Henrietta Knight is running operations at her West Lockinge Farm, near Wantage, from a hospital bed after breaking her right ankle and two bones in her leg.

The 67-year-old former trainer, whose husband Terry Biddlecombe died earlier this month, was rounding up the geese by the duck pond on Saturday evening when she slipped on a paving slab, hitting her foot on the edge of the concrete.

She was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, where she underwent an operation later that night, with the ankle being pinned and plated.

Knight, who saddled Best Mate to win a hat-trick of Cheltenham Gold Cups from 2002-4, said: “It is just a terrible shock.

“When I got up I didn’t seem to be feeling a huge amount, but I could see there was something wrong because the foot was facing the other way.

“I was crawling around and shouting for people and Dawn (Graham, secretary) brought a wheelchair and the ambulance was very quick in coming and they put me in a cast and took me off.

“I think they will definitely keep me in for another week because they don’t want to risk any infection, and I won’t be able to put any weight on the leg for three months.”

Knight has had horses in pre-training and has set up educational programmes for jumpers since her retirement from training in the summer of 2012.

And she added: “I am managing all my horses from my bed, and doing the lists and the staff are coming in, so I am right on top of what is going on in the yard.

“It is all running very smoothly, and people like Yogi Breisner are going over to give people lessons, and Dominic Elsworth and Andrew Thornton are going over to ride out.”

Knight will be keen to leave hospital, though, with a celebration of Biddlecombe’s life planned to be held at Cheltenham next month.