A Book Worth Reading

I’ve been reading The Eighty-Dollar Champion, Elizabeth Letts. Its a true story about a man, Harry de Leyer who saved a plow horse he later named Snowman from a kill van. He used for lessons but when he sold Snowman, Snowman jumped over paddock fences to come back to Harry. Harry then trained Snowman to become a jumper and together they took on the best teams in the United States. This book has two underlying messages that I believe are relevant in the present trying times. 

     One is to believe that interior qualities can be more important than the exterior ones. In horseback riding, when showing you want a horse that looks beautiful so that they give a better overall package. At the same time though, you need a horse that has the ability and inner strength to do what you ask of him/her. Today I believe people relay too much on these exterior qualities so the inner qualities don't have the chance to be seen. With Snowman, many people saw an old, run-down, grey plow horse with scars and a disproportioned body. What made Harry a great horseman was that he could see past the unflattering exterior to see a horse that had to heart and drive to be great. Harry was able to put those "generic" qualities aside and by doing so he could see what was really important. This is what allowed Harry to turn this ordinary horse into a champion.

     The second lesson is that people tend to look at the glass half-empty, so they give up. When in a situation that can go in two different directions, people only see the bad side. This prevents them seeing the possibilities, and therefore they can't turn the situation around for the better. Harry saw potential, harnessed it and molded Snowman into what he needed him to be. If you have a positive outlook on the situation you are able to see what has to be done to get to where you want to go, which is what Harry did. "Sometimes a man can forget the most important lesson of all: big dreams are often best accomplished when you do what you can with the materials you have at hand."(97)

            I research consumer reviews on the book to see if other people thought the same way I did about it. I looked at two sources. One was the Facebook page for the book. Posts are things like “Harry gave him a second chance at life, but also be loved by the world. Things like this don’t happen anymore.”(Seaman, Karen) Others were so touched by the book that they are going to see Snowman’s gravesite. Everyone agrees that the book is an inspirational story of second chances and how we can overcome obstacles. The second source was Amazon reviews. These reviews also shared the same praise for the book. Reviews praised the bond between animals and humans, and what they can accomplish together, and hope.