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Re: Windchill
Article from yesterdays paper...
Charges may be filed as soon as today over the treatment of Windchill, the 9-month-old colt who was found near death earlier this month.
Windchill, a Tennessee walking horse-appaloosa cross, was found emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from exposure to extreme cold Feb. 9 at a South Range farm where he was being boarded.
He has since been taken in by Raindance Farms, another horse farm in South Range.
Windchill lies in his stall covered by blankets to keep him warm on Saturday as he recovers from exposure to extreme temperatures on Feb. 9.
Richard Schnell, a deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, said he’s been in conversation with the Douglas County district attorney’s office and thinks charges are imminent.
“I am confident that charges will be filed,” Schnell said.
It is still unclear whether Windchill’s former owner, the owners of the farm where he was being boarded or both parties will face charges, if charges are filed.
Complicating that issue is a September 2007 contract between Windchill’s owner and an owner of the farm where Windchill was being boarded. A copy of that agreement filed with a sheriff’s report says the boarding farm was supposed to provide hay and water — which Windchill apparently did not have access to, hence his poor physical condition — but only to two other horses owned by Windchill’s owner. The contract does not mention Windchill. Furthermore, it appears another horse on the boarding farm may have kept Windchill away from the food, which could have contributed to his poor health.
Word of the potential charges is welcome news to Jeff Tucker, the owner of Raindance Farms.
“On the colt’s behalf, I do feel relieved,” he said. “In some way it vindicates him.”
Tucker also said he has received some comments about Windchill that have concerned him. He declined to discuss the nature of the comments, who they came from or how they arrived.
“I don’t know how to interpret what they’re saying, so we’re taking it seriously,” he said.
Tucker addressed the comments on his Web site: “I am sorry that some of you feel that his life was not worth saving and I’m also sorry that some of you feel that now that he’s famous that he shouldn’t be in a “smaller, uninsulated, backyard barn,”‘ he wrote.
“He doesn’t seem to mind and he’s grateful for the opportunity that we gave him to live.”
In part because of the comments he’s received, Tucker is now seeking to limit access to Windchill. In the past, visitors have been able to visit the colt at whim, but Tucker said he’d now like to keep better tabs on who’s paying a visit and so is asking people not to arrive unannounced. He also said privacy would give Windchill a better chance to recuperate. He said the farm will be closed to visitors this Sunday.
“We’ve got people showing up whenever, and that’s been hard,” he said.
This is how the little guy looked last evening when I was there. All propped up in his bed...
Article from yesterdays paper...
Charges may be filed as soon as today over the treatment of Windchill, the 9-month-old colt who was found near death earlier this month.
Windchill, a Tennessee walking horse-appaloosa cross, was found emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from exposure to extreme cold Feb. 9 at a South Range farm where he was being boarded.
He has since been taken in by Raindance Farms, another horse farm in South Range.
Windchill lies in his stall covered by blankets to keep him warm on Saturday as he recovers from exposure to extreme temperatures on Feb. 9.
Richard Schnell, a deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, said he’s been in conversation with the Douglas County district attorney’s office and thinks charges are imminent.
“I am confident that charges will be filed,” Schnell said.
It is still unclear whether Windchill’s former owner, the owners of the farm where he was being boarded or both parties will face charges, if charges are filed.
Complicating that issue is a September 2007 contract between Windchill’s owner and an owner of the farm where Windchill was being boarded. A copy of that agreement filed with a sheriff’s report says the boarding farm was supposed to provide hay and water — which Windchill apparently did not have access to, hence his poor physical condition — but only to two other horses owned by Windchill’s owner. The contract does not mention Windchill. Furthermore, it appears another horse on the boarding farm may have kept Windchill away from the food, which could have contributed to his poor health.
Word of the potential charges is welcome news to Jeff Tucker, the owner of Raindance Farms.
“On the colt’s behalf, I do feel relieved,” he said. “In some way it vindicates him.”
Tucker also said he has received some comments about Windchill that have concerned him. He declined to discuss the nature of the comments, who they came from or how they arrived.
“I don’t know how to interpret what they’re saying, so we’re taking it seriously,” he said.
Tucker addressed the comments on his Web site: “I am sorry that some of you feel that his life was not worth saving and I’m also sorry that some of you feel that now that he’s famous that he shouldn’t be in a “smaller, uninsulated, backyard barn,”‘ he wrote.
“He doesn’t seem to mind and he’s grateful for the opportunity that we gave him to live.”
In part because of the comments he’s received, Tucker is now seeking to limit access to Windchill. In the past, visitors have been able to visit the colt at whim, but Tucker said he’d now like to keep better tabs on who’s paying a visit and so is asking people not to arrive unannounced. He also said privacy would give Windchill a better chance to recuperate. He said the farm will be closed to visitors this Sunday.
“We’ve got people showing up whenever, and that’s been hard,” he said.
This is how the little guy looked last evening when I was there. All propped up in his bed...
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