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warmed by Windchill
Tennessee Walking Horses
Not affiliated with Kathi (Davis) Tucker (or
Kathryn Davis, Kathi Bond, Kathrina L Davis, Kathryn Davis Yoffe, Kathryn D
Josh) or any other farms
Welcome to Raindance Horses
Home to Tennessee Walking Horses, and the memory and spirits of a little Walkaloosa colt named
Windchill, his half-sister Isabelle
and my first 'equine love' - Rain (registered name: A Dance in the Rain)
Raindance Pictures, Blog and Links
Friends We
Remember (memorial page)
Raindance Farms/Jeffrey L. Tucker's official blog
site
(the entire blog archive has been moved to this new site
NOW NEW AND IMPROVED WITH PHOTO GALLERIES - WOOHOO)
Jeffrey L Tucker | Create Your Badge
(updated regularly via iphone - woohoo!)
February 28, 2013:
Hi friends,
This is way late in coming. We just finished a Windchill
Legacy board meeting. It’s 7pm on the anniversary of Windchill’s passing. As
many of you will recall he passed away on February 29, 2008 – he found a way to
make that day his own, just as he took a word that defines cold, wind chill,
and made it a warm place in all of our
hearts. Tonight his quiet resolve,
determination, and that playful sometimes mischievous and always loving spirit
he had will be remembered by people across this land. I haven’t had the time I
would’ve liked to post and remember his memory. I think he’d understand. I’ve
been busy working with the publisher of his upcoming book. We had all hoped to
have a book cover design ready to show you, unfortunately everything is still
being tweaked. The manuscript is in the design and layout stage, the pictures
have all been chosen, quotes from reviewers have been selected and the narrative
for the front and back cover are finished – lots of moving pieces to this book
process! In the end hopefully this book will honor his memory, tell his story,
and move people to want to end abuse and neglect in all its forms. One person at
a time we can end the cycle and we can all make a difference. I learned that
from a little 9 month old colt who touched the world and gave us all a little
bit of hope back. Rest in peace little man. And know that we still believe.
Love,
Jeff Tucker
Windchill’s dad
February 1, 2013:
Wow,
I looked at the last time I posted and it was like 5 months ago! What happened
to our coffee time together, huh? We're still having it. The view from the new
place is spectacular, overlooking rolling hills with lots of oaks and maple
trees. Later this weekend I'll see if I can't get some photos up on the blogsite,
otherwise they'll go up when I get around to it. More difficult now, I have
limited internet out there in the north woods! We keep a pot of coffee going,
particularly in this 20 below weather so if you're wanting to enjoy a mug of
steaming coffee and some good conversation - let me know. The woodstove keeps
the log home nice and warm and the company is warm and friendly. Here's to a
GREAT 2013 and hopefully I'll remember to get back over here and post more
updates for you my friends.
This is also the 5th anniversary month of our little guy's passing. Windchill
died February 29, 2008. Even today his memory touches the heart of so many. More
news of his upcoming book will be announced in the not too distant future. We
hope that you'll join us in lighting a candle in his memory on February 28th.
~Jeff
Windchill's Candlelight Vigil Memories Page
(with the internet issues I had at the place that I live, Eileen W volunteered
to post the pictures as they came in on Windchill's FaceBook page as well as the
Windchill forum site - thanks Eilene!)
February 27, 2012: February 29th will mark 4 years since Windchill’s
last day among us. I know people will be lighting candles in his memory all over
the country and we’ll all remember the little guy’s resolve, his gentle spirit,
his quiet (and sometimes not so quiet!) faith in all of us and the friends he
made all over the country and in fact, the world. I’ve had the honor of being
around a lot of animals of different types over the years – lots and lots of
horses in the past couple. Some have crossed over the Rainbow Bridge and I can’t
wait to see them again. Each leaves an indelible mark on our soul – even the
small ones, like the kittens I’d come to love and have lost. Crash I still miss
your little ‘tude, so laid back, you always made me laugh. If I needed to find
you I just looked for Halo and there you were.
Windchill really changed things. He changed me. I remember the day-to-day crap
from prior to meeting him, and how different things are after being near his
soul. Who would’ve guessed so much spirit could be placed inside a frail, 9
month old body. So much personality, so much faith, so much forgiveness. We can
all learn from that can’t we. Love, laugh, whinny a friendly hello or reminder
that you want your hay NOW, and don’t let your circumstances drag you down. And
that there’s friends waiting to be met, you just have to open the door to your
heart and let them in.
The world became a smaller place – and a brighter one. While Windchill was
re-learning how to stand, we were re-learning to believe, and re-learning what
it was like to be young again. Remember when you were little – all those
‘strangers’ on the playground were just friends waiting to be met, new names to
add to your friendship listing. Strangers far and wide were drawn to a little 9
month old’s colt struggle and he was never alone again. Neither were any of us.
Windchill slipped quietly into the beyond February 29th, 2008, as surprised as
we were. I remember the night today as clear as the night it happened. Stepping
out into the clear, cold night for his last check of the night and that feeling
that something wasn’t right. Walker slipped out of the garage, confirming the
feeling. Walker was with Windchill all the time. Racing to the barn, opening the
door and no whinny. There was always a whinny when we walked through that door.
And knowing. Knowing before I opened that stall door. Burying my face in his
neck, still warm. How peaceful he was. No struggles. Still under his blankets,
head resting on the towels. Wondering whether to tell Kathi then or let her
sleep. Walking slowly back to the house, waking her up to tell her Windchill was
“gone.” Her bolting upright, asking where…the death threats, etc. had become
part of our reality, so her first assumption was he had been taken…explaining he
had passed away. Watching as the scene I had just lived was re-lived – her
throwing the door open, calling to him. Checking him. Then holding him. She
confirmed he hadn’t suffered. Needing to know the same thing…was he under stress
in his final moments, did he suffer and finding some peace in how he drifted off
never to wake up.
Neither of us slept that night. I spent my night researching everything I could
find on neglect, starvation, abuse looking for a reason, something we’d missed,
something we could’ve done to change the outcome. She spent her night knowing we
hadn’t. At 4:30am I’d come to the same point. By 5am I wrote the announcement to
the world that would never be printed. It was too filled with anguish. Kathi
re-wrote it by 7am. An hour or so later the world would share the pain and join
the hell that had been ours for the previous night. I would have to relive the
same feelings as visitor after visitor arrived that morning to see the little
guy, not having seen the blog post from that morning. The same disbelief. The
same look of shock. Then the tears. By mid-day I was numb, exhausted, drained,
lost.
4 years later and I can feel all of that like it was this morning. 4 years later
and it was just last night wasn’t it? That’s why I hadnt’t read the blogs in
detail until I started your book last year. I haven’t looked at the pictures in the photo directory on
my computer
from February though March, 2008 until I posted my archive online not long ago.
Pictures never seen finally shown the light of day again.
I’ve finished the book finally, Windchill. It will tell the world your story and
what’s happened since that time — the magic continues, your spirit lives on in
the re-telling by volunteers who remember to people eager to learn. Kids,
adults, senior citizens… Your torch and memory were carried on the shoulders of a
little horse appropriately named Magic to literally thousands of people each
year and will be again. There’s been good, and there’s been bad since you were last here with your
head on our knee in a stall on a bed of straw, pushing yourself in circles around
your stall driving us crazy as we restored order to the chaos you created in
there. Laughing at the brightness in your eyes. Today we laugh, and sometimes
cry, in your memory. Even more love you now than even then, amazing huh? God
bless a little 9 month old colt who taught us to believe again in humanity.
Thank you Windchill, from the bottom of all our hearts. We miss you.
Love,
Dad
(Jeff Tucker, Raindance Farms & Horses, LLC)
January 4, 2012:
FYI friends - I've moved Raindance to a new location in Carlton,
Minnesota. Thanks everyone!
November 10, 2010: I went to Gander Mountain today, Jord.
Our birthday tradition. I took the same
path we always ended up taking. I looked at rifles. No, I still haven't bought a
30/30 yet. Always figured we'd do that together on a someday that never came. I
looked at those trail cameras you liked. They're the same price. We shudda just
bought you one. I never gave you a budget. It never occurred to me that wouldve
helped you look for stuff. I was just happy to be there with you. I learned from
you. Today I turned my cell phone off. Just like you did. I was in the moment.
Like you were. I looked at all those fishing lures, like we always did. But this
time I couldn't hear your voice. Even the echoes have faded. I
tried so hard to remember what you told me about what they all did. I tried to
hear your voice. But it's gone. I walked the same aisles, searching for
you...desperately listening. I looked for you in the parking lost - the last
place I saw you alive. I remember you trying to choose between that deer
shirt and the bass one and telling you to get both. I remember telling you that
you should get a job at Gander Mountain as we stood in line and laughing when
you said you'd work for store credit. You said you'd look for a job after
hunting season and I agreed it was better to wait. I found the fishing lure you
were so excited we bought you. They've moved them and I still found it. Just
like I found it next to your bed after you died. The same one that's on top of
your ashes on my shelf. There was just as many people here this year but the
store was so much emptier without your voice explaining to me what all this
stuff is. I don't know if I'll come back here next year now that you're not
here. I didn't realize the echoes would fade too. I'll still remember each and
every birthday Jordan. I just don't think it will be here.
Jordan Tucker
My blog is located at:
Raindance Farms & Jeffrey L. Tucker's official blog site
Jordan Lee Tucker
(click on name to go to his page)
November 10, 1990 - November 15, 2008
WindChill
May 28, 2007 - February 29, 2008
Windchill's Goodbye Message To Us
Windchill
BBQ Videos
(BBQ pictures are posted on the blog site:
2009 BBQ Photos)
Windchill Links:
Windchill's Story
The WindChill Legacy
site
Sign Windchill's Guest Book
See Windchill's Original
Guest Book & Memorials
Windchill's letter to all the children who wrote him
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL PICTURES
Windchill's Photo Gallery
To our many good friends - the members of our Windchill family - thank you.
Thank you for your support, your prayers, your thoughts and the donations that
made his non-profit Legacy possible. Together we've done amazing things.
Together we've reached out because we all know...
…”Maybe somewhere deep in each being’s heart and soul is a
belief that it can be loved and that’s what WindChill holds on to…” (Jeff
Tucker)
Well. Maybe just be careful not to trip over him as you peruse the site.
Not affiliated with Kathi (Davis) Tucker (or
Kathryn Davis, Kathi Bond, Kathrina L Davis, Kathryn Davis Yoffe, Kathryn D
Josh) or any other farms
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