Colin Mercer treated wife Christine to a weekend of horseriding on the beach at Holy Island as a birthday surprise on Saturday.

But the day ended in high drama and only a three-hour rescue, involving a Sea King helicopter from RAF Boulmer, firefighters, coastguards with specialist mud equipment, two Seahouses lifeboats, local farmers, the RSPCA and a local vet, prevented a tragedy.

Christine told the Hawick News: "We went riding on the south side of the island and had great fun galloping the horses.

"We were heading back because we'd done enough and it was on our last canter we set off.

"I don't know what happened, Colin's horse Gillen cut in front of mine and I shouted at him. He turned round and I was trying to steer out of his way and the next thing I saw was his horse bolting and Colin was knocked to the ground and kicked by the horse as he fell."

Christine gave chase on her horse Mildon, but the runaway mare, who came third in the Grand National in 2005, wasn't for stopping.
She returned to her injured husband before setting off again in search of the animal.

"I was scanning the horizon trying to see him and eventually I thought I could see something. It wasn't like a horse standing up and when I got close enough to see it was Gillen but he looked like he was lying down and I thought he'd hurt himself.

"But when I got closer still I realised he wasn't hurt, he was stuck in the mud. He was up to his chest and by this time I was into it too," said Christine. "It was like quicksand, I tried to turn but I couldn't get him out.

"I got my phone out but I didn't have a signal and I couldn't see a single person. I got off and was terrified and kept thinking I was going to sink.

"Every step I took I was in over my knees and I didn't know how deep it was going to go. I kept thinking if the tide comes in then the horses are going to drown and so am I.

"How I got from there to the side was a miracle, my legs were so tired, I ended up crawling some of the way.

"I just had to keep going, I was screaming 'help, help!'."
Christine managed to climb a wall and eventually summon help at the nearby B&B where the couple were staying and Colin had already called the coastguard and emergency services from his mobile phone.

The horses were stuck on the madflats around half-a-mile from the causeway, near Fenwick on the mainland side of the sands.

Seahouses inshore lifeboat was called out at just after 3pm to act as a safety boat as local coastguards attempted to free them. Four fire engines also rushed to assist and an ambulance crew made their way to the scene for injured Colin.

After more than an hour, Gillen was freed from the mud, but Mildon was still firmly stuck, with the tide rising ever higher.

Christine said: "I just didn't want him to drown. If they couldn't get him out I just wanted them to put him to sleep so he didn't know what was happening."

The all-weather lifeboat from Seahouses, with additional crew, was also called on to help the rescue efforts, as two of the inshore crew were already in the water with the horse, trying to keep the distressed animal as calm as possible. Local vet, Rennie Gresham, also arrived around the same time.

The Sea King helicopter from RAF Boulmer was diverted from another incident to help the rescuers, and was flagged down by Mr Gresham to take him to the horse, as he was unable to wade through the rising tide and soft mud without damaging medicines and equipment, or reach the horse in time. Mr Gresham was taken on-board the helicopter and heavy lifting equipment was attached to enable the horse to be lifted, as the specialist animal sling was unavailable, before the chopper flew to the scene and hovered overhead.



Christine explained: "They tried to get him on the first attempt but he was too heavy. They came back in and we thought they'd given up, but they were just in to put the winches underneath the helicopter to balance it up. They got him onto it but he had a bit of a wriggle and they dropped him.

"The fire crews were told to pull out and I was worried somebody was going to be seriously injured. It was my horse but these were people's lives we were talking about and I didn't want anybody to get hurt."

Mr Gresham was winched down from the helicopter to the horse, to administer a sedative intravenously, to ensure the horse did not move once in the air.

He added: "It was the last attempt, as once he was sedated he couldn't keep his head up.

"If they dropped him a second time they wouldn't have got a third attempt. As it worked out, without the sedation the horse would have died."

Three hours after the drama began, the helicopter, thanks to great skill from its crew, was able to lift the horse from the flooding mudflats, landing it in a nearby field.

Mr Gresham, was then picked up by the helicopter from the inshore lifeboat and dropped in the field to treat the horse for shock.

Christine said: "Within an hour he came round. He was a wee bit wobbly and he had cuts on his legs, but other than that he was none the worse for the experience. Everybody was just superb, they wouldn't go away until he was up. I'm so grateful to everyone for all their help, to do what they did was just amazing."