Thank you so much for posting the photos as we could not make it to the service. It is heartwrenching to see John's stall door closed with the flowers and cards on it. I am sorry I did not find your blog sooner. I only came across it 2 days before John died and the last 2 weeks have been extremely difficult for me and my husband so I have not been able to post anything until now. We are devastated and heartbroken and can only imagine how the folks at Kentucky Horse Park feel. It's nice to know we are not alone in our feelings. John meant so much to us and always will. Thank you again and I will try to post more later.
Thanks Judie. The memorial service was very nice. It will be very tough without John. I would like to keep this blog going as a lasting tribute to John. Feel free to stop back and post comments and stories.
Thank you for wanting to keep the blog going. I am still trying to gather all of my thoughts about John Henry. Is this the right part of the blog to do it on? There seems to be a few threads going. Is everyone somewhere else?
John Henry...I miss you so much! You've been gone just over two weeks. I thought you would live forever John~John but now in our hearts and minds forever.
I miss John Henry so much too. If I close my eyes I can still see and feel him. My heart is in a million pieces. Next to his stall, near his window is a bench with a brass plate on it that says "For the Love of John Henry". I can't get those words out of my head. What is it about him that touched us so?
Judie from Florida, What is it about him that touched us so.... Boy, that would takes hours to share stories. All I know is once I looked into those hugh brown eyes, read and heard stories about him, I was hooked forever. To me, God created him "special". He was to become the "people's horse" for so many more reasons other than being a great race horse. Charisma. Personality. Intelligence. Wit. Tenacity. Loyalty. Honor. Giving 110%. Demanding respect, which he deserved. I could go on and on. But in a word: SPECIAL. I miss him so much, however, he is not suffering but healed and is running in Heaven on his own terms... Bless you John~John. XO
Very well said. I agree, it was his eyes that first got me too. I was not familiar with John Henry before a casual trip to the KHP in 2000 and when I met him I instantly fell in love with him. I found him to be so intriguing and wanted to learn as much about him as possible. After I read Steve Haskins excellent book about him, that sealed the deal for me. I was so amazed at his accomplishments. I thought, what a treasure we had discovered! He became my superhero and my role model. When things were bad I thought about John Henry and he gave me strength and inspiration. We visited John Henry as much as distance and time and money would allow, which for us was just once a year unfortunately but we would cherish every minute of those visits, and after we arrived home we would talk about John Henry frequently and plan our next visit with him. I would just fall deeper in love with him with each passing year. I was so proud of him how he survived that colic surgery. That just showed even more of what a fighter that little guy was and how much he was loved by the people at the KHP, that they would give him that chance and believed in him and that inspired me even more. We last saw him in May of this year. We did not think he looked as well as the year before but the HOC staff assured us all was well with him and we went home with some uneasiness that it might have been our last time to see him but with at the same time good feelings as we thought that it was our best visit ever with him. We did follow his progress some over the summer and we were elated when we saw the Blood-Horse video in late August about John's walks around the park. We saw quite a different horse in those images from when we saw him in May. He looked amazing. He had put on some pounds and he just looked so much younger and healthier. We were so relieved and thought we would have him around for more years to come and could not wait until our annual pilgrimage to get the chance to walk with him around the park. We felt a huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders. When September came, we got busy with other things in our lives and did not think to check in on him which was very unfortunate as we had no idea of his downturn. I did not find out anything was wrong until 2 days before he died. I feel so horrible about that. I read everything I could about what had happened in the past month, from this blog and the KHP website, and the latest post on the KHP website said that they were stopping the daily updates because of John's improvement. We felt terrible that we had not known what had happened to him and we talked about keeping a close watch on things and perhaps making another trip up to Kentucky in the next few months, but sadly time ran out and John died 2 days later. One of the reasons I feel so horrible is because I feel guilty that I did not check on him in September, because I would have liked the opportunity to have been able to visit him one more time to see him and encourage him and the HOC staff and say goodbye, since the last I knew he was doing great and I just was not prepared for this at all. I feel so bad for them because I know how much they loved him. I thought more about my earlier question about what is it about him that that touched us so. I should have worded it better. I realize what it was about him that touched me and you and the others that are here on this blog, but why us and why not more people? I tried to tell as many people as I could about John since meeting him, and some people would "get it" but most did not. What is different about us that John was able to "speak" to us? That is what puzzles me.
10 comments:
Dear Dr. John,
Thank you so much for posting the photos as we could not make it to the service. It is heartwrenching to see John's stall door closed with the flowers and cards on it. I am sorry I did not find your blog sooner. I only came across it 2 days before John died and the last 2 weeks have been extremely difficult for me and my husband so I have not been able to post anything until now. We are devastated and heartbroken and can only imagine how the folks at Kentucky Horse Park feel. It's nice to know we are not alone in our feelings. John meant so much to us and always will. Thank you again and I will try to post more later.
Judie in Florida
Thanks Judie. The memorial service was very nice. It will be very tough without John. I would like to keep this blog going as a lasting tribute to John. Feel free to stop back and post comments and stories.
Thanks!
Dr. John
Dear Dr. John,
Thank you for wanting to keep the blog going. I am still trying to gather all of my thoughts about John Henry. Is this the right part of the blog to do it on? There seems to be a few threads going. Is everyone somewhere else?
Judie
John Henry...I miss you so much! You've been gone just over two weeks. I thought you would live forever John~John but now in our hearts and minds forever.
Hi Judy,
I miss John Henry so much too. If I close my eyes I can still see and feel him. My heart is in a million pieces. Next to his stall, near his window is a bench with a brass plate on it that says "For the Love of John Henry". I can't get those words out of my head. What is it about him that touched us so?
Judie
There are some great videos on youtube that people have kindly uploaded about John Henry. This is one of the best I've seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Js3gMbDIs
Judie from Florida, What is it about him that touched us so.... Boy, that would takes hours to share stories. All I know is once I looked into those hugh brown eyes, read and heard stories about him, I was hooked forever. To me, God created him "special". He was to become the "people's horse" for so many more reasons other than being a great race horse. Charisma. Personality. Intelligence. Wit. Tenacity. Loyalty. Honor. Giving 110%. Demanding respect, which he deserved. I could go on and on. But in a word: SPECIAL. I miss him so much, however, he is not suffering but healed and is running in Heaven on his own terms... Bless you John~John. XO
Hi Judy,
Very well said. I agree, it was his eyes that first got me too. I was not familiar with John Henry before a casual trip to the KHP in 2000 and when I met him I instantly fell in love with him. I found him to be so intriguing and wanted to learn as much about him as possible. After I read Steve Haskins excellent book about him, that sealed the deal for me. I was so amazed at his accomplishments. I thought, what a treasure we had discovered! He became my superhero and my role model. When things were bad I thought about John Henry and he gave me strength and inspiration. We visited John Henry as much as distance and time and money would allow, which for us was just once a year unfortunately but we would cherish every minute of those visits, and after we arrived home we would talk about John Henry frequently and plan our next visit with him. I would just fall deeper in love with him with each passing year. I was so proud of him how he survived that colic surgery. That just showed even more of what a fighter that little guy was and how much he was loved by the people at the KHP, that they would give him that chance and believed in him and that inspired me even more. We last saw him in May of this year. We did not think he looked as well as the year before but the HOC staff assured us all was well with him and we went home with some uneasiness that it might have been our last time to see him but with at the same time good feelings as we thought that it was our best visit ever with him. We did follow his progress some over the summer and we were elated when we saw the Blood-Horse video in late August about John's walks around the park. We saw quite a different horse in those images from when we saw him in May. He looked amazing. He had put on some pounds and he just looked so much younger and healthier. We were so relieved and thought we would have him around for more years to come and could not wait until our annual pilgrimage to get the chance to walk with him around the park. We felt a huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders. When September came, we got busy with other things in our lives and did not think to check in on him which was very unfortunate as we had no idea of his downturn. I did not find out anything was wrong until 2 days before he died. I feel so horrible about that. I read everything I could about what had happened in the past month, from this blog and the KHP website, and the latest post on the KHP website said that they were stopping the daily updates because of John's improvement. We felt terrible that we had not known what had happened to him and we talked about keeping a close watch on things and perhaps making another trip up to Kentucky in the next few months, but sadly time ran out and John died 2 days later. One of the reasons I feel so horrible is because I feel guilty that I did not check on him in September, because I would have liked the opportunity to have been able to visit him one more time to see him and encourage him and the HOC staff and say goodbye, since the last I knew he was doing great and I just was not prepared for this at all. I feel so bad for them because I know how much they loved him. I thought more about my earlier question about what is it about him that that touched us so. I should have worded it better. I realize what it was about him that touched me and you and the others that are here on this blog, but why us and why not more people? I tried to tell as many people as I could about John since meeting him, and some people would "get it" but most did not. What is different about us that John was able to "speak" to us? That is what puzzles me.
Judie
Hi Judie,
Thanks for your thoughts and comments. We need to make sure that John's legend lives on. He has, and will continue to be an inspiration for all of us.
Dr. John
Interesting article, added his blog to Favorites
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