KEY POINTS:
Rebecca Peters had a magic touch with horses.
Yet for all the "miracles" she performed with even the most difficult mounts, the 31-year-old jockey and trainer could not have foreseen the riding accident that claimed her life.
Peters was jumping a horse at Christchurch's Riccarton Racecourse on Tuesday when it hit a hurdle and threw her off. She suffered head, spine and lung injuries and died in Christchurch Hospital early yesterday.
Thoroughbred Racing, the Labour Department, and police, on behalf of the coroner, are investigating the accident.
Peters' death came as a shock to many in the horse industries, where she had developed a reputation for working with horses that few could match.
But her parents, Jay and Helen, do not blame anyone for their daughter's death, saying there were risks in being a jockey.
"She was pretty focused on what she was going to do," Mr Peters said.
"A sport is a sport. In sport you have accidents."
Mrs Peters said: "She loved the challenge of it."
At age 7, Peters was introduced to horses and an instant connection was made that would become her life passion. Her parents got her a horse and many more were to follow.
It soon became apparent she had a gift for picking and training horses that would develop into champions in various classes.
"She had a special affinity for horses, especially difficult horses," Mrs Peters said.
After working with them for years, it was a natural progression for her to become a jockey. Her goal was to ride in the Grand National.
Kevin Hughes employed Peters for the past several years training horses at his stables, and described her as a miracle worker.
"Anyone who had a horse they were having trouble with, she would always jump on it for them. With difficult horses she could work miracles. Right down the South Island, there wouldn't probably be a person in the horse business that she hasn't helped in one way or another."
Flatmate and fellow jockey Lisa Young said Peters was the type of person who would jump on any horse, "it didn't matter how naughty it was".
"She had a couple of falls over the jumps and she'd get back up and walk on. She was a pretty hard woman."
Young said that like herself, Peters knew there were risks riding and working with horses.
"It's very hard to predict what is going to happen. [Horses] are half a tonne of flesh and muscle - they are not exactly in your control."
Peters' death follows that of teenage apprentice Sam McRae in a fall at Riverton, Southland, in 2005 and two other South Island jockeys - Ray Hewinson and Jo McGartland - died in separate race falls in 2002.
