The Rescue of Belle and Sundance by Birgit Stutz

Title: The Rescue of Belle and Sundance
Author: Birgit Stutz with Lawrence Scanlan
Release Date: November 8, 2010
Publisher: Harper Collins Canada
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Nature/Pet Stories


Summary:

"On December 15, 2008, two snowmobilers discovered a pair of abandoned 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-footdeep snow. 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 the horses, 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 to pull on their long johns and pitch in -- 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 up that starkly beautiful but bitterly cold mountain to the heart of the struggle to save two horses. In this account, with its grim beginning and its glad and joyful end, Stutz and Scanlan recreate the rescue that sent a message of hope and compassion around the world." (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Rescue-Belle-and-Sundance-Birgit-Stutz-Lawrence-Scanlan/9781554686193-item.html?ikwid=the+rescue+of+belle+and+sundance&ikwsec=Home)

About the Author:
Go to The Falling Star Ranch website to learn more about Birgit and her ranch.
http://www.fallingstarranch.ca/BioPage.htm

Review:

Michelle bought me this book probably about a year ago. It was one of those ones that I kept meaning to pick up and didn’t get around to it. Now that I’ve read it I wish I had read it when she gave it to me! It was sooooo good (Larissa, are you listening???) I’m not a huge fan of horses, but those who know me well know that I am a sucker for a good animal story. I cried when I read Dewey, I gasped when I read The Daily Coyote (SO GOOD), and I laughed when I read others. I was so caught up in what was going on in this book that it was over before I knew it. I like that it was someone who was involved in the rescue who actually wrote it (co-wrote) – I know, what a novel idea, eh?  I was absolutely shocked by what these horses had to go through. It made me so angry and I thought of many ways in which the owner of them should be punished himself. Luckily there are good people in the world who are not afraid of a challenge and who fought hard for these horses! I fell in love with these horses and I hope you will too when you give this book a try! For animal lovers EVERYWHERE!!!!! I have included some pictures that I found of them. They start with the condition they were in when they were found and go from there...Happy Reading! I really hope you will read this book, especially because it is a Canadian story and written by a Canadian author!

Related Links:
Falling Star Ranch  http://www.fallingstarranch.ca/HomePage.htm
Chapters.ca  http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Rescue-Belle-and-Sundance-Birgit-Stutz-Lawrence-Scanlan/9781554686193-item.html?ikwid=the+rescue+of+belle+and+sundance&ikwsec=Home
Garth Frizzell  http://www.garthfrizzell.com/heroic-story-so-buy-this-book.html
Horses All  http://www.horsesall.com/2011/06/01/the-rescue-of-belle-and-sundance-a-miracle-on-mount-renshaw/