THE owner of a horse rescued in Weymouth has praised firefighters for saving it from death.

Natalie Northover said her chestnut mare Sherry would have died without help from the service's new animal rescue unit.

Sherry was trapped in a ditch for three-and-a-half hours after slipping in wet conditions in Wyke Regis. Mrs Northover, 24, of Wyke Regis, said: "I am relieved she got out.

"At one point everyone thought it didn't look good and people were crying.

"I thought that was it because she was so exhausted, she was just laid out flat."

The staff at Furzedown farm, where she is stabled, and a vet tried to pull Sherry up with ropes.

But when that failed, firefighters attended with their special animal rescue unit from Poole.

Mrs Northover said: "Everyone really pulled together to try and rescue Sherry and without the fire brigade there is no way we would have got her out of the ditch."

Sherry had struggled to pull herself up due to exhaustion and old age.

Keith Barnes, who is in charge of the animal rescue unit, said: "The extreme wet conditions were creating mudslides everywhere."

He added: "In these conditions it is apparently kinder to put the animals to sleep but the vet advised us that if we could help her to her feet she could make a full recovery."

Mrs Northover has owned Sherry for 12 years and the much-loved horse even attended her wedding last year.

Mr Barnes said: "The new animal rescue equipment was designed for exactly this kind of incident and luckily the crews were able to stand the horse on her feet and I believe she will now be OK."

After the rescue Sherry is on painkillers to recover from the fall, but she is not seriously injured.