More Feelgood! “Snowman”, an unlikely love story, a gem of a fairyhorse and Lusitanos.

I guess this is FEEL GOOD week!

Today I had more good newsy stuff in my inbox so I thought I would pass them onward.

SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT NEW BOOK!

This came into my box and I decided to order it. I love David and Goliath stories! You might want to purchase this early for a Holiday present for some horsey person you know…

The book is called, THE EIGHTY DOLLAR CHAMPION: SNOWMAN, THE HORSE THAT INSPIRED A NATION.

Click here to go to the website.

Click here to see it on Amazon.

I love this shot of the Champion, Snowman!

Here is an synopsis:

On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, the horse thrived. Snowman was wonderful with Harry’s children and had all the makings of a quiet lesson mount. But the recent Dutch immigrant and his growing family needed money and Harry was always on the lookout for the perfect thoroughbred to train for the show-jumping circuit, so he reluctantly sold Snowman to a farm a few miles down the road. But Snowman just wouldn’t stay put, and kept returning to the de Leyer’s farm. Then it dawned on Harry that Snowman was leaping six-foot fences to get home — an extraordinary feat for a riderless horse who had never been taught to jump. Harry bought him back and began training him over jumps. The higher they were, the better Snowman liked them.
One horse show at a time and against extraordinary odds, the pair rose to the very top of the sport of show jumping — poor country mice competing against the most expensive thoroughbreds in the world. Their story captured the heart of a Cold War world desperate for a symbol of second chances, of big dreams, of unstoppable hope.
The Eighty-Dollar Champion tells the dramatic and powerful true story of this unlikely duo’s rise to stardom—from the de Leyer family farm in Harry’s native Holland, through the horrors of the Nazi occupation, to his hope of a new life in America, where Harry’s spirit and drive were matched by those of the plow horse he had saved from the slaughterhouse. As Letts writes, “The message is simple: never give up, even when the obstacles seem sky-high. There is something extraordinary in all of us.”

Click image to go to the website

AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

This is a very sweet video from the National Geo Channel featuring the love between a hound and an orangutan. Truly, you have to see this to believe it. I mean, to me, it seems so scary for a dog to mix with a monkey – yet, they mix with us all the time and we humans are VERY monkeylike.

Click on the image to watch the video.

Click on image to watch the video

ANGEL OF A HORSE FOR HIS FAIRY

I am adding this video not because of the little girl dressed up like a fairy (which is pretty cute…), but for the amazingly angelic horse who carries her around the arena so proudly. He’s even wearing a horn on his bridle, for crimminy sakes, and he still looks proud as can be!

I loved this! It made me tear up.

When I read the comments below the video, I realized that both of the Saddlebred horses featured in the video were rescue horses.

Ahhh. All the better…

I looove wonderful stories of throwaway horses who come back as grateful and loved citizens!

Click here to watch this adorable team.

Click to watch this angel of a horse carry his fairy around the arena!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST… LUSITANOS!

I know not much about the breed. But, I thought this video was engaging and gorgeous.

Photographers were invited to take several types of photos of coiffed, styled and dressed Lusitanos with their riders. I’m sure this was a huge undertaking and for that I am in awe.

The photo I pulled here was my favorite. The child and the horse seemed so happy together. Plus, I liked the added falcon. Cool.

The event was called, LUSITANOS ON FOCUS.

You can click here to watch the video.