The celebrity gossip photographer who claims he was the only member of the paparazzi around when Madonna took a spill Saturday says he isn't to blame - and he claims her camp's story about what went down is ... well, horse $h!t.

The lensman told TMZ that he shot Madonna before and after she fell - but was not there for the actual fall. He says he took pics of her riding and left.

Unfortunately, no photos of her riding Jesus Luz have yet surfaced.

A half hour after he departed the scene, the photographer says he got a tip about an ambulance being sent out for a 50-year-old woman - so he put two and two together and went back to snap some pictures of her being tended to.

He says all photos were taken from a public road and the only other photographer anywhere nearby was Stephen Klein - whose house Madonna was at.

As he put it, "If I had startled the horse, I would have gotten pictures!"

The star's longtime spokesperson, Liz Rosenberg, made the contrary assertion after the fall that "The accident occurred when the horse Madonna was riding was startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes to photograph the singer."

Madonna was treated and released with minor injuries.