Miracle the horse earned her name by being brought to safety - after a six-hour ordeal.

Firefighters and animal rescuers worked through the night to drag Miracle from a muddy ditch and a quarter-of-a-mile over marshes.

The pregnant mare is now recovering at Pitsea's Wat Tyler Pony Sanctuary.

Getting better - Brenda Wilkes nurses Miracle

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.