Madonna got knocked off her high horse yesterday and wound up in the hospital with three cracked ribs, a busted collarbone and a broken hand.

Madonna was celebrating her 47th birthday by riding in the 485-hectare grounds of the 9 million ($27m) Ashcombe House, accompanied by her personal assistant, when she tumbled from the unfamiliar horse.

Her husband, film director, Guy Ritchie, and her two children Rocco, 5, and Lourdes, 8, were at home for the star's birthday when the accident happened in the late afternoon...

Madonna’s accident is not the first among the many celebrities who suffered injury while on horseback. American actor Christopher Reeve of Superman fame was left paralysed shoulder-down in 1995 and British actor Roy Kinnear died filming The Return of the Three Musketeers in 1988, all after falls from horses.

Orthopaedic surgeon Leela Biant said Madonna's fitness would help her make a full recovery in about three months.