The Rescue of Belle and Sundance

On December 15, 2008, two snowmobilers discovered a pair of stranded horses atop B.C.’s Mount Renshaw in the Canadian Rockies. Belle and Sundance were a sorry sight― they were emaciated, shivering and trapped in a small shelter they had made for themselves by tramping down the six-foot-deep snow. The next morning, a party of four from the nearby town of McBride was sent back up the mountain with a bale of hay, a handgun and a heartbreaking choice to make: either feed Belle and Sundance, or shoot them.

The four agreed: there was an undeniable glimmer in the eyes of Belle and Sundance, and the decision was made to feed them. But saving the two horses would require a lot more than hay. Weighing their options, many people in McBride decided they would dig, by hand, the three-foot-wide, six-foot-deep, kilometre-long tunnel that became Belle and Sundance’s route to freedom.

The Rescue of Belle and Sundance takes the reader into the heart of the struggle to save two horses. In this account, which quickly became a regional bestseller and a bookseller favourite, Stutz and Scanlan recreate the rescue that sent a message of hope and compassion around the world.

Birgit Stutz was a key member of the rescue team. A horse trainer and journalist, she lives on a ranch near McBride in northeastern British Columbia.

LAWRENCE SCANLAN, based in Kingston, Ontario, workedwith Monty Roberts on his New York Times bestseller, The ManWho Listens to Horses, and he is the author of nine booksabout horses, including The Horse God Built: The Untold Storyof Secretariat, the World’s Greatest Racehorse.