A Dissertation on Horses | Page 9

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
theit 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.
The certainty of this effect in the declivity of the shoulders will be
known by every man's observation; and it is also easily demonstrated
by the principles of mechanics, by which we learn, that if a weight is
applied to a pulley, in order to shut a door, and that weight be allowed
to fall immediately and perpendicularly from the door, it will not pull it
too with that velocity as it will do if an angle be acquired, and the

weight pass over a wheel removed to a very little distance from the
door.
Nevertheless, there is no general rule without exception, for we now
and then find a Horse to be a good racer, who has not this declivity in
his shoulders, but from a length in his thighs and quarters has a
sufficient share of speed. Add to this, there is another advantage
obtained to the Horse besides velocity by this declivity of the shoulders,
for his weight is removed farther back, and placed more in the center of
his body, by which an equilibrium is acquired, and every muscle bears
a more equal share of weight and action; so that the nearer the
articulation of the quarters approach to the superior part of the
shoulders, so much the shorter will the back be, and as much more
expanded as the chest is, so much stronger will the animal be, and will
also have a larger space for the organs of respiration to exert
themselves.
But I would not be understood to mean, that the shortness of the back,
or capacity of the chest, will constitute a racer; far from it: but that in
any given and proportioned length, from the bosom of the Horse to the
settting on of the dock, the nearer the superior points of the shoulders
approach to the quarters, so much better able will the carcase be to
sustain and bring through the weight; and as much as the shoulders
themselves prevail in depth, and the quarters and thighs in length, so
much greater will be the velocity of the Horse, because a greater
purchase of ground is hereby obtained at every stroke.
It is by this proprity of length, strength of carcase, and the power of the
muscles, that foreign Horse excel all others, and it is by the same
advantages they excel each other also, and not by any innate virtue, or
principle of the mind, which must be understood by the word blood, if
any thing at all