The Rescue of Belle and Sundance
One Town's Incredible Race to Save Two Abandoned Horses
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In December 2008, snowmobilers spot two abandoned horses high in the Canadian Rockies. Starving and frostbitten, the horses have trampled the ten-foot-deep snow into a narrow white prison. Those who reach them bring hay but also a gun, in case the horses are too far gone. A glint of life in the horses' eyes earns them the hay.
The harrowing yet inspiring story of their near impossible rescue -- involving the volunteer efforts of an entire village, first the excavation of a trench six feet deep and over 3280 feet long, and then a nearly 20 mile descent at negative 40 degrees -- is sure to be read in one breathless sitting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two horses are stranded on treacherous mountain terrain in the Canadian Rockies when winter comes, they are emaciated and frostbitten, "waiting for the inevitable." Their plight galvanizes the small town of McBride, British Columbia, and the ensuing rescue effort is the focus of this slim, moving book. Stutz, a horse trainer and McBride resident (writing with Scanlan, author of The Horse God Built), was involved in spearheading the effort to return Belle and Sundance (a young mare and older gelding, respectively) to safety. In elegant prose, Stutz recaps the days of the rescue, in which a search party is sent up the mountainside with a handgun and a bale of hay, the former to be used in case the horses are too far gone. We experience the emotional and physically draining days along with Stutz, who also narrates the actions of Belle and Sundance's original owner, an Edmonton lawyer who abandoned his pack horses after an expedition gone awry and then tries to claim them after the rescue. This uplifting story will even touch readers who aren't horse fanatics a lovely read.
