Snowman
| Snowman | |
| Race: | unknown |
| Father: | unknown |
| Mother: | unknown |
| Mother, father: | |
| Gender: | gelding |
| Year of birth: | around 1948 |
| Country: | United States |
| Colour: | Mould |
Snowman ( German : Schneemann ) (* 1948, † 1974 ) was an American show jumping horse that won several important American jumping competitions in the 1950s.
Due to its unusual biography - it was originally supposed to be slaughtered when it was acquired by its future rider Harry de Leyer - its successes were reported extensively in the US media. Writer Elizabeth Letts , who published an extensive monograph on Snowman in 2011, compares Snowman's popularity with that of the 1930s racehorse Seabiscuit and believes that Snowman's successes helped show jumping competitions in the United States developed into a popular spectator sport.
Life
The riding stable owner and instructor Harry de Leyer regularly visited horse auctions in order to find horses for his riding stables that were relatively cheap due to certain characteristics and that he hoped would be able to use them in his riding school and, if necessary , sell them after appropriate training . At an auction in Pennsylvania in 1956, he noticed a horse with an unusually relaxed temperament among horses that were already scheduled for slaughter. Abrasion marks on the shoulders indicated that it had previously been used as a draft animal in agriculture . Harry de Leyer purchased it for USD 80 with the intention of using it as a school horse for novice riders. The horse, which Leyer's children christened Snowman because of its coat color, proved itself in riding school lessons and was sold by Leyer to a neighbor who was looking for a very relaxed horse for his son. Leyer noticed the horse's unusual jumping talent when Snowman repeatedly ran away from the neighbour's pastures to return to de Leyer's stable, jumping over pasture fences. Leyer then bought Snowman back from his neighbor and began to train him as a jumping horse.
As early as 1958, Leyer won his first major jumping competitions with Snowman, but was only able to take part in some of these competitions due to his professional obligations. De Leyer achieved his greatest successes with Snowman in 1959. The horse quickly became a public favorite after the press reported about the horse's life and the success of the underdog against high-priced competitors. It competed, among other things, with the horse Windsor Castle, for which its owner had paid 25,000 USD. Leyer was invited to TV shows with his horse and was seen in a show with Johnny Carson . Two books on the horse were published in the 1950s and there was a fan club. Although Leyer was offered up to $ 35,000 for Snowman, Leyer decided to keep Snowman. As early as 1960 it became clear that Snowman, due to his age and the exertions from the time he was kept as a draft animal, was only able to compete with horses specially bred and trained for jumping competitions to a limited extent. Accordingly, Leyer used Snowman less in jumping competitions. He received his bread of grace at Leyers Farm and died of kidney failure at the age of about 26.
In 1992, Snowman was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame .
literature
- Elizabeth Letts: The Eighty-Dollar Champion. Snowman, the Horse that Inspired a Nation. Ballantine Books, New York NY 2011, ISBN 978-0-345-52108-8 .