The rodeo community mourns the loss of one of its own.

According to local firefighters, Roper Ace Patton Ashford of Lott, Texas died on August 12 from wounds sustained while being carried by a horse. He was 18.

According to KWTX, Ashford was tending to a sick calf when first responders arrived at the scene around eight a.m. The horse became angry as he was working with it.

“The man’s leg got tangled somehow,” the Lott Volunteer Fire Department told KWTX, “and the horse dragged him quite a distance in an open field.”

The recent high school graduate was then airlifted to a nearby hospital, where the fire department claimed that, despite his breathing at the time, he was in “bad shape.”

Source: Freepik

Ashford’s family also verified his death, noting in the obituary that he “went to be with his Lord and Savior during the morning hours of Monday, August 12, 2024.”

According to his family, which includes parents Troy Wayne and Jamie Dawn Ashford, “Ace loved to rodeo and was known as the ‘Header’ in Team Roping.”

The teenager, a member of the Texas High School Rodeo Association, spent hours perfecting his roping skills. Ashford was preparing to join the Hill College Rodeo Team in the autumn, having also received a scholarship.

Source: Facebook

“The times spent with him will forever be cherished in the hearts of those whose lives he touched,” his family wrote, “by his kindness and love.”

In a Facebook post from August 13, The Team Roping Journal also paid respects to the rodeo legend, stating that Ashford “was a ‘old soul’ who left far too soon when he died yesterday.”

They continued, “Our hearts ache for our team roping family and everyone who loves this young cowboy.”

Fellow roper and NFR Header Cody Snow told the magazine, “He was about as pure as they get. He was gold.”

His parents, sister Macy and her fiancé Ryan Rule, brother Ross and his wife Taylor, and girlfriend Sydney Boatright are all alive, according to his obituary.

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