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South Africa's successful international jockey Weichong Marwing is set to return to race riding by the end of the month after recovering from a serious back injury.

Marwing resumed riding last week after he was struck down by back spasms in January.

“If all goes well, I’m hoping to be race riding again by the end of April,” Marwing said after riding his first horses in exercise.

Marwing was riding at the Vaal on January 14 when his back went into spasm.

He was stood down by the race day doctor and in subsequent days realized he had a serious problem when the spasms continued despite chiropractic and physio treatment.

Scans subsequently found he had damaged his L3 and L4 veterbrae.

The options were surgery or rest and given the associated risks with surgical procedures, Marwing opted for the rest option.

Marwing’s specialist prescribed exercises to strengthen his core and help build up the muscles to take some of the strain off his back, leading to a clearance to resume riding.

“I just need to get fit and get comfortable and make sure there are no aches and pains,” he said.

“I’m just taking it slowly. I’m not riding a lot of horses but at this stage everything feels comfortable.

“I feel fine but it takes just one horse to take an awkward step and put me in an awkward position and it could come back again.

“I’m just hoping nothing goes wrong. Barring anything going wrong I will be ready for the Durban season.”