The horse was saddled and harnessed, presumably ready to go at a moment’s notice, when Mount Vesuvius erupted. Suffice it to say, the horse, which was waiting in a stable of a villa just outside the walls of the city of Pompeii, didn’t make it. The BBC reports that archaeologists unearthed the horse’s remains along with two others, including bits and pieces of its harness, during recent excavations.

The horses—as well as the city’s inhabitants—didn’t stand a chance when the sudden wave of hot ash and gas enveloped the area in 79 A.D.

According to a press release, the finds come out of a joint operation of the Archaeological Park with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Torre Annunziata, the Carabinieri Group Command of Torre Annunziata and the Naples Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage that began excavating the area last spring.

Read more here.