Off The Record
Texas Rodeo Roper Ace Patton Ashford Dead At 18
The world of Rodeo is in grief over one of its own.
According to local firefighters, Roper Ace Patton Ashford of Lott, Texas, passed away on August 12 from wounds he received after being carried by a horse. He was eighteen.
Ashford had been tending to a sick calf when first responders were summoned to the scene at approximately eight in the morning, according to local news source KWTX. The horse became agitated as he was working with it.
“Somehow, the man’s leg got tangled,” 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 subsequently taken by air to a neighboring hospital, where the fire service reported that, despite his breathing at the time, he was in “bad shape.”
Ashford’s family also confirmed his passing, writing in their obituary that he “went to be with his Lord and Savior during the morning hours of Monday, August 12, 2024.”
According to his family—including parents Troy Wayne and Jamie Dawn Ashford—“Ace loved to rodeo and was known as the ‘Header’ in Team Roping.”
The teenager, who belonged to the Texas High School Rodeo Association, spent hours honing his roping techniques. Ashford was getting ready to join the Hill College Rodeo Team in the fall after receiving a scholarship as well.
“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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