Harry deLeyer

DeLeyer learned to ride as a child; by 7 he was competing, eventually making it to the Dutch junior national team.

When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, his father turned their farm into a way station for the resistance, hiding Jews and downed Allied pilots in a secret cellar that he dug out next to a barn and disguised under a manure pile.

Arriving late to the auction (which was over) he observed the unsold horses being loaded into a truck, headed for the slaughterhouse.

The horse left the neighbour's corral and made his way home to deLeyer's; this happened a couple times and the sale was reversed.

After two years of training deLeyer rode Snowman in a local competition, easily taking the Blue Ribbon in the jumper class.

In 1969 Snowman officially retired at Madison Square Garden, to a standing ovation as the crowd sang "Auld Lang Syne."

He continued to teach riding and train horses, eventually moving to Virginia, where he owned a breeding farm.

[3] and the book "Snowman: The True Story of a Champion" by Catherine Hapka (Author), Rutherford Montgomery (Draft Writer)(2016).