The death of an 18-year-old junior rodeo champion who perished in a bizarre horse-related accident has left a Texas community in mourning.<\/p>\n
A representative for the Lott Volunteer Fire Department told CBS affiliate KWTX-TV that at approximately 8 a.m. local time on Monday, August 12, near Chilton, Ace Patton Ashford of Lott, Texas, was tending to a sick calf when a nearby horse became agitated.<\/p>\n
The Lott VFD official told KWTX, \u201cThe horse [dragged] the man a good distance in an open field after his leg became tangled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashford had sustained severe head injuries, but he was still breathing and had a pulse when emergency personnel arrived.<\/p>\n
According to his obituary, the recent high school graduate passed away after being airlifted to Baylor Scott & White Hospital.<\/p>\n
The \u201camazing and humble young man\u201d who spent his entire life in the small town of Lott (population 650) but had lofty aspirations to become a rodeo cowboy is now being remembered by friends and family.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Rosebud-Lott High School, Ashford was awarded a scholarship to attend Hillsboro\u2019s Hill College, where he was scheduled to join the rodeo team this autumn.<\/p>\n
According to his obituary, Ace was the epitome of a hard-working country boy who loved the cowboy way of life. \u201cTo realize his full potential, Ace would spend countless hours roping.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to The Team Roping Journal, the teen was a skilled roper who started competing on the rodeo circuit at the age of four.<\/p>\n
Ashford has had a lot of success in the arena over the past year. According to the Roping Journal, he placed \u201call over\u201d Arizona during Vegas Week in December and won the warm-up at the World Youth Team Roping Championship as well as at The Patriot and Philipp Ranch this summer.<\/p>\n
The publication was told by roping flagger Marcus Becerra, \u201cThat\u2019s who you want your son to grow up to be.\u201d It hurt a lot because of this. Everyone is aware of his good character, his friendliness, and his respect for others. He had manners, was a wonderful child, and was skilled with horses.<\/p>\n
According to his obituary, Ace, the younger brother of National Finals Rodeo heeler Ross Ashford, also loved hanging out with Sydney Boatright, his three-year girlfriend.<\/p>\n
Boatright changed her Facebook profile picture to a picture of the two cuddling in a field a few hours after Ace passed away.<\/p>\n
With a heart emoji, she wrote, \u201cI love you forever, Ace Patton.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The death of an 18-year-old junior rodeo champion who perished in a bizarre horse-related accident has left a Texas community in mourning. A representative for the Lott… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n