LUCKY Jemima Parry-Jones narrowly avoiding being paralysed after being thrown from her horse.
She fractured her spine but amazingly was back on her feet 10 days later.
The owner of the International Birds of Prey Centre in Newent is now giving flying demonstrations while wearing a back brace.
She said:"It's still fairly painful but I can do most things except tie my shoelaces.
"I look a bit odd when I walk but I am carrying on regardless.
"The most embarrassing thing is that I squeak when I bend over."
She took a tumble into the snow during a riding lesson on December 28.
She said: "I went down with a crash and fell about 12 feet.
"Had I been younger I probably would have bounced and got back up.
"But I lay there and knew it wasn't good."
She said paramedics and staff at Moor Farm Equestrian Centre in Corse Lawn who took care of her were "phenomenal".
She was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and was laid up for 10 days.
She said: "I was very, very lucky. I could have been paralysed."
She spent the time working on the three books she is writing which include an autobiography.
And now she is getting used to wearing the back brace and easing back into a working routine.
Jemima said she is not her "usual graceful self" but is managing to fly most of the birds of prey at the centre, except the largest eagles which weigh up to a stone.
She said: "I asked the doctor if I could fly falcons. The doctor looked at me a bit oddly but didn't say no."
Sadly doctors have banned her from riding for a year so she decided to sell her horse Art.
But she said her experience has not put her off riding.
"These things happen," she said.
"I have fallen off lots of times and am sure I will again."
