A Dissertation on Horses

A Dissertation on Horses

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Dissertation on Horses, by William
Osmer Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to
check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or
redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: A Dissertation on Horses
Author: William Osmer
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5710] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 13, 2002]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A
DISSERTATION ON HORSES ***

This eBook was produced by Holly Ingraham
Summary: Osmer shows us, by what he argues against, the primitive
state of horse-breeding in England where a superstitious belief in
bloodline with no attention to conformation rules. This is difficult for
the modern reader to even visualize, after the late 19th century
development of conformation norms for all breeds of animal. Notable
for a description of horse raising and use among the nomad Arabs,
evidence of the survival of the ancient Nisaean breed in Turkey, and
stories of the Godolphin Arabian.
Transcriber's Note: I have retained most of the original spellings, as it
may be valuable to see how such things have changed over the
centuries. These odd spellings are marked with a double asterisk (**)
not referencing any sort of note. The use of capitalization or all-caps is
as in the original.
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.
By WILLIAM OSMER
London: Printed for T. Waller, 1756
-------------------------- A Dissertation on Horses
Whoever supposes that Mess. Heber and Pond, or even Mr. John
Cheney, were the first who published accounts of Horse-racing, will
find himself much mistaken, for there lived others above a hundred
years before them, who not only published accounts of Horse-racing,
but acquainted us with the history of the wrestling, backsword-playing,
boxing, and even foot-racing, that happened in their days; and from
them we learn also who were the victors, and how the racers came in.
Amongst these, lived a man whose name was Homer, a blind or

obscure man (for they are synonimous** terms) who occasionally
published his book of sports, and to him we are obliged also for the
pedigree of many Horses that were esteemed the best in his time. This
man was said to be poor, in little esteem, and to travel about the
country to sell his books; but though his circumstances were very low,
his understanding, it seems, was not, for he always took care to pay his
court to the great personages wherever he came, and to flatter them in
the blood of their Horses. But though he was little esteemed in his
life-time, yet his book of pedigrees and genealogy of Horses was
thought so useful, that he was greatly honoured for it after his death.
And what is more strange, though the place of his nativity was
unknown, and no country would receive him as a member of their
community when living, yet when dead, many nations contended for
the honour of it; but whatever arguments each country may produce for
the support of its claim, nothing is more evident than that he was an
Englishman; and there is great reason to believe he was born
somewhere in the North, though I do not take upon me to say it
absolutely was so. His partiality however, to that part of the kingdom,
is manifest enough, for he pretended to say, that a good racer could be
bred in no place but the North; whereas, late experience has proved that
to be a very idle notion. But as the northern gentlemen were the first
breeders of racing Horses, so it is very probably they were also the first
subscribers to his book, and then we shall find his partiality might arise,
either from his gratitude to these gentlemen, or from its being the