Madonna injured in fall from startled horse in NY

Madonna took a tumble while horseback riding in the Hamptons on Saturday when her mount was startled by photographers, and she suffered “minor injuries” and bruises, a spokeswoman said.

Paparazzi had “jumped out of the bushes” to photograph her, spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said.

It's at least the second fall from a horse in four years for Madonna, who recently turned 50.

The singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and was released, said Rosenberg, who wouldn't disclose more details on her condition.

Madonna, singer of such pop classics as “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl,” had been visiting friends in the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and famous on the eastern end of Long Island.

She was thrown from a horse in England in the summer of 2005. She cracked three ribs and broke her collarbone and a hand in that accident.

She got back on a horse a couple of months later, when she was a guest the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. She and the talk show's host rode their horses outside his Manhattan studio. She said it was the first time since her fall that she had been back in the saddle.

“I have a bit of excitement tainted with fear,” she said then before climbing on.

She also said she hadn't been back on a horse since that fall “because my record company is not very keen on the idea of me injuring myself.”