Edmeads (28) sustained a fractured vertebra and broken bones in her hand and her wrist when she fell from The Rook in the third race at Cromwell on March 2, and faces almost three months in a combination of back braces.
She was taken from Cromwell to Dunstan Hospital in Clyde following the fall, before being transferred to Dunedin Hospital later that night where she remained until last Friday.
Edmeads travelled back to Christchurch, where she will recuperate, on Friday night. She has watched replays of the race, as she had concerns about the cause. She fell from The Rook after a chain of events which began when Gallant Rose began to weaken and Shirley Brook clipped Gallant Rose's heels with 550m to go.
Jockey Courtney Barnes fell from Shirley Brook into the path of The Rook, who fell and somersaulted after trying to jump Barnes. Doni Prastiyou, riding La Collectable, also fell in the incident.
''I've looked at it and I've gone over it several times, as I was a bit worried it was me that caused the fall because I didn't know what had happen,'' Edmeads said.
''Once I watched it, I realised it was nothing to do with me. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, really.''
Edmeads fractured her T7 vertebra, between the shoulder blades. She retained her sense of humour as she laughed when she described her back brace as ''like a turtleshell''.
''I'm in a back brace - basically like a plaster cast - from my neck to my hips.
''I'm in that for six weeks and then I'll have another six weeks where they'll put me in another back brace which I will be able to take off.''
Her right hand and wrist also took a battering. Edmeads said it was not the first time her right limb had sustained some damage.
''I've broken all the metatarsal bones in my hand, and I've also broken my wrist as well,'' she said.
''I broke my thumb back in November on my right hand at the trials and I also broke my arm about four years ago when I was riding trackwork for Te Akau in Matamata. I broke my radius and ulna [forearm bones] and dislocated my right wrist. It's all happened on the same arm,'' Edmeads, who grew up in Brighton in the south of England, has been in New Zealand for five years and plans to stay here.
''I absolutely love it over here. I've got residency now and I'm going to be applying for citizenship soon.
''I really want to stay and I want to get back to riding as soon as possible.''
Edmeads wants her start date, if her rehabilitation goes to plan, to be shortly after the new season begins on August 1.
''I really want to be back for the start of the new season - that's what I'm going to be trying to aim for.
She appreciated the support of her employers, the Woodlands-based Dennis brothers, and is looking forward to rejoining them.
''They've been really good. I hear from one of them every day,'' she said.
''They can't wait for me to come back - the job's there for me as soon as I want to come back to it, so that's all good.''
