Leona Lewis Headbutts Horse

04/30/09 2:45pm

by Jen White (CHARTattack)

Leona Lewis' lip was bleeding — but probably not bleeding love — when she and her horse awkwardly (and apparently quite literally) butted heads.

The British pop starlet went for an early morning ride in Los Angeles when her stallion, a birthday present from her friends, suddenly headbutted her, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mirror tabloid, giving her a split lip and causing her to fall to the ground.

"Leona has been riding since she was a child and has never had a fear of horses. So she was really shaken up when the horse turned on her," said an unnamed "pal."

"Something startled the horse and it flicked its head back and smacked Leona full in the face. She was knocked flying by the force of it. Everyone rushed over to see if she was OK; she was holding her face in agony.

"Thankfully, she didn't need any surgery, but she was told to stay at home and rest just in case she passed out with concussion.

"She doesn't blame the horse though – it was just one of those things."

As a fellow horseback rider, I know these awkward accidents happen all the time. But really: How did that horse's head reach around all the way to hit Lewis while she was on its back?! That must be one hell of a flexible horsie.

The accident has in turn delayed the recording of the follow-up to Lewis' 2007 Spirit debut.

"She had been due in the studio to record, but she felt shaken up so they had to cancel," the source told The Daily Mirror.

Lewis' injuries didn't seem too bad, since she was spotted out shopping the next day on Melrose Avenue in LA.

Lewis is not the only pop star who has recently suffered from equestrian-related injuries. Madonna was taken to hospital earlier this month when she was thrown from a horse that had been spooked by papparazzi while riding in Bridgehampton, N.Y.

"The accident occurred when the horse Madonna was riding was startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes to photograph the singer who was visiting friends on Eastern Long Island over the weekend," read a statement from Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's publicist.

But according to the Associated Press, the police report regarding Madge's fall fails to mention the papparazzi.

Photographer Thomas Hinton is speaking out about the incident, and claims Madonna's host, Steven Klein, was the only photographer around when she fell, according to the Associated Press. Hinton claims he took pictures of the singer from a public road before and after her accident, but wasn't there when her Madgesty fell.

"Isn't it kind of ridiculous that [photographers are] saying that they're not there when there are all of these pictures?" Rosenberg told the news agency.

Madonna suffered minor injuries and bruises, and was released from hospital the same day. Luckily, they weren't as serious as the injuries she sustained from a nasty fall while riding in 2005, when she broke her collarbone, fractured a hand and cracked three of her ribs.