Story by Rebecca West Photos Courtesy of FilmRise-Harry and Snowman
If you’re like most people, you can’t resist a great feel-good story. And if you have an affinity for horses, you’re going to love this one. This is a story to rival National Velvet, Secretariat, Seabiscuit, The Black Stallion, War Horse, and all the others. Yet, oddly enough, there have been no big screen adaptations of this epic tale, only a documentary released in 2015, some decades after all the hoopla regarding the record-breaking equine had long since ended.
It’s been called a Cinderella story, but it all began when a Dutch immigrant by the name of Harry deLeyer traveled to a Pennsylvania horse auction in 1956 to purchase horses for the equestrian program he oversaw at the prestigious all-girls The Knox School located in Long Island, New York. Delayed by vehicle trouble en route, the auction was over by the time he arrived, but he took a moment to survey a carrier being loaded with horses destined for the slaughterhouse.
Harry, who passed at 93 in 2021, made eye contact with the horse that would one day be known as a legendary jumper, and the animal returned his gaze in kind. After inquiring about him, Snowman was unloaded so that Harry might get a better look. Although he appeared to be nothing more than an old Amish plow horse, there was something about the gentle creature Harry could not dismiss, so he agreed to the sum of $80 and loaded him up in his trailer for the long drive home.
While Harry had intended to keep Snowman for the school’s students, he eventually agreed to sell him to a neighbor about six miles away. Apparently, Snowman had other ideas, for he jumped the fence at his new digs and made his way back to Harry five days later. After being returned, Snowman once again begged to differ and quickly found his way to deLeyer’s doorstep. As before, he was loaded up and brought home to his new owner only to seek Harry out 48 hours later, except this time, he had with him part of a wooden fence attached to a long rope with a tire tied to the end to serve as an anchor to deter his escape.
At this point, Harry decided to buy back the animal, for it was obvious Snowman had formed a tendre for his rescuer. Harry, a lifelong rider with jumping experience, began working with Snowman when he wasn’t being ridden by students or deLeyer’s own kids. They started out slow, and after a couple of years, Snowman entered a small local competition where he easily took the blue ribbon in the jumper class.
While locals who’d noted — and duly laughed at — Snowman’s large hoofs considered the win a fluke, the pair went on to win competitions at tonier events in places like Connecticut. They soon began making news, capturing more blue ribbons at national shows while winning various championships. In one instance, Harry was offered a whopping $100,000 for Snowman, but he wouldn’t hear of it. They had already begun to form what was eventually referred to as a “transformative relationship” that would last a lifetime.
At their first appearance at Madison Square Garden in 1958, the dynamic duo took the blue ribbon. In addition to winning Champion of MSG’s Diamond Jubilee, Snowman was named Horse of the Year by the American Horse Shows Association, known today as the United States Equestrian Federation, and won the Professional Horsemen’s Association Championship, positioning him as one of the few horses to win show jumping’s Triple Crown. The following year saw a repeat of events, cementing their status as a favorite with the press and the public with their rags-to-riches story.
Eventually, deLeyer and Snowman would embark on a world tour, delighting crowds wherever they went. They appeared on numerous television shows, such as To Tell the Truth and Who Do You Trust? with Johnny Carson, turning them into full-on celebrities. At the height of his popularity, Snowman even had his own fan club. He was also profiled in Life magazine twice and the subject of three best-selling books, including the 2011 New York Times Best-Seller, The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse Who Inspired a Nation.
While the two continued to compete and perform jumping exhibitions, over 10 years after his compelling story began, Snowman officially retired at the 86th National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden to a standing ovation as an enthusiastic crowd cheered.
Snowman lived on Harry’s farm in Long Island until he died in 1974 from kidney failure at 26. He was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992. All in all, he was said to have had 300 major wins and earned $5,000,000 in prize money during his illustrious career. Not bad for a plow horse on his way to the glue factory.
To view the film, visit http://www.harryandsnowman.
