Horse breeding is an art which has kept four hooves on the ground and has not resulted in the grotesqueries of 'he doggie world, in spite of the fact that in the Arab desert the horse was treated from its earliest years with the same solicitude as a human being. In Arabian desert tent and underground winter dwelling of central Asia, harsh circumstances led to a chosen number of horses being treated as members of the family. Conscious human choice in breeding is a comparative innovation and even today is far from everything. When horses and villagers lived underground in the semi-desert east of the Urals and fed on grain, horses were paradoxically large because the small horses were eaten and the large horses kept for their draught power. When peoples started to roam into regions where food resources were scarce, smaller animals emerged.
Man can propose but Nature still disposes.
The author has examined historically the knowledge and practice of widely differing peoples in widely different environments in relation to horse breeding and stud management. He draws on Aristotle, Virgil, Varro and Palladius and where possible considers his topic under eight headings-the land, feeding, breeding, stallions, brood mares, mares and foals, young stock and different breeds and types. He examines castration, ancestry, temperament, conformation and colour, changes in human requirements, movements of horse population and trade. The Horse and his Boy . At the end of the day, the gifts that the Lord showers on horses as on athletes has nothing to do with democracy and unfortunately the false analogy of genetic inheritance and moral or intellectual worth has had a lot to answer for.