Snowman (horse)

Snowman ( German: Snowman ) ( * ca 1949, † 1974) was an American show jumper, who won multiple major U.S. show jumping competitions in the 1950s. Due to its unusual biography - it was originally to be slaughtered when it was acquired, by his rider, Harry de lyre - was widely reported in the U.S. media about his successes. The writer Elizabeth Letts, who published a detailed monograph on Snowman in 2011, the popularity of Snowman compares with that of the famous in the 1930s racehorse Seabiscuit and believes that the success of Snowman helped that jumping in the U.S. a popular spectator sport developed.

Life

The stable owner and teacher Harry de lyre regularly attended horse auctions to find for his stables horses that were relatively cheap due to certain characteristics, and which he hoped he could use them after appropriate training in his riding school and possibly resell. At an auction in Pennsylvania in 1956, he fell among horses who've been destined for slaughter, a horse of unusually placid temperament. Abrasion characteristics on the shoulders pointed out that it had previously been used as a draft animal in agriculture. Harry de lyre acquired it for 80 USD with the intention of using it as a school horse for beginners. The horse that was baptized by Leyers children because of his skin color Snowman, proven in the riding school and was sold by lyre little later a neighbor who was looking for a pronounced serene horse for his son. The unusual talent for jumping the horse fell on lyre, as Snowman multiple avulsion of the pastures of neighbors to return to stable de Leyers and it jumped over fences. Lyre bought Snowman result from its neighbor and began to train him as a jumper.

In 1958 won lyre with Snowman first major show jumping, but was able to attend due to his work commitments only in some of these tests. The greatest successes won de lyre with Snowman in 1959. The horse developed very quickly a crowd favorite after it was reported in the press about the life of the horse and the success of the underdogs against high priced competitors. It competed among other things with the horse Windsor Castle, for which his owner had paid $ 25,000. Lyre was invited with his horse among other things, to TV shows and was seen among others in a show with Johnny Carson. Two books on the horse have been published in the 1950s and there was a fan club. Although lyre was offered up to $ 35,000 for Snowman to lyre decided to retain Snowman. Already in 1960 it became clear that Snowman because of his age and the efforts of the time in which he was held as a draft animal, limited only was able to compete with specially bred and trained horses for jumping. Lyre sat Snowman accordingly less at jumping. He received his charity on Leyers farm and died at the age of about 26 years of kidney failure.

1992 Snowman was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame.