Lorraine Kelly has told how she suffered a "real fright" when she fell from a horse, which then stamped on her leg.

The ITV star, 52, was rushed to hospital by ambulance after losing blood in the accident, which happened while she trained for a modern pentathlon she was taking part in for charity Piggy Bank Kids.

She underwent surgery under general anaesthetic at St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London, late on Tuesday night for a deep thigh wound.

She later Tweeted that she was to remain in hospital on Wednesday night and it would take "around four weeks" for her injuries to heal.

But Lorraine, replaced on Wednesday's programme by Helen Fospero, vowed that she would be back on the show before then.

"I got a real fright but the treatment by the NHS has been fantastic and I have been looked after very well. I am being kept in until the earliest tomorrow and will be on crutches for a few weeks," she said.

The star was training at a riding school in Surrey for the pentathlon, which would see her compete alongside Sarah Brown, wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in events including riding, fencing, swimming, running and shooting.

During her second lesson for the riding discipline she fell from the saddle while approaching a jump.

She said that she was "a bit bruised and battered but fine".

"Unfortunately the horse stamped on my thigh. As a result - deep wound and lots of blood," she wrote. "Was treated by fab paramedics in ambulance - then given an op under general anaesthetic at hospital."