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
And he farther acquaints us with the reason why
the Turks choose these Arabian Horses when young, because, if
continued long in the hands of the Arabs, they are small, stunted,
and deformed in shape; whereas, when brought into Turkey, a land
of greater plenty than the deserts of Arabia, they acquire a
greater perfection both of size and shape. Now, whether these
Turks and Arabs are of the same or different extraction, may
perhaps be very little to our purpose; but it is absurd to
suppose that providence has bestowed a virtue on a part only of
this species produced in any one country, (which species was
undoubtedly designed for the use of man) and that mankind should
not be able, in any age, to determine with precision this virtue,
or fix any criterion, whereby to judge with any certainty.
Seeing then, this is the case, how shall we account for the
various perfection and imperfection in the breed of these foreign
Horses; for we perceive it not determined to those of Turkey,
Barbary, or Arabia, but from each of these countries some good,
some bad Stallions are sent us? What shall we do? Shall we
continue to impute it to the good old phrase of blood, the
particular virtue of which, no man ever yet could ascertain, in
any one particular instance, since Horses were first created? or
shall we say that nature has given these foreign Horses a finer
texture, a finer attitude, and more power than any other Horses we
know of; and that these very Horses, and their descendants always
did, and always will surpass each other in speed and bottom,
according to their different degrees of power, shape, elegance,
and proportion? But there is also a certain length determined to
some particular parts of this animal, absolutely necessary to
velocity, of the particularity and propriety of which length, all
jockeys appear to be intirely** ignorant, from the latitude of
their expression, which is that a racer must have length
somewhere.
If I might now be allowed to give my opinion of this propriety of
length, I should say it consisted in the depth and declivity of
the shoulders, and in the length of the quarters and thighs, and
the insertion of the muscles thereof. The effect of the different
position or attitude of the shoulders in all Horses, is very
demonstrable: if we consider the motion of a shoulder, we shall
find it limited to a certain degree by the ligamentous and the
tendinous parts, which confine it to its proper sphere of acting;
so that if the shoulder stand upright, the Horse will not be able
to put his toes far before him, but will acquire only such a
particular degree of space at each step or movement; but if the
shoulders have a declivity in them, he cannot only put his toes
farther before him, but a greater purchase of ground will be
obtained at every stroke.
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