Friends of reiner Bryant Pace have started an online fundraiser to help him after a horse-riding accident left him unable to work or ride.
Pace, who lives in North Texas, said he was hurt in March when he got bucked off.
“Asked him to lope off to the left and, for the life of me I have no idea where this came from, when I asked him to lope off he broke in two and went to bucking,” said 71-year-old Pace, who won the 2001 United States Equestrian Team Open Reining Championship with the late Colonels Smoking Gun (Gunner). “I mean, I was very proud of myself for about seven jumps.”
He said the impact left him with a broken vertebrae in his back. Although medical treatment and therapy visits over the past seven months have helped Pace progress to the point he can usually walk, he is still unable to lift anything or ride.
Friend Jessicah Keller created a gofundme page to raise money to make the payments on a motor home Pace lives in after he fell behind after the accident.
As of Friday, Oct. 19, the page had received slightly more than $9,000. Keller wrote on the page she has been in contact with the finance company involve with the motor home payments and will transfer the money directly to them. The goal is paying off the vehicle.
Pace, who has seen the page, said he was amazed by the support the horse community has shown him.
“I’ve been flabbergasted,” he said.
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