RACHEL BELLE

Meet The Animal Communicator Who Located a Lost Horse In Redmond

May 29, 2013, 5:37 PM | Updated: May 30, 2013, 8:07 am

Animal communicator Joan Ranquet. Photo by Corinne McNeely.

On Tuesday, we told you about an 800 pound Norwegian fjord, a horse named Gemma, who escaped from her stable and got lost. She slipped 70 feet into a Redmond ravine and landing on a precarious ledge. Eventually, she was rescued, unscathed, by more than 60 people who lifted her out.

But the part of the story that didn’t emerge until later is that a local animal communicator is responsible for the owner’s finding their horse in the first place. Joan Ranquet got a call from the horse’s owner, Barbara Linstedt, on Monday evening. The phone call only lasted three minutes.

“The barn owner had been looking [for the horse] all day,” Joan told me. “The [horse’s] owner drove up and said, ‘I just talked to Joan and this is what she said.’ And they found the horse within, I guess, about five minutes.”

So what did Joan say? How did she locate this horse that she’s never met?

“She emailed me a picture. So I get quiet, I close my eyes and I sneak a little peak at the horse. Then I get quiet again and I keep looking at the horse. I kind of go into a world of what is mine and what is hers.”

Then she sees pictures in her mind.

“I wrote down the word ‘distraught.’ But at the same time there was a presence of mind, a calmness. I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize it was a 4X6 ledge, I thought it was stuck with a lot of brambles around. I didn’t realize that looking down was potentially the end. All I could see was the immediate greenery. I could sense that there were horses nearby but that she couldn’t see them. But the biggest thing was I heard rushing, as if she was under a waterfall, and I could hear traffic in the distance. But the rushing water. They followed the stream down and found her.”

Like I said, it only took three minutes for Joan to communicate with Gemma and conjure up this picture. Five minutes later the horse was found. I asked Joan if it makes her feel smug, since there are so many non-believers out there.

“If people don’t believe in it, they can not believe in it. I’m not in the job of turning people around. I’m in the job of helping people and animals that come to me.”

Joan emphasizes that she is not an animal psychic. She’s a communicator and claims anyone can do it.

“I was always very connected, as everybody is. We all do telepathy, we just don’t realize it. I went and I studied with a woman named Carol Gurney and I started doing it really quickly. Now I teach animal communication all over the country.”

If Joan’s name sounds familiar it may be because she’s the same woman who communicated with my ‘rental cat,’ Baby, a year and a half ago. Baby’s owners went on a long motorcycle trip, and she had just come to live with me three weeks before I met Joan.

“She said that you guys really connected right off the bat,” Joan told me, communicating with Baby who was hiding in the closet. “It feels like they were very kind to her where she was but she almost got pretty depressed there. There was something about the way that you looked at her that she went, ‘Okay!’ She also feels like it was really good timing for you because you needed her also. She loves you too. It’s really really big.”

Joan communicates with all kinds of animals all around the world.

“I’ve talked to the elephants at the zoo, I take people on dolphin trips and we talk to the dolphins. A lot of horses. Up at Sarvey Wildlife Center I go up and talk to the eagles.”

She charges $45 for a lost pet phone call, $90 to communicate with your pet over the phone for half an hour and $180 for an in-person, hour long communication session.

I did it for fun, but she often helps people figure out why their pets are acting out and with that information can help change their behavior.

Rachel Belle

Rachel Belle...

Rachel Belle

Belle: This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later

After 20 years in news radio, I'm leaving my post at KIRO Newsradio to focus on making my podcast "Your Last Meal" full-time!

2 years ago

emily post etiquette...

Rachel Belle

Emily Post’s “Etiquette” goes modern: Advice on pronouns, hugging

In 1922, Emily Post published her very first etiquette book. Since then, 18 editions have been published by five generations of Posts.

2 years ago

Friluftsliv...

Rachel Belle

Combat winter blues with friluftsliv, the Nordic tradition of being outside

Friluftsliv is part of the culture in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, places that are darker and colder than Seattle in winter.

2 years ago

small talk...

Rachel Belle

Most Americans hate small talk, but Seattleites continue talking about weather

Out of 1,000 people surveyed, 71% said they prefer silence to small talk and 89% of Gen Z use their phones to avoid making small talk.

2 years ago

(Igordoon Primus/Unsplash)...

Rachel Belle

Seattle sperm bank in desperate need of Black donors

Only 2% of American sperm donors are Black men, which is causing a lot of heartache for women specifically looking for a Black donor. 

2 years ago

Photo courtesy of Rosie Grant...

Rachel Belle

Woman cooking recipes engraved on gravestones says they’re all ‘to die for’

You know that recipe your family requests at every holiday, potluck and birthday party? What if you had it engraved on your tombstone?

2 years ago

Meet The Animal Communicator Who Located a Lost Horse In Redmond