If we now consider the plainness of
his head and ears, the position of his fore-legs, and his stinted
growth, occasioned by the want of food in the country where he was
bred, it is not to be wondered at, that the excellence of this
Horse's shape, which we see only in miniature, and therefore
imperfectly, was not so manifest and apparent to the perception of
some men as of others.
It has been said, that the sons of the Godolphin Arabian had
better wind than other Horses, and that this perfection of the
wind was in the blood. But when we consider any Horse thus
mechanically made, whose leavers acquire more purchase, and whose
powers are stronger than his adversaries, such a Horse will be
enabled by this superiority of mechanism, to act with greater
facility, and therefore it is no wonder that the organs of
respiration (if not confined or straitened more than his
adversaries) should be less fatigued. Suppose now, we take ten
mares of the same, or different blood, all which is held equally
good, when the Mares are covered, and have been esteemed so long
before, and put to this Godolphin Arabian, let us suppose some of
the colts to be good racers, and others very inferior to them;
shall we condemn the blood of these mares which produced the
inferior Horses? If so, we shall never know what good blood is, or
where it is to be found, or ever act with any certainty in the
propagation of this species, and it is this ridiculous opinion
alone of blood, that deceives mankind so much in the breed of
racers.
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