author

William Osmer

Known for challenging old ideas about horse breeding and care, this 18th-century writer brought a practical, observant eye to the study of horses. His work mixes early veterinary thinking with a strong interest in how horses move, heal, and are improved.

1 Audiobook

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

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

About the author

William Osmer was an English writer on horses whose surviving reputation rests mainly on a small group of 18th-century works about breeding, lameness, shoeing, and farriery. Sources available here confirm him as the author of A Dissertation on Horses from 1756 and A Treatise on the Diseases and Lameness of Horses from 1766.

What makes his writing stand out is its argument that a horse’s quality should be judged less by inherited “blood” alone and more by structure, mechanics, and careful observation. That gave his books a practical, argumentative tone that still feels distinctive in early writing about horsemanship.

Little biographical detail was easy to confirm from the sources I found, so it is safest to remember him through his books: thoughtful, hands-on works that sit between traditional farriery and the beginnings of more systematic writing about equine health and performance.