The Yorkshire Coach Horse is an extinct horse breed or type that was created by crossing the stronger and stockier Cleveland Bay horses with Thoroughbreds to make a faster carriage horse when the quality of roads improved in England.[1] The horse closely resembled the Cleveland Bay, though was taller, with finer head and bone, and colored bay or brown. In 1905, J. Wortley Axe wrote, "In most of their essential properties, however, the Cleveland Bay and the Yorkshire Coach-horse are very closely allied, the two varieties representing the best type of heavy coachers we possess".
There has been some debate over whether or not the Yorkshire Coach Horse constituted an actual breed or was just a type as its epoch was relatively short-lived, breeders primarily used first and second-generation Thoroughbred and Cleveland Bay crosses, and many found the Yorkshire Coach Horse to be indistinguishable from the Cleveland Bay. In North America, Yorkshire Coach Horses were registered under the Cleveland Bay stud book and usually called Cleveland Bays. In 1886 England, a Yorkshire Coach Horse Stud Book was started, which contained horses that were three-quarters Cleveland Bay and one-quarter Thoroughbred.[2] [3] The stud book was closed in 1936 as extinct.
According to Chris Berry of The Yorkshire Post, "The late 18th century was the golden age of carriage driving. Yorkshire coach horses were exported all over the world to provide matched pairs and teams. During the height of the London season hundreds of pairs of Yorkshire coach horses could be seen in Hyde Park every afternoon."[4]