“An abandoned gelding named Snowman became one of the most acclaimed show horses of all time.“
So described the N.Y. Times the story of Harry Delayer and the horse he found among the unsold “outcasts” at an auction. Late, because of a flat tire, he missed out on the “choice” horses and picked out the grey gelding from a truck of leftovers. When he arrived home with the horse, his 4-year-old daughter, Harriet, named it Snowman.
As a horse crazy young girl, I read and re-read the story of Snowman, pouring over the book’s cover photo (and Harry Delayer’s unconventional equitation!) and hoping that I might find a Cinderella horse one day.
It’s a story of hope found in the most unexpected places….and the message of Christmas.
Harry, learned to ride on his family farm in the Netherlands, entering the horse show ring when he was 7. His equestrian career hopes were disrupted when the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Harry’s dad used their farm as a way-station for the resistance, hiding Jews and downed Allied pilots in a cellar that he dug out next to their barn and disguised under a manure pile.
At night, Harry would ride out on horseback, looking for downed pilots. One wounded pilot’s family gratefully sponsored Harry and his wife Johanna to immigrate to the U.S.
He soon took a job as the riding instructor at a girls’ school on Long Island. The trip to the auction was to pick up a few school horses for his students.
Brave, honest and trainable, Snowman’s surprising jumping ability took him to N.Y. horse shows and led to Madison Square Gardens. As other competitors arrived at the show with equipment and entourages, Harry showed up with Johanna and their 8 children who hand-painted the sign outside their show stalls.
“Snowman and me both came from nothing. But together we made it to the top of the world.”said Harry. A “freak of nature,” he once called him — but he insisted that the key to the horse’s success was his gentle temperament under his hidden talent.
For those who celebrate Christmas, it too is the story of hope found in the most unexpected place…
It was the 1st Century and life under the powerful thumb of the Roman Empire was short on hope for the less powerful. Yet, hope appeared to a group of social outcasts – Jewish shepherds. They followed their hope to find their people’s long-predicted Saviour in, of all places, the arms of a poor couple, (also social outcasts because of Mary’s pre nuptial pregnancy). What’s more, this young couple was far from home and making do among the animals because there was no room at the inn.
Like Snowman, the child’s birth attracted little notice – until it did. The birth of the Christmas Child divided our calendars into AD and BC, ignited a flame of hope that has never gone out in billions of lives and Christmas is still celebrated across every culture.
Snowman retired in 1969 and passed away in 1974. Harry, his devoted trainer, passed away in 2021, prompting the NY Times tribute.
Yet hope, perhaps different than optimism, is best placed in what can’t be shaken and ultimately lasts – beyond the next political cycle or horse show season.
“Oh Little Town of Bethlehem …the hopes and fears of all the years have met in thee tonight.”
Beloved 1868 Christmas carol.