02/16/08, 9:40pm:

9:40pm: Whew! A long day but one definitely worth living. After standing for 10 minutes with the help of a sling earlier in the day, at 5pm a group gathered to again help keep Windchill placed correctly as we raised him back to his feet. As soon as Windchill heard the chains of the winch working he knew what was going on and was ready to put his feet on the ground. Once again he stood – this time for 20 minutes. He was less interested in eating and more interested in trying to move around. At the end of his 20 minutes of aerobic workout, trying out the legs that have slowly come back to life over the past couple of days, he again told us he was exhausted by slumping down in the sling and starting to go to sleep. We lowered him back to the ground and he was able to reposition his legs just before drifting off. I find it difficult to put into words the feelings and emotions that ran through us as we saw him standing there, his eyes bright and excited that he was looking at the world as a horse should – on his four legs, standing proud, ready to run or walk or get him into mischief like the other babies on this farm do. I was both proud of the little guy, like a dad, and I was humbled as I stood there watching. Windchill’s story has apparently spread across this country. He’s been getting email from all over. We’ve gotten calls from all over the area and all over the country. We never expected any of that. We underestimated the depth of caring in our community, and in fact, the country. When we loaded that frozen colt in the trailer one week ago today we knew it was a battle for his life with very little chance of survival. I figured we’d be in this alone, nobody would really care about us trying to save a little horse. I was wrong.