PDF Ebook The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts
Curious? Obviously, this is why, we expect you to click the link page to check out, and then you can appreciate guide The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts downloaded and install until completed. You could conserve the soft file of this The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts in your device. Naturally, you will bring the device all over, will not you? This is why, whenever you have downtime, every single time you can delight in reading by soft duplicate book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts
PDF Ebook The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts
How if there is a site that allows you to look for referred book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts from all around the world publisher? Automatically, the website will be astonishing finished. Numerous book collections can be found. All will be so simple without complicated thing to relocate from site to site to get guide The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts wanted. This is the website that will offer you those requirements. By following this site you can obtain lots varieties of book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts collections from variants sorts of author and also publisher preferred in this globe. The book such as The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts and others can be gained by clicking great on web link download.
Checking out routine will certainly consistently lead individuals not to pleased reading The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts, an e-book, 10 e-book, hundreds publications, as well as much more. One that will make them really feel pleased is finishing reviewing this book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts and obtaining the notification of the books, after that finding the various other next book to read. It proceeds a growing number of. The time to complete checking out a book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts will certainly be constantly various relying on spar time to spend; one instance is this The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts
Now, how do you understand where to buy this book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts Never ever mind, now you could not visit guide store under the brilliant sunlight or night to browse guide The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts We below constantly help you to locate hundreds kinds of e-book. Among them is this e-book entitled The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts You might visit the web link page offered in this set and afterwards go with downloading and install. It will not take even more times. Simply link to your website accessibility and also you can access the e-book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts on the internet. Obviously, after downloading The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts, you may not publish it.
You can conserve the soft file of this publication The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts It will certainly depend upon your downtime as well as tasks to open up and read this e-book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts soft documents. So, you might not be worried to bring this book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired A Nation, By Elizabeth Letts almost everywhere you go. Just include this sot data to your gizmo or computer disk to let you check out every single time as well as almost everywhere you have time.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
�
Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant 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, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.
- Sales Rank: #4154 in Books
- Brand: Ballantine Books
- Model: 25152210
- Published on: 2012-05-29
- Released on: 2012-05-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .70" w x 5.20" l, .61 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Features
Amazon.com Review
A Letter from Author Elizabeth Letts
A writer is always on the lookout for a good story, but the first time I saw a striking old photograph, I didn’t realize that I had stumbled across a tale so extraordinary that it had the power to change lives.
The old black and white photo showed a horse and rider team in the midst of a crazy feat--jumping right over the back of another horse. What stopped me in my tracks was the expression on the jumping horse’s face. Even in the vintage picture I could see that the horse had absolute trust in the man who was asking him to make such a tricky leap. I wondered why.
Unable to forget the photograph, armed only with the rider’s name, I tracked down an address, not sure if I would find him there, or even if he was still alive. Just a few days after I mailed him a letter, my telephone rang and a voice on the other end said, “Hallo, this is Harry de Leyer.” The man in the photograph, now in his eighties, was on the phone. The first time we spoke, Harry told me a story that gave me butterflies in my stomach and made my palms sweat--that’s how badly I wanted to write about what he’d said to me and share it with the world.
Walter Farley, author of The Black Stallion, was once asked why horse stories were so popular. His answer was this: “When the books have been read and reread, it boils down to the horse, his human companion, and what goes on between them.” The story of Harry and Snowman, is at its essence, a love story. A man, a horse, and a lucky encounter on a bleak winter day that led to a second chance for both of them. Together, they shared a dream so big that only their combined courage and heart could get them to their destination.
That moment, when the pair of them stood under the spotlights of Madison Square Garden and listened to the thunder of the crowd, was simply unforgettable--the kind of triumph that ripples forward through time. I heard it coming across a crackling phone line, the first time Harry de Leyer told me about Snowman.
Read the book, and I’m sure you will hear it too.
Review
“[A] classic American dream story, with a down-on-its-luck horse galloping in for good measure.”—USA Today
�
“This is a wonderful book—joyous, heartfelt, and an eloquent reminder that hope can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Most of all, it’s a moving testament to the incredible things that can grow from the bond between animals and humans.”—Gwen Cooper, author of Homer’s Odyssey
�
�“[Elizabeth Letts] details the intricacies of the show world beautifully, [but it’s] the relationship between the people in [Harry’s] life and this remarkable, humble horse that will captivate the reader.”—The Star-Ledger
�
“The story is thrilling. . . . Letts’s taut, detailed writing vividly recounts the excitement of the shows; the heights these underdogs climbed; the world of the Eisenhower fifties; and what Snowman and Harry meant to the everyday people they inspired.”—Shelf Awareness
�
“If the true stories of horses Secretariat or Seabiscuit kept you spellbound, then consider leaving the racetrack setting to learn about the equestrian world’s shock in 1958 when an eighty-dollar plow horse arrived to compete in its top show.”—Fayetteville Observer
�
“Written in evocative, skilled prose that rings true to the tenor of postwar America . . . Letts deftly calibrates the emotion and suspense that are an indelible part of this tale.”—BookPage
About the Author
Elizabeth Letts is the award-winning author of two novels, Quality of Care and Family Planning, and one children’s book, The Butter Man. Quality of Care was a Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Books-A-Million Book Club selection. An equestrian from childhood, Letts represented California as a junior equestrian, and was runner-up in the California Horse and Rider of the Year competition. She currently lives with her husband and four children in Baltimore, Maryland.
Most helpful customer reviews
231 of 238 people found the following review helpful.
The Challenge of a Second Chance
By Miz Ellen
Like the author of this lovely book, I was a horse-crazy little girl and one of the books I remember reading is SNOWMAN by Rutherford Montgomery. Therefore I'm thrilled that Snowman's story is being rescued from the dustbin of children's lit and being told again with greater detail and accuracy. I especially like the way Elizabeth Letts paints a complete picture of Snowman's time. This is history not just a horse story; a portrait of the America that embraced the former plow horse and his immigrant owner, Harry De Leyer, also known as "The Flying Dutchman".
This is the stuff of horsemen's dreams: to literally pull a thin and dirty horse off the slaughter truck and train him to become a champion. That is the true story of Snowman.
Could any book have a more charming hero? Snowman sparkles in these pages, a quiet gentle giant who gave pony rides to little children and taught timid beginners not to be afraid. He's so loyal that he repeatedly jumps both paddock and pasture fences to return to the man who rescued him from the slaughter truck. Harry De Leyer is a young horseman with a growing family who desperately desires to run his own horse business. He's looking for that magic horse who can take him to the top.
He'd been training a top thoroughbred prospect, Sinjon. In 1957, Harry persuaded the owner of the horse to take him to the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden. Sinjon, a nervous and hot-blooded animal, exceeded expectations by jumping out of the qualifying rounds to place fourth. That very success was Harry's undoing: he loses the mount he has carefully and lovingly trained to a rider on the U.S. Equestrian Team.
He goes home to take another look at the horse he rescued off the slaughterhouse truck, the horse that came home dragging a tire which had been supposed to anchor him down and a piece of the fence that had been supposed to contain him. Harry knew that Snowman could jump; he just didn't understand why the horse was so clumsy in the ring.
Snowman routinely tripped over poles on the ground and knocked over low cross rails. Harry had been trying to train him to jump for over a year. The breakthrough came when one day Harry rode out into the ring. The jumps had already been set high for another horse. Finishing his warmup, Harry pointed his former plow horse at the high jumps...and the rest is history!
If I have a criticism, it is that the author has left out and glossed over some of the story about the humans. For example, she doesn't explain why Harry De Leyer and his first wife get divorced. However, I'm not sure she's wrong to leave that out. When it comes to Snowman, she has ferreted out many charming facts and features of his personality. When you are telling a story about a horse with a heart of gold is it necessary to explain every imperfection in the people around him?
Horse people will love this book. Snowman in his lovable essence will remind them of that favorite, special horse of their own. Folks who love animals in general will love this story. If you are in search of inspiration, look no further! This is a book for the entire family.
165 of 176 people found the following review helpful.
I rode Snowman as a child
By Dreamer
I was a 10 and 11 year old girl in love with horses when my parents agreed to give me lessons. We lived on the south shore of Long Island, about 45 minutes from the de Layer farm, but Harry de Layer was chosen to be my teacher. Snowman, not yet a champion, was one of the horses Mr. de Layer used to teach eager children like me. Mr. de Layer taught me that if I were a gentle, kind rider, I could learn invaluable lessons about courage and accomplishment. Snowman rewarded me with an extraordinary personal experience and an amazing example that, in life, anything is possible if you are willing to try. I was outraged to read a one star review, a personal attack by a local person who says Harry De Layer abused his horses. I absolutely do not believe that and wonder what part jealousy and bigotry may have played to influence the writer of that review and/or his own riding teachers. Mr. de Layer always insisted that his horses be treated well. His message was to learn to trust the horse, trust myself and to find the rhythm between the horse's spirit and my own. I was a tiny girl, Snowman was a very big horse and Mr. de Layer and Snowman taught me not only how to enjoy jumping and showing, but also a great deal about myself and life in general. I am so grateful to have known them both and my life has been richer for it. I am now 65 and have shared this story with my children and grandchildren. Mr. de Layer and Snowman are still teaching my family about the spirit of kindness and courage.
I wish I could recommend the book as highly as I do Mr. de Layer. I found it quite shallow and very repetitive. Letts tells us about Snowman and Harry de Layer, but doesn't allow us to get to know them. They are worth getting to know. Her emphasis, over and over, is on the "fleabitten" horse,"immigrant small farmer," and an overblown emphasis on class distinctions. These points may have some validity, but Harry and Snowman are both so very much more than that. In my opinion, Harry de Layer and Snowman are still waiting for the book they deserve.
78 of 82 people found the following review helpful.
This is a fun, warm, exciting story!
By feemeister
I really have to hand it to the author here! She really had me going when she wrote about the competitions in this book, they were SO exciting!
The book was beautifully, done, and on so many levels! The horse's owner, Harry, had lived through wartime with the Nazi occupation, which colored (rightly so) many of his thoughts and feelings about things.
This book tells of him taking a huge chance on this horse that was bound for the knacker's yard. $80 was a good bit of money back then, for someone in his economic position. But his instinct won out, and he purchased the horse, and took him home. He was used as a lesson horse to teach riding, until they pretty much accidentally found out what a jumper he was. The story is just beautifully told by the author all the way through.
There are lots of things to learn throughout the book about immigrants coming to this country and working hard at what they knew best, in order to finally make good. There are lots of different bits of information about many different things; different lifestyles, details about a girl's school, as well as lots of information on the horse jumping circuits. This is one of those books that teaches you lots of information, but in such a fun and exciting way that you don't realize you are actually learning (which is my favorite way to do it)!
This book is interesting, entertaining and exciting. I highly recommend it, and am really glad I found this book and read it. A great, heartwarming read. Wonderful horse, wonderful man and wonderful story!
See all 1376 customer reviews...
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts PDF
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts EPub
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts Doc
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts iBooks
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts rtf
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts Mobipocket
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts Kindle
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts PDF
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts PDF
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts PDF
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts PDF
