The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation

Book Description

November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses—a drab white former plow horse named Snowman—and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.

Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a bleak winter afternoon between the slats of a rickety truck bound for the slaughterhouse. He recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up horse and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, the horse thrived. But the recent Dutch immigrant and his growing family needed money, and Harry was always on the lookout for the perfect thoroughbred to train for the show-jumping circuit—so he reluctantly sold Snowman to a farm a few miles down the road.

But Snowman had other ideas about what Harry needed. When he turned up back at Harry’s barn, dragging an old tire and a broken fence board, Harry knew that he had misjudged the horse. And so he set about teaching this shaggy, easygoing horse how to fly. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping.

Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo, based on the insight and recollections of “the Flying Dutchman” himself. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. Elizabeth Letts’s message is simple: Never give up, even when the obstacles seem sky-high. There is something extraordinary in all of us.

A Letter from Author Elizabeth Letts

A writer is always on the lookout for a good story, but the first time I saw a striking old photograph, I didn’t realize that I had stumbled across a tale so extraordinary that it had the power to change lives.

The old black and white photo showed a horse and rider team in the midst of a crazy feat–jumping right over the back of another horse. What stopped me in my tracks was the expression on the jumping horse’s face. Even in the vintage picture I could see that the horse had absolute trust in the man who was asking him to make such a tricky leap. I wondered why.

Unable to forget the photograph, armed only with the rider’s name, I tracked down an address, not sure if I would find him there, or even if he was still alive. Just a few days after I mailed him a letter, my telephone rang and a voice on the other end said, “Hallo, this is Harry de Leyer.” The man in the photograph, now in his eighties, was on the phone. The first time we spoke, Harry told me a story that gave me butterflies in my stomach and made my palms sweat–that’s how badly I wanted to write about what he’d said to me and share it with the world.

Walter Farley, author of The Black Stallion, was once asked why horse stories were so popular. His answer was this: “When the books have been read and reread, it boils down to the horse, his human companion, and what goes on between them.” The story of Harry and Snowman, is at its essence, a love story. A man, a horse, and a lucky encounter on a bleak winter day that led to a second chance for both of them. Together, they shared a dream so big that only their combined courage and heart could get them to their destination.

That moment, when the pair of them stood under the spotlights of Madison Square Garden and listened to the thunder of the crowd, was simply unforgettable–the kind of triumph that ripples forward through time. I heard it coming across a crackling phone line, the first time Harry de Leyer told me about Snowman.

Read the book, and I’m sure you will hear it too.

中文：

书名：The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation

1958年11月：在纽约市麦迪逊广场花园举行的全国马展。在财富和传统的稀有氛围中，出现了最不可能的马–一匹名叫雪人的单调白色前犁马–以及他的骑手哈里·德莱耶(Harry De Leyer)。他们是所有远投中最长的，他们的胜利是传奇的东西。

哈里·德莱耶第一次看到这匹马是在一个寒冷的冬日下午，在一辆开往屠宰场的摇摇晃晃的卡车的板条之间。他认出了那匹挨打的马眼中的火花，以80美元的价格买下了它。在哈里位于长岛的不起眼的农场里，这匹马茁壮成长。但这位最近的荷兰移民和他日益壮大的家庭需要钱，而哈里一直在寻找完美的纯种马来训练跳台赛道–所以他不情愿地把雪人卖到了几英里外的一个农场。

但关于哈利需要什么，斯诺曼有其他想法。当他拖着一个旧轮胎和一个坏了的栅栏板回到哈利的谷仓时，哈利知道他看错了那匹马。于是，他开始教这匹毛茸茸、随和的马如何飞行。两人一次一场比赛，顶住了极不寻常的赔率和一些活着的最昂贵的纯种马，他们攀升到了表演跳跃运动的顶峰。

以下是一个不太可能的二人组戏剧性和鼓舞人心的明星崛起，基于对“飞行的荷兰人”本人的洞察和回忆。他们的故事抓住了冷战时期美国的核心–一个关于不可阻挡的希望、不可思议的梦想和拥有一切的机会的故事。伊丽莎白·莱茨传递的信息很简单：永远不要放弃，即使障碍看起来很高。我们每个人身上都有不同寻常的东西。

作家伊丽莎白·莱茨的一封信

作家总是在寻找好故事，但当我第一次看到一张引人注目的老照片时，我没有意识到我偶然发现了一个如此非凡的故事，它具有改变生活的力量。

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这张旧的黑白照片显示，一匹马和一支骑手队伍正在进行一场疯狂的壮举，直接跳过另一匹马的背部。让我停住脚步的是那匹跳马脸上的表情。即使在这张复古的照片中，我也能看到这匹马绝对信任那个让它做出如此棘手的跳跃的人。我想知道为什么。

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我无法忘记这张照片，只带着骑手的名字，我找到了一个地址，不确定是否能在那里找到他，甚至不确定他是否还活着。就在我给他寄了一封信几天后，我的电话响了，另一端传来一个声音说：“你好，我是哈里·德莱耶。”照片上的那个人，现在已经80多岁了，正在打电话。我们第一次交谈时，哈里给我讲了一个让我心惊胆战、手心冒汗的故事，这就是我多么想把他对我说的话写下来，与全世界分享。

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沃尔特·法利，《 黑种马，曾被问及为什么马的故事如此受欢迎。他的回答是这样的：“当书读了又读，归根结底是马，它的人类伴侣，以及它们之间发生的事情。”哈利和雪人的故事本质上是一个爱情故事。一个男人，一匹马，在一个寒冷的冬日，一次幸运的相遇，给了他们两个人第二次机会。在一起，他们分享了一个如此伟大的梦想，只有他们的勇气和心才能把他们带到他们的目的地。

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当他们两人站在麦迪逊广场花园的聚光灯下倾听人群的雷鸣时，那一刻简直是令人难忘的，那种胜利将随着时间的推移而向前波动。当哈里·德莱耶第一次告诉我关于雪人的事情时，我听到它是从一个吱吱作响的电话线上传来的。

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读了这本书，我相信你也会听到的。

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