Veteran motorcycle rider Pat Stein, of Buford, spotted a horse barreling toward the highway Sunday afternoon and swerved to miss it. His wife, an experienced rider who followed behind him on her own bike, didn't have time to react.

Stein glanced in his mirror and watched helplessly as the horse collided with the motorcycle driven by his wife, Beth Bennick Stein, 48. He saw them fly in the air. His wife landed in the middle of the rural highway south of Hiawassee, with her motorcycle and the horse landing on top of her.

That was how Stein described the tragic events of Sunday to Towns County Coroner Rickey Mathis.

Stein, 45, who works in construction, rushed to his wife and tried to administer CPR, but she was already dead, the coroner said.

Beth Bennick Stein's mother, Marilyn Thomas, had been riding on the back of Pat Stein's bike. Bennick Stein's brother and sister-in-law were on a motorcycle behind the victim on Ga. 75 North, winding through the northeast Georgia mountains.

Bennick Stein, who worked at Gainesville State College transcribing lectures for deaf students, had been on vacation with her family, headed toward Gatlinburg, Tenn.

The horse's owner, Jacqueline Canup, 18, lives in Warne, N.C., about 10 miles north of Hiawassee, but kept the animal in her uncle's pasture near the accident site, State Trooper Tony Saunders said. The day of the accident, she had been riding the horse on a dirt road when, for a reason that is unknown, it became nervous.

"It threw her off and took off toward the highway," the trooper said. "She went after it but by the time she caught up, it was too late."

The teen, who was not injured in the fall from her horse, remained at the accident scene and cooperated with investigators. "She was very, very shaken up," the state trooper said. "She didn't care about the horse; she was concerned about the family."

Neither Canup nor her uncle could be reached for comment Monday.

The 8-year-old male horse was killed in the accident.

Saunders said he is still investigating, and he can't yet say whether the horse's owner will face any charges.

The coroner said in his 31-year career in the northeast Georgia mountains there have been about a dozen accidents involving animals, mainly deer, colliding with cars. A few involved cows or horses, but he said this is the first incident in which a person was killed and the first involving a motorcycle.

Bennick Stein had 15 years' experience riding motorcycles. Her latest bike —- the one she rode Sunday —- was a Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide emblazoned with flames, black fringe and her nickname "Punkin," her friend Shannon Feken said. "That bike was her pride and joy," Feken said.

Bennick Stein and her husband rode their bikes out West, to the Florida Keys and to Canada, her friend said.

Along with her husband, Bennick Stein is survived by daughter Wesley, 20; stepson Joe Stein, 26; stepdaughter Christal Stein, 23, and Christal's two daughters, ages 5 and 2 months.

Visitation is 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Flanigan Funeral Home, l4400 S. Lee Street, Buford. A memorial service will be held there at 11 a.m. Thursday.