Firemen used a fork-lift to rescue a horse out of a muddy ditch in Wickford.

Fire crews spent 90 minutes rescuing the animal out of the four foot ditch.

The fork-lift equipment was on a rescue tender from Leigh which was called to the dyke in Oakfield Avenue, near the A127, Wickford, at about 2pm yesterday.

A spokeswoman for Essex fire service said: "This is relatively rare, although we do get called to rescue animals on certain occasions."

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