The Eighty Dollar Champion

To find out more information on my topic, I read an amazing book:
The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts

This book was about the famous jumper, Snowman, and the "Cinderella Story" behind him and his owner and rider, Harry DeLeyer. There was quite a bit of information given about the sport of Show Jumping in the 1950s and history of the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.

I read pages 1-253 and I intend on finishing the book over Spring Break.

Some new-found information:

• Snowman, the horse who this book was about, was an old plow horse who was bought for $80 from a slaughter auction. In a few years, this big grey gelding went on to win Champion at the National Horse show and many other competitions. He was a very famous horse and a household name for horsepeople of the time.
• In the '50s, ShowJumping was heavily a "upper class" sport. Rich men purchased expensive, fancy horses, hired grooms to care for them completely, and headed into the arena to compete and then hand them back off to grooms. 
• Foxhunting was imported from the English and was another luxury for the rich. Men on horseback along with hunting hounds rode through fields hunting a fox.
• Foxhunting was popular on Long Island, even US president Teddy Roosevelt agreed in an article written in 1886. But by the '50s, people feared that foxhunting would soon become and obsolete tradition.
• The Quakers, who opposed foxhunting, imposed a change on many fox hunts and creating a "drag hunt," where hounds hunted a scent instead of killing a real fox. 
• Eleonora Sears was a world-famous athlete who was also an equestrian and one of the first women to ride in normal position as opposed to side saddle. Once she became to old to compete, she bought very fancy, expensive horses and hired very talented riders to train them for her. This is something many wealthy people of this time did. 
• The National Horse Show began in the late 1800s as a way for upper-class people to display and compete with their carriage horses. 
• At top shows, the riders handed their horses to grooms, who were usually African-American, to clean and care for them for hours while the riders prepared themselves for competition. 

My Summary: In this book, The Eighty Dollar Champion, Elizabeth Letts tells the story of Snowman, the miracle horse who was rescued from slaughter and was turned from a plow horse into a National Show Jumping title winner. This idea was focused on throughout the novel by elaborating on Snowman's story from his rescue to his retirement. Another thing the author talks about is Snowman's owner, Harry DeLeyer, and how hard he worked to support his family and his horses. It showed the struggle of an immigrant in the 1950s, which turned the odds more against Harry and his "Cinderella Horse." Finally, through the background information given to us during the show chapters, the reader is given a lot of insight into the equestrian world at that time. This book is relatable to my topic because it tells a lot about what this sport was like at that time and informs us about one of the most successful and most loved horse and rider pairs in American history.