WORKERS at an animal charity battled blizzards and sub-zero temperatures to rescue five horses that were dangerously close to live railway lines.

The Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society, based in Pitsea Hall Lane, Basildon, rescued three horses - a mare and two foals - from a waterlogged field in Linford, East Tilbury.

They also helped two small male Shetland-type ponies that were running loose in Pitsea Hall Lane between 7.45pm and midnight on Monday, March 11.

All five were just yards away from the railway line in both locations, but manager Sue Allery and other staff members from the sanctuary got to them just in time.

She said: “They were right next to the level crossing in Linford so thank God I turned up when I did. It was like a blizzard out there, it was awful, I’ve never been so cold in my life.

“They hadn’t been fed or tended to for ages by the state of them, I think they have just been left there and abandoned, there was nothing there to eat and the little bit of field they did have, I’d never seen so much dung in one place.

Mrs Allery said a vet was called out to see the lame mare that was knee deep in water when she was found and the two younger horses were underweight and nervous, but otherwise okay.

The two smaller ponies were “scruffy but fat” and pulled sanctuary staff along the icy road in Pitsea Hall Lane “like they were on skis” before they could get hold of them. Mrs Allery said she will be working to establish who the owners of the animals are.