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Bitten by the Cleveland Bay 'Bugs It all started in 1961 when my parents moved from Suffolk to Kent. I went to work for a local dealer and one of my first jobs was to break a three year old gelding. He was very quiet, and a big, gangly Cleveland Bay X Thoroughbred. His temperament was superb and so was the temperament of his full sister. Bred by Miss Hudson's Apollo they both had a very big jump in them. The gelding went on to make a Master's horse and the filly went showjumping. They were so different to the show ponies and bloodstock I was used to. We visited Miss Hudson several times to look at her mares. On one particular day I went back to tell Miss Hudson that they were not in the field. She said, "Oh, Apollo's probably taken them for a walk along the lanes". In the meantime I had met Fred and we were married in 1969. Knowing Fred liked the heavier horses I kept talking about Cleveland Bays. He said, "You save up and we can have one". We worked hard on the farm we had bought. We had no fences, barn or stable; mind you the bungalow wasn't much better. We seemed to work 24 hours a day and all our money was taken up getting things straight. Gradually it began to sort itself out. Then in 1974 my dreams were on a high! We decided to get a Cleveland stallion but to our dismay we found, on contacting Breeders, that the prices were beyond our pocket. We decided on a foal so pen to paper again but without results. Then Miss Nixey telephoned to tell me she had a colt for sale and also about the Cleveland Bay Sales at Wetherby where there were three colts in the catalogue. Fred couldn't come to Yorkshire so a friend travelled with me and we called on Miss Nixey as agreed on the way up. We were treated to her marvellous hospitality and I have never forgotten everything I learnt from her while looking at her horses. In Yorkshire we called on several breeders, looked at a colt foal for sale and spent a lovely and interesting afternoon with Miss Kitching. Sale day arrived and heart in mouth I looked over the three foals very carefully. Manningford Hermes caught my eye as a nicely put together foal with the best head of the three of them. He was busy eating and nothing seemed to worry him. He was first under the hammer so I had to make my mind up. When bidding started I could hardly keep still. I kept putting my hand up to bid until it suddenly went quite quiet. I had got him! Than I realised that I hadn't thought of getting him home but again Miss Nixey came to my rescue with her lorry and took him down to Oxfordshire. I had one experience with Hermes in the Showring that has always amused me. In the Hunter Yearling Class at the Mailing Show, the Kent 'pipe-opener' we had been walking around the ring for rather a long time when we were told to stop. The judge conferred with the steward and then two other referees. The judge finally walked over to me and told me to go to the Heavy Horse ring as she could not judge him. Although she thought he was the only hunter in the ring as all the others were thoroughbreds or thoroughbred crosses someone had complained that he was more than a yearling. So it had been decided that it was better to upset one competitor than the other eighteen! Hermes grew up to be a good looking stallion and always had a good book of mares. He sired many prize winners in hand and under saddle and one offspring went on to carry the Master of the East Kent. In 1985 I had an unexpected telephone call from Holland asking if I would sell him. I had to be sensible as Hermes was getting on and there were a lot of his offspring around. He was going to a good home to cover Oldenburg mares so I made the difficult decision and he went to Holland. A replacement for him was needed. Again Miss Nixey put me in touch with a couple but they were not what I wanted. I contacted breeders and had no success until I spoke to Mrs. Charles. She told me of a colt she had sold to Mr. McCarthy in Kent. I checked his details in the Stud Book and rang Mr. McCarthy. He assured me that he did not want to sell him but that he did have a nice homebred 3 year old that had just been licensed. He would consider selling that one. I nearly didn't go to see him as I thought he was trying to palm the colt off on me. Fred said that it was close that I should go. He was too busy so a friend went with me to Gravesend to meet Mr. McCarthy. He said the colt was at the back of the house and thinking there was a field we went round the back to find a big concrete yard. There stood Bantry Bere! Our eyes popped out. He looked so impressive and though immature you could see the potential in him. He came over and nuzzled us and licked us and the temperament seemed there. After we got him home the work really started. He was very quiet but had not been handled much. He even jumped at a brush on the floor. We had six weeks to get him ready for his first show, the SCBBC Stallion Show at Cholderton. He won his class and has never really looked back. He has also won his class every time at Ascot including the Pure Bred Championship on two occasions. It was 1988 that I shall never forget. For two years he had been runner up for the Society's Supreme Championship, the King George V Cup. In the early spring he had already won the Southern Championship and went to Hovingham Hall to compete for the King George V Cup. As any stallion owner will tell you there is tremendous tension and excitement in this class. We were called in first! I could not believe it! The King George V Cup was presented by the Duke of York in glorious sunshine in the wonderful setting of Hovingham Hall. At the SCBBC Show at Ascot in September he went on to take the Supreme Championship of the Show. What a year to remember! In 1989 we again won the Southern Championship. It was the third year running. This year the King George V Cup was held at Ascot and Bantry Bere again won it. He was also Reserve Champion at the Show. In the meantime we have acquired four mares. Wigginton Emilia, Denwick Anne, Tidmarsh Destiny and, more recently, Osberton Lynx. We have retained Denwick Anne's foal by Bantry Bere which we hope to show this year. All our mares have been scanned in foal. We have just started jumping Bantry Bere and have found that he has enormous pop. But every time we get going there is something to interrupt his schooling, a horse to break or very bad weather. We still have plenty of time and I enjoy showing him under saddle as well as in hand. We hope to try the working hunter course soon if we can get a chance to school without too many interruptions. In Kent he has been a great ambassador for the Breed and his many offspring have given great pleasure to their owners.
Pat Joiner 1990
Cleveland Bay Magazine No.23 |