From his book “Press On,” Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches of the “Abundant Life’:
Harry de Leyer was late to the auction on that snowy day in 1956, and all the good horses had already been sold. The few that remained were old and spent and had been bought by a company that would turn them into dog food.
Harry, the riding master at a girls school in Pennsylvania, was about to leave when one of the horses that had been marked for slaughter caught his eye. The horse was a dirty, grey gelding with ugly-looking sores on its legs. The marks left by a heavy work harness gave evidence of the hard life it had led. But something about him captured Harry’s attention so he offered $80 dollars for it.
It was snowing when Harry’s children saw the horse for the first time and, because of the coat of snow on the horse’s back, the children named it “Snowman.”
Harry took good care of the horse. He was a gentle and reliable animal—a horse the girls liked to ride because he was steady and didn’t startle like some of the others. In fact, Snowman made such rapid improvement that a neighbor purchased him for twice what Harry had originally paid.
But Snowman kept disappearing from the neighbors pasture—sometimes ending up in adjoining potato fields, other times back at Harry’s place. How snowman got out of the pasture was something of a mystery. It appeared that the horse must have jumped over the fences between the properties, but that was impossible—Harry had never seen Snowman jump over anything much higher than a fallen log.
But eventually, the neighbor’s patience came to an end, and he insisted that Harry buy the horse back.
For years, Harry’s great dream had been to produce a champion jumping horse. He had had moderate success in the past, but in order to compete at the highest levels he knew he would have to buy a pedigreed horse that had been specifically bred to jump. And that kind of pedigree would cost far more than he could afford.
Snowman was already getting old—He was eight when Harry had purchased him—and he had been badly treated. But, apparently, Snowman wanted to jump and so Harry decided to see what the horse could do. What Harry saw made him think that maybe his horse had a chance to compete.
In 1958, Harry entered Snowman in his first jumping competition. Snowman stood among the beautifully bred, champion horses, looking very much out of place. Other horse breeders called snowman a “flea-bitten-gray.” But a wonderful, unbelievable thing happened that day…. Snowman won! Harry continued to enter Snowman in other competitions, and Snowman continued to win.
Audiences cheered madly every time Snowman made a jump. He became a symbol of how extraordinary an ordinary horse could be. He appeared on television. Stories and books were written about him. As Snowman continued to win, one buyer offered $100,000 for the old plow horse, but Harry would not sell. In 1958 and 1959 Snowman was named “Horse of the Year.” Eventually, the gray gelding—who had once been marked for slaughter—was inducted into the show jumping hall of fame. For millions of people, Snowman was much more than a horse. He was a symbol of hidden untapped potential that lies within each of us.
I have had the opportunity to meet and become acquainted with many wonderful people from many different walks of life. I have known rich and poor, famous and modest, wise and not so wise. Some were burdened with heavy sorrows, others radiated a confident inner peace. Some smoldered with unquenchable bitterness, while others glowed with irrepressible joy. Some appeared defeated while others—in spite of adversity—overcame discouragement and despair. ~Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (deceased), Press On (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2007), 43-45
