She's been riding the majestic beasts for more than two decades, working at racing stables is what she does best, and caring for the creatures has helped her get through some tough times.

"I learnt to ride when I was eight years old, I went through that horse phase as a girl and just never grew out of it," she said.

The Tamworth jockey has even forgiven the young mare who flipped over on top of her and crushed her pelvis under its hefty weight, landing her in a wheelchair for six weeks.

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Jemma has spent months learning to walk again and regaining her strength, after the Tamworth racetrack crash in April this year.

"We took a young horse around to the barriers here ... she just had a moment and didn't want to do it," Jemma said.

"She tried to run backwards but plaited up her legs and when she reared up, she went over and landed on my pelvis.

"I landed on my right side and her wither landed directly on my left side, that's where most of the damage was."

Things get blurry after that.

Jemma knows she was rushed to hospital, "maxed out on drugs", and was flown to Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

That's where she was thrust into the toughest race of her life - a long and slow slog with no other competitors and no posts to signify the end.

"I ended up having three breaks and 13 fractures in my pelvis, so I was pretty much shattered and a bit like Humpty Dumpty, they had to put me together again," Jemma told the Leader.

A week in hospital in Sydney, a month in hospital in Tamworth, six weeks in a wheelchair and 12 weeks of intense rehabilitation later, Jemma is "feeling good" and has been back on her feet at the Troy O'Neile racing stables for the past couple of weeks.

"That time was pretty hard to deal with, I think my time in hospital and then when I got home, I just withdrew a bit to cope," Jemma said.

'When I left hospital, they said you look forward to going home ... but it's completely different because you're in a wheelchair and you can't do anything for yourself so it's a bit of a shock, but I did have a lot of help.

"There was a bit of a time there when I thought I don't even know if I want to work with horses again, but this has been my whole life and I've never done anything else and I just fell back into old habits," she said. "The other horses all love me and I like to spoil them, sometimes."

While Jemma continues to win her old body back, the unseen scars are still raw.

"I'll get back on a horse for sure, whether I ride trackwork again, that's something for the future," she said.

"I want to be able to walk properly first."

Jemma is on track for a full recovery, and the horse involved in the accident is fine.