Rare English horses at home in Rogers County

Ever heard of the Cleveland Bays? It might sound like a sports team, but it's actually a rare breed of horse. A woman in Rogers County has two of them. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Rick Wells went

Wednesday, October 26th 2005, 10:23 am

By: News On 6

Ever heard of the Cleveland Bays? It might sound like a sports team, but it's actually a rare breed of horse. A woman in Rogers County has two of them.

News on 6 reporter Rick Wells went to see them and ask her why she went to England for some horses.

Meet Cleopatra and Buttercup, they are pure-bred Cleveland Bays. At first glance I'm not sure which is which, we only just met. Cleo though, is the taller of the two.

Tracy Legrand is a fancier of both history and horses, and the history of the Cleveland Bay dates back to the middle ages. They were early multi-taskers. "They were heavy enough to work the farms very well but not so heavy they couldn't ride them." Sort of a one horse fits all. Nowadays, pure-bred Cleveland Bays are hard to find.

She found Cleo and Buttercup across the Atlantic Ocean. Tracy Legrand: "I found this remote breeder in Wales who had these two fillies that he had not sold yet." She bought them and had them shipped over to Oklahoma. A lot of trouble you probably thinking, but her interest in these horses is very personal. "My oldest daughter was into Cleveland Bays."

Her oldest daughter was killed in a car accident several years ago and Tracy's picked up her interest in the horses, it's a way of staying connected.

Cleveland Bays are distinctive looking, they are a reddish color with black mane and tail and black lower legs. They are good jumpers and excellent carriage horses; in fact one of the Queen of England's carriages is pulled by Cleveland Bays. "When I look at these horses it's like looking at the past."

A couple of rare beauties living in Oklahoma.

These may be the only two pure-bred Cleveland Bays in Oklahoma, and there are fewer than one hundred in all of North America.