MORGAN FREEMAN escaped death in a horse-riding accident, just weeks after CHRISTOPHER REEVE was left paralysed falling from a horse.

The Oscar winner, who co-starred with Reeve in 1987’s Street Smart, owns seven horses that he rides on his ranch in Mississippi.

He says, "I grew up watching the movies. I always wanted to be a cowboy." But Freeman was almost put off the sport forever following his accident, shortly after Reeve’s own tragic fall in 1995.

He says, "I was riding my favourite horse Sable. His bridle snapped and he bolted.

"We’re in the wilderness, but we’re heading for a country highway at 35 miles per hour and the traffic is going 75, 85 miles an hour - and my horse isn’t going to check to see if a log truck is coming. I thought, ‘I’ve bought the farm.’ "But he turned and headed for this stump. He stopped before jumping. I made the jump first. He came afterwards. These things happen.

"And this was just two weeks after Christopher Reeve made his jump."