The Sporting Dictionary, and Rural Repository, Volume 1 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

BAY

—the colour of a horse so called, and is the most esteemed of any other in constituting the beauty of the horse. They have invariably black manes and tails, are many shades lighter than a brown horse, and were originally called bay from their affinity to the leaf of the bay tree. There are, however, some degrees of difference and variations in those so termed: for instance, there is the light or yellow bay, the brown bay, and the mottled bay. Bay horses with black legs have the preference of all other colours, and now almost wholly constitute the racing breed of this country.