Having been asked to divulge something “unexpected”, Matt Baker revealed that the dramatic incident unfolded while he was covering a story involving the rehabilitation of racehorses
Matt Baker once made an alarming admission to his wife, Nicola Mooney, following a terrifying accident while filming Countryfile. A recognisable face on television since his initial role on Blue Peter during the 1990s, Matt has subsequently embraced his countryside heritage through programmes including Channel 4’s Our Dream Farm and Our Farm in the Dales.
He’s also a cherished regular on Countryfile, where he appears alongside John Craven and Anita Rani, among other presenters. Matt’s startling disclosure came about during a conversation with these two colleagues about the programme in 2025.
During an interview on the Second Nature podcast at Kew Gardens, the presenters were invited to recall an “unexpected story” they may have had, prompting Matt to reveal he’d broken his back while working.
He recounted that the dramatic episode occurred while he was reporting on a story about rehabilitating racehorses. Matt was mounted on a horse at the time when the animal became frightened by a hedgecutter and burnt its leg.
Matt recalled: “There was a massive hedge on our left-hand side and an electric fence on our right-hand side, and there was a farmer on the opposite side of the hedge having his lunch with a hedgecutter attached to the back of his tractor.
“Anyway, he’d finished his sandwiches, started up the hedgecutter, and so the horse slightly freaked that I was on. And it just skipped to the right-hand side, burnt its leg on the electric fence, reared up and then went right back over the top of me.”
He went on: “Anyway, I jumped up, and I was kinda full of adrenaline, and I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re fine, all good, carry on. See you at the end of the programme. That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll be in wherever.’
“And then got in the car to drive home, and I was driving home, and I said to my wife, I said, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get out the car’. And anyway, we went…She said, ‘Look, I’ll meet you at hospital’ because she was a physio at the time.
“And yeah, and then it turns out I’d fractured my back, so yeah. So that was a surprise.”
In a separate development, Matt has opened up about his ongoing battle back pain on social media, prompting a wave of support from followers.
Taking to Instagram, he revealed: “Hi all, I’ve been creating a rustic gym in our stable. I’m hoping to revisit what has been a pretty active past of mine.
“For the last few years, I’ve been dealing with chronic back pain, and I’ve honestly felt like a massive part of me has been missing, so I’m gonna work through what feels like a bit of a sticky wall to get myself back in the game.”
He stressed that he would “take it gently,” pointing out that his gymnastics background means he understands what he’s “doing”.
You can next catch Matt on Countryfile on BBC One on Sunday, March 1, from 6pm to 7pm.
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