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

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “classic American dream story” ( USA Today ) about a man and his horse, an unlikely duo whose legendary rise to stardom in show jumping captivated the nation, from the award-winning author of The Perfect Horse and The Ride of Her Life

“If you loved the story of Seabiscuit, the surprise champion racehorse . . . check out the true story of Snowman.”— San Jose Mercury News

Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. He recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, the even-tempered horse thrived. But the recent Dutch immigrant and his growing family needed money, so Harry 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 he had misjudged the horse and set about teaching the shaggy, easygoing gelding to fly. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds, the pair soared past the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, reaching the very top of the sport of show jumping.

The story of this dynamic duo captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and a chance to have it all.