Whistlestop Gallery
Artists and artisans of the Robson Valley
Renshaw Horses
The Renshaw Horses by Dave Marchant
David left Indiana in 1973 to teach in a one-room school. Art had always been a favourite subject during his education, his photography remaining the most consistent creative outlet. It wasn't until retirement that his interests shifted to painting, creating his first piece, Cabbage, in 2005. Since then, he has made both stunning paintings and his beloved comic calendars.
Located 13 km from McBride sits the trail head of Mount Renshaw, a popular snowmobiling destination for anyone looking for winter recreation in the Robson Valley. Boasting BC’s largest riding area, the Renshaw is regularly maintained. It is known for it’s variety in sledding terrain, everything from low angle to steep alpine, it’s the perfect place for snowmobiling enthusiasts.
Mount Renshaw may be known to tourists as a place where you can pass the time during the cold, dark Canadian winters, but to the locals, it’s much more. It is a place where community comes together in the face of adversity, to rescue two helpless, neglected animals who's lives were at stake.
In the fall of 2008, a local hiker spotted two pack horses wandering around Mount Renshaw. When asked, the locals didn’t know who the horses belonged to.
In early December that same year, McBride residents Monika and Tim Brown heard about the two horses and went looking for them horses but were unsuccessful in their attempts to locate them.
A few days later, two community members, Logan Jeck and Leif Gunster,
rediscovered the horses while they were helping to recover snowmobiles on Mount
Renshaw. Later identified as Belle and Sundance, the horses had been found alive after
having been left behind by their owner. They were emaciated, trapped in a well
6 feet deep, freezing in below 30 temperatures, and had resorted to eating parts of each
others tails in an attempt to survive.
The following day, Leif, Logan, Logan’s sister Toni and Matt Elliott went back up the mountain with a handgun and a bale of hay to decide whether to put the horses down or keep them alive. The horses still had a glimmer of life in their eyes, so Toni cut open a bale of hay and started feeding the horses.
There is a quote from the book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that local horse trainer Birgit Stutz and her husband live by: “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” As animal lovers, when they heard about the horses, the answer was obvious.“I can not sit back and just not do anything,” she said. Helping animals is apart of their everyday lives and who they are as people, so when Birgit heard that the horses has been found and were in need of help, she and several other community members stepped in.
Ideas about how to get the horses out of their icy prison were thrown around, some suggested helicoptering them out (the horses were too weak for that), some suggested snowblowers, others suggested pouring boiling water to melt a trail, but the weather conditions wouldn’t permit either. One person suggested tying the horses to a piece of plywood and pulling them with a snowmobile. Even snowshoes for horses were suggested. Some people even suggested leaving them to die or putting them down. However, none of the negativity stopped the rescuers from devising a plan: digging a trench was the only option. She estimates that about 50 people were involved in the rescue, 23 alone on the last day. Everyone from locals to passer-by's. Sledders going up the Renshaw would even stop to help, having heard about the horses through locals or even the media.
As word spread, community members and volunteers banded together to dig a kilometer-long trench 6 feet deep towards a nearby logging road in order to save the horses. Rescuers spent about five hours each day digging an exit pathway from top down, eventually digging from the bottom up after a few days. The rescuers had to travel an hour by snowmobile to get to the horses; they would bring with them shovels, axes, and chainsaws to build the trench and hay for feed; they melted snow in a bucket over a fire so the animals could have water to drink. Community involvement was crucial to the rescue effort. Community involvement was crucial to the rescue effort. Whether it was digging the horses out or bringing the rescuers food and water, every bit of community effort helped.
On December 19th, a veterinarian from Prince George and two SPCA constables from Kamloops came to asses the horses. Both horses scored a 2 out of 10 on a body condition score system, but the vet agreed that rescuing them was the better option.
After eight days of hard work, on Dec. 23, 2008, the horses finally walked free. They were led out of the trench at 3 pm and made it to the Renshaw parking lot by 10 pm. In the parking lot, a small group of people were there to greet the rescuers and transport the horses to safety.
Belle and Sundance were brought to Prince George Equine Rescue, where they were nursed back to health and later adopted. Though both horses recovered well, Sundance had trouble trusting in people and Belle has developed permanent white patches on her coat from the frostbite she endured. Currently, Belle lives on a ranch in Red Rock near Prince George. She is 20 years old, healthy and happy. Sundance had been transported to a ranch in Kamloops, where he lived a long and happy life, until his passing in May of 2015 at the age of 21. He was described as being a good “big brother” figure to the fosters and new horses at the ranch.
This heartfelt story inspired many, and later two books were published that retold the events of the rescue. A movie adaptation, starring Aidan Quinn and Mackenzie Porter, was released in 2012.
You can find both the book and movie here at the McBride & District Public Library.
If you would like to purchase The Rescue of Belle and Sundance, it is available on Amazon.ca. The Horses of McBride movie is available for rent on AppleTV.
Thank you to Birgit Stutz for providing us with your experience rescuing Belle and Sundance, and aiding in editing this write up. Your contribution to the Living Stories project has been incredibly valuable.
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All photos on this page are courtesy of Birgit.