The animal, Roxy, was neck deep in the mud, at Powburn, which was caused by the freak flash floods which attacked Northumberland last month.

It was said that the horse slipped into the mud at around 4pm.

It's rider managed to escape and went to find help.

Jackie McDougall helped try and free the animal while son, Alexander, 10, assisted Fire crews to locate the animal. Both live in the village.

Jackie said: "The horse was totally stuck in the mud. It was on its side. It was horrible, just horrible!

"It kept trying to move to free itself but the more it did the more it got stuck. It's legs couldn't get free of the mud and the mud was in its face."

She added: "But the horse was brilliant, especially when you consider how scared and cold it was."

The animal was freed at around 5.25pm. A fire crew from Wooler attended the incident and released Roxy.

Edward Chinn, a vet, also attended the scene.

He said: "The horse was very good. It was shocked and exhausted but its body temperature was okay."