The Eighty-Dollar Champion
Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation
-
- $179.00
-
- $179.00
Descripción editorial
#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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Letts (Quality of Care) raises expectations in her newest book by claiming national inspiration in the subtitle. Snowman was a plow horse bought off the slaughter truck for $80 by Danish immigrant Harry de Leyer. Snowman's appearance masked superior jumping talents, and de Leyer took him to the top of the "expensive.... equestrian world was one of the last bastions of the upper-class elite." The events occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s; however, Letts doesn't quite establish the context, and it's not clear how a horse provided inspiration for workers "starved for dreams" amid "terrifying fears of nuclear age tensions." Diversions such as the decline of the American horse population offer little insight, and nonequestrians will occasionally be puzzled by the lingo, particularly with respect to equine anatomy. Still, Letts is a solid prose stylist; her vivid descriptions of staid Long Island with its "gentle meadows ringed by dogwood trees" provide virtual tours, but it is de Leyer's realization of the American dream that is the real story. Photos.
