A Dissertation on Horses: Wherein It is Demonstrated, by Matters of Fact, as Well as from the Principles of Philosophy, That Innate Qualities Do Not Exist, and That the Excellence of This Animal is Altogether Mechanical and Not in the BloodOsmer, William
History
A Dissertation on Horses: Wherein It is Demonstrated, by Matters of Fact, as Well as from the Principles of Philosophy, That Innate Qualities Do Not Exist, and That the Excellence of This Animal is Altogether Mechanical and Not in the Blood
The jockeys have an expression which, if this system be true, is
the most senseless imaginable: I have heard it often said, Such a
Horse has speed enough if his heart do but lie in the right place.
In answer to this, let us consider a Horse as a piece of animated
machinery (for it is in reality no other); let us set this piece
of machinery going, and strain the works of it; if the works are
are** not analogous to each other, will not the weakest give way?
and when that happens, will not the whole be out of tune? But if
we suppose a piece of machinery, whose works bear a true
proportion and analogy to each other, these will bear a greater
stress, will act with greater force, more regularity and
continuance of time. If it be objected, that foreign Horses seldom
race themselves, and therefore it must be in the blood, I think
nothing more easily answered; for we seldom see any of these
Horses sent us from abroad, especially from Arabia, but what are
more or less disproportioned, crooked, and deformed in some part
or other; and when we see this deformity of shape, can we any
longer wonder at their inability of racing: add to this, many of
them are perhaps full-aged before they arrive in this kingdom;
whereas, it is generally understood, that a proper training from
his youth is necessary to form a good racer.
But be this as it will, let us consider how it happens, that these
awkward, cross-shaped, disproportioned Horses, seemingly contrary
to the laws of nature, beget Horses of much finer shapes than
themselves, as we daily see produced in this Kingdom. And here I
acknowledge myself to have been long at a loss how to account for
this seeming difficulty.
I have been often conversant with travelers, concerning the nature
and breed of these Horses; few of whom could give any account of
the matter, from having had no taste therein, or any delight in
that animal: but, at length, I became acquainted with a gentleman
of undoubted veracity; whose word may be relied on, whose taste
and judgment in Horses inferior to no man's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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