Snowman visits the Champions at Santa Anita
A few months back, I got an incredible message from a reader, Christine Crocker.
In this particular era of unemployment and loss, America’s “throw away” mentality is justifiably drawing scrutiny. A story like Snowman’s highlights how much we each have to offer, just given the opportunity. For everyone of us who have taken in an abandoned pet, or worked to help an abandoned person, your book helps.
Chris is not just and ordinary reader– she manages Champions! The gift shop at Santa Anita Park. From her workplace every day, she looks out on the paddock– she can see the horses as they parade by, and off in the distance, she can see the serene gaze of the statue of Seabiscuit.
So I was happy to say yes, when she invited me to come sign copies of The Eighty-Dollar Champion at Santa Anita Park.
I met lots of wonderful readers…
And got serenaded…
And I got to ask Seabiscuit when he thought a movie about Snowman would be coming out…
And best of all I got to meet the fabulous ladies of Champions– Chris Crocker, and Cindy Turner.
But the very best thing about visiting Santa Anita was getting a chance to meet a community of people who care very much about what happens to these beautiful horses AFTER they leave the glamor and pageantry of the track.
The person who took all of these photos for me is a person by the name of John Chun, treasurer of the Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue. It’s not enough for John to watch the horses race: John is one of the good people who watches out for the horses– he is a man with a passion.
It is amazing how the story of Snowman is bringing people together to raise awareness about horses.
Thank you Chris, John, Cindy, and all of the fabulous people I met at Santa Anita Park.
In Southern California, hay costs $25 dollars a bale, but if every single person who is reading this blog and has been inspired by the story of Snowman sent just one dollar to the Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue, they could feed a lot of horses.
The spirit of Snowman says “NEVER GIVE UP!” There are a lot of people at Santa Anita who believe that, and I feel richer for knowing them.
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Why we are Thankful for Animals
It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking about what I’m thankful about. My dog lies curled up at my feet as the early morning sunshine pours in the window. I’m thankful for so many things: my children sleeping upstairs, the apple pie that’s already made.
As a writer, I’m grateful for the readers and horse lovers I’ve met over the last few months–people who have shared with me the ways in which the story of Snowman and Harry has inspired them personally.
A few days ago, I received an incredible letter from a reader who is caring for some retired horses in spite of the fact that she herself is battling a serious illness.
She wrote, “I have written out the last paragraph in your book about how each of us has something extraordinary in us. Its on my mirror. I printed out a picture of Snowman and Mr. DeLeyer from the web- its also on my mirror. I believe that all of you, with GOD, and my beloved horses, will carry me through this difficult time.”
How many times have I heard someone lament that we do not have true heroes any more– too many people that we admire end up exposed to us– their seeming goodness only a veneer?
That’s why it’s such an honor that, The Eighty-Dollar Champion, has been nominated for a Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award for best History and Biography.
Snowman’s sweet face sits among the other luminaries: Steve Jobs, Catherine the Great, the kind of towering historical figures that we usually associate with biography.
Why a horse among all of these people who for better or worse have left their mark on the world?
I say it’s because Snowman, like all horses, like the other animals that we love, not just horses but our dogs and cats as well, embodies the qualities that we most admire: loyalty, steadfastness, courage, honor. As Herman Melville once said, “honor lies in the mane of a horse.” People often aspire to embody those qualities as well, but for people it is harder. Animals seem to have a special place among us: to show us how good we can aspire to be.
Or as a loyal Facebook fan put it: “A horse has never said anything that would annoy anyone, cut off anyone’s head, or run for political office. It’s Snowman hands down!”
So today, on Thanksgiving. I’m saying thanks to the animals in my life, the animals who have inspired me, and the animals who have shown me how to recognize unconditional love.
Steve Jobs may have given us the miracle of technology, Catherine the Great might have ruled a great empire, but Snowman gave us a vision of what unflagging courage and devotion can look like.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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Snowman is in the Jump-Off!!!
Many thanks to everyone who has already voted! Somehow, against all odds, the story of the humble plow horse has advanced to the final round of the Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award in the category of History and Biography.
He’s up against some pretty stiff competion– the likes of Steve Jobs and Catherine the Great. But I say, never underestimate the power of a really great horse.
Please consider casting a vote for Harry and Snowman. If you’re not a member of Goodreads, it’s easy and free to sign up.
And thank you for spreading the word.
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What Makes a Great Teacher?
Sally Morris is presented with the Sportsmanship Award at Knox
Think back. Were you lucky enough to have one special teacher in your life?
Most of us had at least one.
If you had a chance, right now, would you want to say something to him or her?
Would you wait in line to see that teacher, just to give a word of thanks, and explain how that teacher touched your life?
Harry with Knox School Alumnae.
For the past few months, I’ve had the great pleasure of doing some appearances with Harry de Leyer, and I’ve seen how many of his former students have waited patiently in line, sometimes for a very long time, just to have a chance to speak a few words with him.
Harry de Leyer and Snowman won worldwide fame and legions of fans as champions in the show jumping arena, but sometimes I think that it doesn’t take winning blue ribbons to make a champion.
Sally Morris and Harry de Leyer at booksigning in Southampton, NY October, 2011
A great teacher is the kind of hero that each of us meets at least once in our lives and we never forget.
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Book Review: How Good Riders Get Good
photo by Amy Dragoo
Denny Emerson doesn’t know this. In fact, we’ve never met, but I once almost dropped out of college for him.
In 1982, my life was divided: all summer I taught riding and competed in three day events; in the winter, I was a student and never got near a horse. But I was having a hard time letting go. So, I came up with a scheme. An old Pony Club friend recommended that I spend a year as a working student at Tamarack Hill Farm in Vermont.
Seems crazy in retrospect. Give up my spot at Yale to spend my days mucking out stalls? I was transitioning out of competitive riding then: my school did not have an equestrian program, and bringing my horse to school was too expensive to contemplate.
In the end, I didn’t do it. But that’s okay. I was not destined for a career in riding.
Like all really great competitors, Denny knows how to ride. Like all really great teachers, he knows how to teach. But a lifetime spent in the upper echelons of one of the equestrian world’s most challenging sports has taught him something even deeper. In How Good Riders Get Good, Denny distills a lifetime of insights into the pages.
This little jewel of a book contains the profiles of twenty-three champions from a wide variety of equestrian sports. But it is much more than a book about riding. The Chapter Headings tell the story: “Wannabes vs. Gonnabes,” “Dealing with the Cards You Hold,” and “Nine Character Traits for a Successful Rider,” address not the specific training techniques needed to win, but the underlying “stuff” that makes a champion.
The book covers every important choice a rider can make– from deciding which sport to focus on, to choosing an instructor, to more elusive questions, such as how to live your life.
The subtitle of this books is, “Daily Choices that Lead to Success in Any Equestrian Sport,” and it would make a fabulous gift for any rider, in any equestrian discipline.
Denny Emerson in 2009
Like all truly great teachers, Denny Emerson has something to say to all of us: even those of us who no longer compete.
In my adult career as an author, I still rely on many of the skills I learned while competing in three-day-eventing. Both require focus, determination, and a willingness to take a hard fall sometimes.
Both require bravery– a person who has approached an enormous solid fence made of telephone poles at a fast gallop down a slippery hill, is well-equipped to face down the public scrutiny of being a writer in a world where everyone has a chance to review and comment on your books.
Elizabeth Letts riding Boy in the steeplechase phase of a three-day event, summer, 1981.
As Denny says in the book, “The only thing that each of us can guarantee is that we are prepared to take advantage of those opportunities that come our way.”
This book focuses on those core character traits that are common to the greatest champions in every sport, the same characteristics that can bring us success in any of our endeavors.
Great horsemen are not just masters of riding, but also, master’s of life’s greatest lessons. While I dropped out of competitive riding long ago, I found many bits of wisdom to ponder in this book, and I’m sure that you will too.
The Magic of a Well-Thumbed Book
At a recent signing in Crozet, Virginia, I had the great pleasure of meeting Helen Paranzino. She came out to meet someone who had been one of her childhood heroes: Harry de Leyer. In her lap, she held a copy of the old out-of-print children’s book, Snowman, by Rutherford Montgomery. Horses have a special place in Helen’s heart, and after the signing, she wrote to us that her husband had once bought a horse for $100 “tack included.”
Helen said, That horse was a champion of nothing except longevity. We recon he was close to forty when he died.
But to Helen, I say, that horse was the champion of what mattered– the champion of kindness and heart.
Many of us read digitally now, on Kindles and Nooks, ipads, computers, and phones. And in some ways they have been a blessing, light for travel, with adjustable font for those who have trouble reading small print.
But, as I’ve seen these book emerge from people’s shelves, carried lovingly to my book signings, it got me to thinking: a book is more than a collection of words, it is a physical object, read, and reread until the shape of the book adapts to the reader like a pair of well-worn shoes. The pictures don’t flit by like flickering screen images, but they rest quietly in our memories. Read and reread, loved, and reloved, until the stories settle into our consciousness.
The story of Harry de Leyer and his humble plowhorse turned champion, Snowman, is a story like that. I have had the privilege to meet so many people who were once horse-crazy twelve-year-old girls, lying in bed at night, reading the story of Snowman until the covers of their books almost fell off, and then putting it back gently on the shelf.
Those people have grown up to be remarkable: they are veterinarians, and athletes; they are volunteers at animal shelters, and they are people who fell asleep reading about how it was okay for ordinary people to dream big dreams, and who grew up to achieve many of their own.
So I ask each of you this: find a book that teaches about heart and courage, and present it to a child. And take a minute to write something inside. That’s what my parents and grandparents did. That’s what I do for my children.
Fifty years from now, some of those children will be all grown up, but the well-loved book will still be on their shelves, and the dream of how to live a good life will still be in their heart.
And as my gift to you, write a comment on this thread and I will choose two lucky winners to receive a signed bookplate inscribed to a child with an inspiring message.
Never underestimate the magic of a well-thumbed book.
Share TweetWhen horses lend us their wings…
Do you have a place that you wish you could escape to 
when the responsibilities of daily life start to drag you down?
Do you ever wish you were far, far away… in a place where there was nothing but beauty and silence all around?
For those of us who are horse people, that silence is accentuated by the quiet footfall of horses along a trail somewhere.
But, like most people, I don’t have much chance to do that. I spend most of my time working, and caring for children, going to the dry cleaners and the post office. Doing ordinary things.
When I can’t just ride away into the sunset, I can still dream about it. I can still let a great story transport me away to that place where there is nothing but the wind in my face and the bending waves of wildflowers in the distance.
There is something about that special bond between horses and humans that can carry us through rough times.
We can go to that place where we are close to the earth, and close to our own inner life.
I can feel the gentle sway of the horse under the saddle and hear the birds singing in the distance.
My cares and worries are far away.
Sometimes, you only imagine the ride, maybe you’ve only imagined riding along with the great horse stories: Velvet, in National Velvet, Alec in the Black Stallion, or Red in Seabiscuit.
And sometimes, like the lucky ladies pictured here, members of the Caballeros Hillfillies Club, you actually get to live your dream for a while, riding through breathtaking backcountry in Utah.
And look what they brought along for required reading?
The Eighty-Dollar Champion!
So for everyone who will ride a horse today, and for everyone who has ever ridden a horse, in real life, or just in your mind…
May your trails be happy, and full of love and laughter, and wildflowers, and most of all, stories.
Stories, horses, and most of all horse stories, have the power to take us to dwell in the very best place for a while.
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The Lesson of a Rubber Bucket. Happy Labor Day
When I was ten years old, I competed in my first Pony Club competition, a one-day rally.
I was not a star rider, but at least, I figured, I could earn points in stable management, where we were judged on how well we took care of our horses.
But I wasn’t too good at keeping my stable area tidy, so when I heard a whisper that the judge was on her way, I panicked. I had left a grain bucket sitting out when it should have been put away– a danger because it could get caught around a horse’s leg and result in a terrible injury.
What to do? No time left, I kicked the bucket and it rolled underneath the horse trailer. Saved!
Unfortunately, not. The judge saw me, which resulted in great embarrassment and many points off.
That day, I learned the truth about caring for animals. There are no shortcuts. Simple, dull, repetitive tasks need to be done right over and over again, day after day.
Caring for an animal is humble labor. Do you clean a cat box, walk a dog, or handle a pitchfork?
If so, I know that you didn’t take the day off today.
But I also know, that sometimes, from the most humble tasks come the greatest joys.
The animals that we love are completely dependent upon us. They can not clean up after themselves, they wait patiently for water and food.
But they pay us back in untold ways.
So for everyone who did not take the day off today, because you fed or cared for or walked, or cleaned up after an animal, this post is for you.
For the love of a lesson horse
Snowman jumping at Knox with Sandy Leopold Aboard
One of my readers was kind enough to send along this beautiful picture of Snowman with her mother aboard, taken when she was a student at the Knox School. One of the things that made the story of Snowman so especially inspirational for me was the fact that Snowman and Harry had day jobs. Sure, the glory of the spotlights and the allure of blue ribbons was there, but they also had the ordinary lives of those who have to work for a living.
Just like most other people, I learned to ride on a lesson horse. I was seven years old, and my mom signed me up for lessons. The way I remember it, I loved to ride from the very first moment, but my mom says that she got a punch card for a certain number of lessons, and that she had to encourage me to finish the series.
Lesson horses are patient, and kind. But their job is one of the most important of all. Generations of new riders take their first stop on a gentle old horse– a horse who may not be the most beautiful, but is often the most patient.
Without lesson horses, we would have fewer riders in the world.
Recently, I had the great joy of watching my littlest take his very first riding lesson. The pony he was riding was a patient as could be, walking around the indoor arena with the experience of an old pro. My son was a little nervous, but his kind instructor managed to get him smiling.
We all have jobs to do, some grand and some lowly. Some horses are champions, and others are the ones that bring new devotees into the world of horses.
And a few, a very few, somehow manage to be both: they can plod on the ground or soar to the stars.
Snowman was one of those.
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Pre-order a signed and personalized copy today!
Are you interested in getting a copy of The Eighty Dollar Champion signed by the author and by Harry de Leyer himself?
Harry and I will be appearing at the wonderful bookshop and gallery, Over the Moon Books in Crozet, Virginia on September 21st at 6 pm.
Can’t make it? Don’t worry. Just order online or call the store prior to the event to reserve your copy (and request personalization)
Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisan Gallery Store Hours and Contact Information
Quantities are strictly limited and available on a first come-first served basis.
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