author

William Osmer

An 18th-century writer on horses, he pushed back against the old belief that bloodlines alone determined quality. His books argue instead for careful observation, sound structure, and practical knowledge.

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 horse writer active in the 18th century. He is best known for A Dissertation on Horses (1756), a work that challenged fashionable ideas about breeding by arguing that a horse’s excellence came from physical build and mechanics rather than some mysterious inherited “blood.”

His name is also associated with A Treatise on the Diseases and Lameness of Horses, a practical work on equine health, lameness, and shoeing that circulated in later editions. Taken together, his books suggest a writer deeply interested in how horses actually moved, worked, and were cared for.

That practical, argumentative style still gives his work some life today. Even when the science is of its period, his writing stands out for questioning received wisdom and trying to replace it with close observation and reason.