If Premiums were allotted to those who brought to the field the strongest and most beautiful Horses of the best paces for the Saddle, Coach, or Cart, the Breed of these useful Animals might be really improved.
As managed at present, Horse Racing is but one remove from the barbarous practice of “Bear-baiting,” and “Bull-baiting,” against which that excellent practical philosopher, Montaigne, has protested his honest Indignation, that “Few people are pleased to see Beasts caress, or play together; but many seem delighted to see them lacerate and worry one another.”
HINTS
TO
PURCHASERS OF HORSES.
To decide by the first appearance of a Horse, as to what he may prove on continual Exercise, is a perfection of Judgment which not even Experience itself can confer. Those erudite Equestrians, Will Whipcord and Sam Spur, candidly assured us, that
HORSES WHICH ARE FOR SALE
are usually so pampered and highly fed, and have the interstices of their Muscles so filled with Fat, that their real shape, i. e. their form when in full Exercise, and with their ordinary Food, cannot be imagined.
If Dealers meet with a Horse that is unable to stand to the work they require of him, they let his Business be so light, that it may be merely Play to him—and so keep him in Condition till they can dispose of him.
Appearances are so deceitful, that the above-named skilful Jockeys confessed to me that they frequently found themselves mistaken. In the selection of a Horse, we rarely seek for latent good qualities, when the Eye is disgusted by deformity. A Horse of true proportions strikes the fancy of every beholder; we immediately assent to the beauty of the object, and take it for granted that Symmetry must be accompanied with either Strength or Swiftness. True Judgment is displayed in selecting a Horse possessing great powers, under the cover of an ill-favoured outward appearance, and discriminating from among those of a pleasing form such as are devoid of them.
Many who have written on Horses have attributed much to the influence of Colour on the Constitutions of Horses; but we fancy that Colour is often suffered to bias the decision on a Horse’s Goodness, when it should be considered merely as it relates to his Beauty. Many will not buy a Horse which has a White Leg; but White Legs are as likely to fly as Black Legs.