The petrified remains of a horse still in its harness and saddle have been uncovered by archaeologists in an ancient villa outside the walls of Pompeii.

The 2,000-year-old animal, saddled up and ready to ride out, was possibly being prepared to flee the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which buried surrounding towns in millions of tonnes of ash.

The horse, which would have died of suffocation or by boiling vapours, was found alongside the remains of other horses in a stable.

They would have come to a “fierce and terrible end”, Pompeii archaeological park head Massimo Osanna said.

Mr Osanna told Italian news agency ANSA the villa belonged to a high-ranking military officer, perhaps a general, during ancient Roman times.

The villa’s terraces had views of the Bay of Naples and Capri island. The area was previously excavated, during the early 1900s, but later re-buried.