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WT: Why do you think he jumped so well? Conforma- tion? Temperament? Movement? HD: He was afraid to touch a fence! He would jump fences a foot higher than he


needed to. I foxhunted him, and he won the Puissance in Fairfield, Connecticut. He always wanted to please me. He did whatever I asked of him.


WT: What was the highest you jumped him? HD: 7’1” was the height we reached. He held that record for more than ten years.


WT: I understand you have been a breeder as well. What has been your breeding philosophy? HD: I always did like a Thoroughbred horse though I did not know how that breeding would go. I liked that they are lighter on their feet. I picked mares that already had a winning record in jumping, and studs with good lines. They had to have a good temperament and be healthy. I bought a stallion named Landjonker in Holland (he had been on the Dutch team). I had nine foals from him.


WT: Did you breed Dutch Crown? HD: Yes. He was born on my farm in 1971, and I brought him up. He was so dead quiet that the kids could ride him. My wife foxhunted him. He was out of Canadian Bit, a Thor- oughbred champion in Canada (I got her on a trade-in) and Thoroughbred Fire-at-Will by I Will. I knew he could jump pretty well. I showed him as a preliminary horse and then at the Winter Fair in Toronto he won the Puissance. We went to Oxridge and Fairfield and qualified for the Nation- als at Madison Square Garden. We won the National Cham- pionship in 1979.


WT: Do you spend time with horses today? HD: Horses have always been part of my life and I still love to spend time with them. I attend horse shows when I can and still love to help young riders.


WT: Why do you think your story resonates with so many people? HD: I’m just a farm boy who came from nothing. I left my country to come to America to pursue a dream and I achieved it and more. I think people see that if I could do it, they can, too.





WT: There is a lot of published work about you and Snow- man. For that reason, could you tell us more about your life after your successes with Snowman? At what age did you retire Snowman and what did he do in retirement? HD: He was about 20 years old. I made sure he had the best of everything at our place, Hollandia Farm. He just grazed and enjoyed visitors. He died in 1974.


WT: You trained a horse that went to the 1960 Olympics. Is that right? HD: Yes, his name was Sinjon. He was a bay. He came off the track. I found him at a sale in Wheeling, West Virginia. When I got him, he weaved constantly in the stall. I suspended weights all around his stall. When he weaved, he would bump his head and that cured him of his weav- ing. I trained him and then he was used by the U.S. Eques- trian Team. George Morris rode him in the Rome Olympics. Billy Steinkraus also rode him.


Snowman was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of


Fame in 1992 and his Breyer Toy model is a collector’s item today. Harry won the United States Equestrian Federation Lifetime Achievement Award and Pegasus Medal of Honor in 2002. To experience Harry deLeyer up close and personal,


watch for the film Harry & Snowman to be released at a theatre near you on September 30th. More information is available at www.harryandsnowman.com.


24 September/October 2016


Getty Images


Budd


Harry deLeyer Collection


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