1 THE SKILLS AND THRILLS OF SHOW JUMPING In 1956 a man named Harry de Leyer went to a horse auction He saw a dirty skinny plow horse headed to the slaughterhouse and felt a connection to the animal De Leyer saved the horse by buying him for just 80 De Leyer named the horse Snowman and sold him But the horse kept escaping and returning to de Leyer's farm To get there he had to jump many tall fences De Leyer then
De Leyer originally bought Snowman to use as a children's school horse before he sold him
knew the horse was very special and bought the horse back He trained him to show jump Just two years later Snowman was a famous show jumper He won the Open Jumper Championship at Madison Square Garden's Diamond Jubilee two years in a row and the United States Equestrian Federation named him Horse of the Year Snowman's story illustrates that any type of horse can be trained to show jump not just purebred horses In the end show jumping is about the horse and its rider working together to succeed Snowman became a great show jumper
