Harry deLeyer Saved a Horse and Made Him a Legend

[David Lockmiller]

Harry deLeyer Saved a Horse and Made Him a Legend

A story for those who like humans and horses.

[Gene C]

What a great story.
Thanks for sharing

[LincolnMan]

Anyway to see this story without subscribing to the NYT’s?

[David Lockmiller]

(07-27-2021 04:42 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Anyway to see this story without subscribing to the NYT’s?

Snowman, the horse, and Mr. Harry deLeyer

Mr. deLeyer (pronounced deh-LAY-er) was a Dutch immigrant who had worked with the anti-German resistance during World War II and arrived in the United States in 1950 with his wife, Johanna, his work experience largely confined to his family farm in the Netherlands. He soon took a job as the riding instructor at a girls school on Long Island.

In 1956 he traveled to a horse auction in Pennsylvania to see if he could pick up a few animals for his beginner students. But he had to stop for a flat tire, and by the time he arrived for the auction, it was over. The horses that hadn’t been sold were being loaded onto a truck, bound for the slaughterhouse.

Mr. deLeyer peered inside, and a grayish-white horse caught his eye. The others were visibly frightened; this one was calm. Most had obvious injuries; this one, aside from a few superficial scars, was healthy and well-built. He had been a plow horse and, at about 8 years old, was starting to wear out.

Mr. deLeyer, who grew up around work horses, saw something the other buyers hadn’t. He bought the horse for $80 (about $750 in today’s money), at a time when prize horses might have fetched over $40,000 (or about $375,000 today). When he arrived home with the horse, his 4-year-old daughter, Harriet, named it Snowman.
Snowman was supposed to be a lesson horse for new riders. But as he gained strength, he showed promise as a jumper, and Mr. deLeyer was always on the lookout for new show horses. He and Snowman began to train.

“I think that horse knew my father had given him a second chance,” Harriet deLeyer said in a phone interview. “My father asked him to do some crazy things, and he would do it.”

Two years later, Mr. deLeyer rode Snowman in his first competition, a local show, where they easily took the blue ribbon in the jumper class. Another, bigger show followed, where they knocked off the two-time defending champion. More victories followed.

“There seems to be no end to Snowman’s winning titles at the nation’s biggest shows,” the journalist Marie Lafrenz wrote in The New York Herald Tribune.

The two became celebrities. Johnny Carson even took a turn in the saddle.

Where many teams arrived with fancy equipment and large entourages, Mr. deLeyer showed up with Johanna, their eight children and his occasional student, all of whom pitched in. A few of them hand-painted the sign outside their temporary stable during their first appearance at Madison Square Garden, in 1958.

Snowman took the blue ribbon that year, was named horse of the year by the American Horse Shows Association (today the United States Equestrian Federation) and won the Professional Horsemen’s Association championship, making him one of the few horses to win what was then considered the sport’s triple crown.

Appearing on “The Cavett Show,” Mr. deLeyer said: “Snowman and me both came from nothing. But together we made it to the top of the world.”

Out of the ring, Snowman became a part of the deLeyer family, lake-swimming with the children in the summer and pulling them on skis in the winter.

Snowman officially retired in 1969, at Madison Square Garden, where the crowd stood cheering and singing “Auld Lang Syne.”

In 1974, Snowman began to experience kidney failure, and the deLeyers decided to euthanize him. For all his hard-bitten farmboy attitude, Mr. deLeyer at first couldn’t bring himself to be there when the veterinarian took Snowman from his stable. But the horse refused to go until Mr. deLeyer arrived, teary-eyed, to walk him out.

When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, Harry deLeyer's father turned their farm into a way station for the resistance, hiding Jews and downed Allied pilots in a secret cellar that he dug out next to a barn and disguised under a manure pile. At night, Harry would ride out on horseback, looking for wounded pilots.

One such pilot, an American, died soon after Harry brought him back to the farm. The family buried him, and sent his dog tags back to his parents in North Carolina, who struck up a correspondence with Mr. deLeyer and Johanna. In 1950 they sponsored the couple’s arrival in the United States.

Harry deLeyer said: “Snowman was more than a horse to me. He was my friend.”

[Gene C]

Thanks for posting the full article.
The whole thing is just an amazing story.

I googled Henry DeLeyer to find out more, and the same New York Times article popped up, but for some strange reason I was able to read the entire article. The lead photograph of the horse jumping is just amazing.

Here is a 3 minute video from youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-kc_kUw-CM&t=11s

Thanks again, for some reason this story has just made my day

[David Lockmiller]

(07-27-2021 06:20 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Thanks for posting the full article.
The whole thing is just an amazing story.

I googled Henry DeLeyer to find out more, and the same New York Times article popped up, but for some strange reason I was able to read the entire article. The lead photograph of the horse jumping is just amazing.

Here is a 3 minute video from youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-kc_kUw-CM&t=11s

Thanks again, for some reason this story has just made my day

An amazing video. Thanks, Gene.

At the 3:20 mark, there is a great photograph.

An excellent narrative accompanies the video.

[LincolnMan]

David you are a gem for going the extra mile and posting the story. Thank you. And it is a great story!

[David Lockmiller]

(07-28-2021 07:51 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  David you are a gem for going the extra mile and posting the story. Thank you. And it is a great story!

I thought that you would like it.

Be sure to see the video that Gene provided. It was excellent.

[LincolnMan]

Yes, thanks, Gene!