Jockey Christine Lawn was looking forward to the Wingatui races on February 9, 2002.

She had a decent parcel of rides and anticipated moving her win tally up from 19 to 20.
That didn't happen.
Instead of riding another winner, Christine found herself out of the saddle mid-race, catapulted over her horse's head and on to the ground.
Instead of riding a winner, she rode an ambulance to hospital.
Five months later she left hospital knowing that her race days were over and so were her days as an able-bodied woman.
She left hospital knowing a wheelchair would be her lifelong companion and that she had two choices – look back with regret or look ahead and turn her accident into a positive future.
She chose the latter.
Today Christine can count the past 10 years in achievements.
She's carved out a life that might be viewed from a wheelchair, but it's a life where she is every inch the participant, never the spectator.
For her that has meant a return to riding and motherhood and it's meant living the same life her friends live.
Yes, doing the things she wants to do is sometimes a bit more difficult when you factor in a wheelchair and yes, there's her battle with constant pain, but there are rewards out there too.
And the greatest of those is her seven-year-old son Cody.
He's adorable, loving and, because of his autism, sometimes challenging.
But that's just part of the deal that goes with parenting, accepting what you're given, doing the best for both of you and sharing the love and laughter along the way, Christine said.
"When I had my accident they told me I'd go through a grieving process and they told me that too when Cody was diagnosed with autism, but I thought 'stuff that' and moved on."
In the years since her accident, Christine returned to riding and almost immediately made her mark in the world of para-equestrian events.
She's competed with success at a national and Australasian level, but a lack of funding and sponsorship meant she never achieved her ultimate goal as a member of the New Zealand equestrian team at the paralypmics.
"That was after the earthquakes and I really felt I couldn't go asking people for money when so many people in Christchurch needed so much money," she said.
She might have missed out on her paralympics dream, but Christine isn't one to look back.
"I drove myself so I could stand and walk a little with calipers, but you reach a point where you realise you don't have to prove yourself to people.
"I'm not worried about doing that now. I know I'm good enough to compete internationally with riding and now I've decided I'm better off saving that money for Cody's future.
"I can't mortgage the house for a handful of ribbons and medals."
In 2007 she published a book, One Stroppy Jockey, that perfectly portrays her determination to overcome adversity, to turn a split second date with fate on the racetrack into a life where a positive attitude saw her strike out in new directions.
Getting to where she is today hasn't been a solo trip; it would have been impossible without a big team of supporters and helpers, Christine said.
"So many people helped over those 10 years – mum and dad, my family and my friends.
"So many people have volunteered their time and support so I could achieve my dreams."
She's taken a break from riding and is not sure whether she'll get back in the saddle.
And she no longer heads to the track to catch up with fellow jockeys.
For a few years after her accident she was always keen to catch up with "the girls" but most of them have now retired.
"Riding gave me my legs back, but now I'm not riding I'm not really interested in races.
"Unless I'm actively doing something I don't really follow it."
Her life-changing accident has done nothing to change her attitude to racing, nothing to make her wish she'd chosen another career.
"You can't pass this off as not a dangerous sport. It is.
"That's half the thrill, the speed and the danger, but like everyone, I never thought this would happen to me.
"There's nothing quite like the thrill of riding in a fast bunch, when you're in front and you know you're going to win."
Her last ride was on Old Bazz and she had a prime ride lined up later in the day, a ride she never got to make.
She's recorded her final ride in her diary as "a rough ride, and then I fell..."
Her accident might be 10 years in the past, but for Christine, there are on-going reminders that her body will continue to suffer.
"People think that once you're in a chair that's it, but there are always on-going problems.
"Mine have been getting worse over the past six years with neurological pain. That's the worst kind of pain."
For her that pain is searing and debilitating.
It strikes and she's bent double, gasping until her medication kicks in and it slowly recedes.
It's just something she has to live with until she reaches a point where it becomes intolerable and more surgery is needed.
She's no stranger to the surgeon's knife, with more than five operations behind her.
Her break is between her L1 and L2 vertebrae. She describes them as "mushed" during her fall. She's had fusions put in and taken out and bones scraped.
And there'll probably be more to come.
Right now she's wondering which path her life will take next.
"I'm really keen to work but my nerve pain sometimes is so horrendous it has me frozen to the spot, but I'd love a job, even working from home," she said.
She may not be working, but in every other respect, Christine lives a life that's little different to that lived by any other single mum with a son to raise.
Perhaps the only difference this week was that a trip to Christchurch wasn't about buying clothes, it was about getting a new wheelchair.
She admits she's pretty hard on her wheels and laughs at the manufacturer's description of her as a "hard user".
"Makes me sound like a druggie," she said.
When your chair is your link to a normal life, it has to be good and it has to function the way you want.
And for her that's having an extra free-wheel that's perfect for beaches, rough ground and chasing after a seven-year-old.

Pictured: Christine Lawn 10 years on from a fall while riding in a race at Wingatui, that broke her back and changed her life.

Photo Kirsty Graham