London, April 30 : Leona Lewis has been smashed in the face by her stallion – a birthday present from her friends.

The ‘X Factor’ singer had gone for a pleasant early-morning trot in LA when the horse suddenly turned on her.

The horse headbutted the singer with such force her lip was split open and knocked to the floor.

The incident has now forced her to postpone the recording of her new album.

“Leona has been riding since she was a child and has never had a fear of horses. So she was really shaken up when the horse turned on her,” the Mirror quoted a pal as saying.

“Something startled the horse and it flicked its head back and smacked Leona full in the face.

“She was knocked flying by the force of it. Everyone rushed over to see if she was OK, she was holding her face in agony.

“Thankfully she didn’t need any surgery, but she was told to stay at home and rest just in case she passed out with concussion.

“She doesn’t blame the horse though – it was just one of those things,” the pal added.

A source said that fortunately, Leona’s face hasn’t messed up too badly and she seemed to be healing nicely as she went shopping on Melrose Avenue in the LA sunshine.

However, her new album will have to wait while she recovers from the shocking incident.

“She had been due in the studio to record, but she felt shaken up so they had to cancel,” the source said.

“It has pushed everything back, but she’s such a grafter she’ll easily make up for lost time,” the source added. (ANI)