Snowman

Legendary Show Jumper

Sometimes one event can change the course of your life forever, and for Harry deLeyer, that event was a flat tire in 1956 - it caused him to miss the New Holland auction in Pennsylvania, where he was hoping to find cheap lesson horses. When he arrived, the only horses left were those being loaded on trailers destined for the glue factory. A large white Amish plow horse, already standing on a slaughter truck, caught Harry’s eye. He paid $80 for the gentle 8-year-old, called him Snowman, and brought him home for children at his barn to ride.  

Harry wasn’t aware of the big grey’s jumping talent until he sold Snowman to a farmer down the road. Snowman would continually jump his way back home, six miles away, despite the farmer raising the fence each time. Harry repurchased Snowman and decided he would never sell him again. 

The pair became famous in a short period of time, winning locally at first and then going on to bigger events. Less than two years after the pair found each other at the auction, Snowman and Harry won the 1958 horse show jumping "Triple Crown" — the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year, Professional Horseman's Association Champion and Champion of Madison Square Garden's Diamond Jubilee. 

Snowman retired from competition in 1962 to Harry's farm on Long Island where he enjoyed his golden years until his death in 1974 at the age of 26. He went on to be inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992. Harry himself passed away in 2021 at the age of 93. The pair's story has been documented in multiple books and documentaries, and it continues to be an inspiration for equestrians across the world.

Snowman's Breyer model has been in production since 2013.