horses, mostly Cleveland Bays, including three Cleveland pure bred stallions and one Thoroughbred stallion. All this we accomplished with both of us teaching full time, also 230 sheep and half a dozen cattle. But more than that, in my job I was required to be away sometimes for four or five days at a time leaving my wonderful wife to see to everything on the farm before and after a full day’s work with infants at school. What a wonderful choice I had in Margaret.

We have bred some lovely Cleveland Bays and like to feel that we have been reasonably successful. One of our home bred stallions was Reserve Champion Stallion for the Breed in 2003 and he is now in Virginia USA. Another stallion that was Champion stallion in 2007 is now in Australia. Two more stallions who were sold as a colts are in North America and a number of females have also been sold abroad. We travel out to see these horses occasionally and through the Cleveland Bay breed we have made some lovely friends throughout this country and also abroad.

<< Pure bred Tregoyd bred filly foal finding her legs

These days now we are retired from teaching and have more time to devote to the breed. We currently have eight mares, one four-year-old stallion, one two-year-old colt and a gelding for hacking out. This year, 2009, we have three foals and two more might have foals. It has long been our practice to allow our stallions to run out with the mares all of the year round. This way we feel that the horses are happier in a settled herd, management is easier all round, and mares get into foal much easier and with fewer problems. Stallions have been very good with foals when they arrive but we are always watchful when a young stallions sees the foals for the first time. They are always intrigued by the first foal pondering how they get there in amongst his herd unseen - as it were!

The down side of running stallions is that we do not always have a definite foaling date. We are fortunate that our land is arranged so that we can the keep two groups separate. We believe that the stallions are aware of each other but in 30 years of this sort of management the stallions have stayed with their own mares. Cleveland Bays are lovely horses; they love humans and can do everything asked of them. Pure breds might not always end up doing really advanced events but they are great for the average and just beyond rider. They are an economical horse to keep and happily live out. They ask little but company and have a temperament to suit the whole family. They are the true family horse and people who have actually owned a pure bred Cleveland Bay speak very highly indeed of the qualities and of their personality. They have a temperament that has been honed with time being selectively bred to work all day alongside humans. They have been our companions for many generations and will give all that they can.

Breyer Horse model based on Tregoyd Journeyman. Breyer are a huge producer of horse and pony models for children in the USA >>

The Cleveland was bred to work with man, to be in harness, to be a working companion. It’s in their genes. It is as if they are a member of the family. They used to work with man in the fields; they would take you to church, take you hunting, and tolerate young children. They’re all-purpose, capable horses and just really pleasant company.