A 46-year-old horse stuck in a rising stream had to be rescued from certain death.
Neighbours noticed the horse, called Minnesota, in the Hamanatua Stream at Okitu, Gisborne, just before 7am on Friday morning. It had rained heavily the night before.
They suspect she may have tried to cross the river by her paddock and became stuck in the stream bed.
"She would have been in the freezing rising river for about 20 hours before we noticed her there.
"By then she was very cold, tired and wouldn't have lasted much longer," said one of the neighbours.