Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg says the singer took the tumble when her horse was startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes to photograph her.
But photographer Thomas Hinton tells Newsday in online editions Sunday the only photographer present when the singer fell was Steven Klein, her host in the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and famous on the eastern end of Long Island.
Hinton says he received a tip Madonna was in the Hamptons and took photos of her from a public road before and after the accident. He says he wasn't there when she fell.
"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," Rosenberg said in a statement.
The 50-year-old singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and released, and is being monitored by doctors, Rosenberg said. No other information was released and a request for additional comment was not immediately returned.
It was unclear whether the incident happened on private property and whether photographers were trespassing in the incident; Southampton police did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
This is not the first time Madonna has been injured riding a horse. She was thrown from a horse in England in the summer of 2005, cracking three ribs and breaking her collarbone and a hand in that accident.
She saddled up again 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."
This is the latest setback for Madonna. Earlier this month, a judge in Malawi denied her request to adopt a 3-year-old girl from the southern African country. Madonna, who adopted son David there, has said she will appeal the ruling.
