Madonna recovering from horse fall

Madonna was believed to be recovering at her country residence today following her 47th birthday riding accident.

She sustained three cracked ribs, a broken collar bone and a fractured hand when she fell from a new horse yesterday afternoon.

Save for the owner's aches and pains, it was life as normal today at Ashcombe House, her £9 million retreat near Tollard Royal, on the Wiltshire/Dorset border.

Game keepers were out in force, minding the pheasants and, more importantly, ensuring ramblers did not stray from the public rights of way which cross the 1,200 estate.

Recently she won her bid to keep walkers off most of her land but some remains open to the public.

The lady of the house was treated yesterday at nearby Salisbury District Hospital before being discharged to go home last night.

It is understood she was today recuperating at her rural hideaway with film director husband Guy Ritchie and her children, Rocco, five, by Ritchie, and Lourdes, eight, her first child, by Carlos Leon.

A helicopter, apparently carrying well-wishers, landed at the estate at 10am.

Its occupants, two children and two adults, were seen being met by a waiting 4x4.

They were then driven through the gates of the splendid Georgian mansion.

The helicopter left at around 11.10am, pulling up over Salisbury Plain from the valley in which the star's retreat nestles.

A short time later more guests drove into the estate, entering via one of its many gravel tracks.

The post was delivered by a Royal Mail van shortly after midday, no doubt carrying missives of support from concerned loved ones.

Madonna has recently reinvented herself as an English country lady.

Following yesterday's painful tumble, it would appear this transformation is nearing completion.

Having moved on from the cone-breasted days of yesteryear, Madonna can now, like many of her adopted nation's royal family, compare war wounds suffered from participating in hearty outdoor pursuits.

One of Madonna's gamekeepers said: "I can confirm that she left the estate in the helicopter."

He would not say where she had gone or whether she had been accompanied by her husband and children.