MARLBOROUGH-BASED eventing superstar Andrew Nicholson has his fingers crossed that he will be back on the horse as early as next month as he looks to complete a miraculous recovery from his horror fall last year.

However, the 54-year-old doesn’t expect to don his country’s famous silver fern and compete in a seventh Olympic Games in Rio this summer as a result of his row with Equestrian New Zealand.

Nicholson’s spat with his country’s governing body, for whom he has helped to three Olympic team medals, including bronze at London 2012, was borne of an altercation with team vet Ollie Pynn at the World Equestrian Games in August 2014.

The Wiltshire-based ace withdrew from the Kiwi squad at that competition and after withdrawing from negotiations over a potential reintegration with Equestrian NZ last year, Nicholson was left out of New Zealand’s High Performance Squad for 2016.

Asked if there was any chance of the two parties reconciling and the five-time Burghley champion saddling up at Rio, Nicholson told the Swindon Advertiser: “I wouldn’t think so, no.

“Nothing has really changed. I don’t waste too much time worrying about ENZ and I’m just getting on with things.”

The prestige of the Olympics have been pushed far down the pecking order for Nicholson after he was nearly paralysed in a fall at Gatcombe last August.

The Kiwi star broke his neck after coming off ride Cillnabradden Evo during a cross country phase but lady luck smiled on him, with a shattered vertebrae releasing pressure on his spinal cord and preventing him from suffering paralysis, like 98 per cent of people with similar injuries.

After recovering from surgery, Nicholson has his sights set on taking trusty long-term mounts Avebury and Nereo to Badminton in May – the prestigious four-star where the top prize has somehow evaded his grasp during his illustrious career.

And following his breathtaking near-miss at Gatcombe last year, simply getting back in the saddle would represent a major landmark for the highly-decorated Nicholson.

“It definitely all felt very real at the time but I’m mending now and I’m back doing everything as normal,” he said.

“I’m just waiting for the weather to get better so that I can get back out there but I’m aiming for Badminton and I want to do all of the competitions that I’d usually do before Badminton – that would mean competing again in April.

“If things aren’t right, then I’ll pull the plug and walk away but accidents happen in life and I feel like things are going in the right direction.”