A Texas university student was killed following an incident involving a horse while competing at a rodeo show Thursday night — one month after she celebrated her birthday.
Alejandra “Ale” Franco, a member of the Tarleton State University Rodeo Team, suffered fatal injuries while competing at the S.A.L.E. Arena in Alpine, Texas, campus officials said.
“The Tarleton State Rodeo Team is deeply saddened by the passing of our own, Alejandra Franco,” the team said on Instagram Friday. “Alejandra tragically lost her life yesterday, leaving behind a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing her.”
Franco, 20, was competing at the Sul Ross State University NIRA College Rodeo and was in the roping box with her horse at the time of the incident, team head coach Mark Eakin told WFAA.
Additional details about the freak accident weren’t revealed.
Franco was well known on the Stephenville, Texas campus, roughly 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, as a Tarleton Transition Mentor, tasked with welcoming new students to the school and affectionately called Mama, Daddy and Baby Ducks.
“Our hearts are absolutely broken with the news of Alejandra Franco. Ale was a true Texan, a cherished member of our TTM and representing Tarleton State on the rodeo stage,” Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley wrote Friday. “She touched so many lives through her friendly smile, leadership, kindness and the love she shared with those around her.
“Her presence will be deeply missed, but the impact she made on her Texan family will never be forgotten. Our thoughts are with her family, our rodeo team and everyone who knew her. We will forever remember the light she brought to Tarleton State,” Hurley added.
Tarleton State, which has won 37 National Championship titles, had marked Franco’s birthday in an Aug. 25 post.
Franco’s father remembered her as his “light” in a heartbreaking letter he shared to Facebook.
“The whole world loved you, my darling, and rightly so. Because you were special,” Alejandro Franco wrote. “You were the light… I want you to know that I’m proud to be your dad… That you were the best thing that ever happened to me. That every one of your laughs has stayed etched here, in my chest. Every long talk for hours and hours…
“Forgive me if I cry, it’s just that I don’t know how to go on without you. But I promise you something: I will honor your life by living the way you lived, with positivity, being good to people, helping the way you used to do… I love you forever, darling. I love you beyond the sky, beyond everything… Wait for me with your smile. One day we’ll hug again…,” he said.
Franco was also a member of the Escaramuza Charra El Gran Chaparral, a renowned women’s equestrian team based in her native Mexico.
“With deep sorrow, we express our most sincere condolences to the family of our companion (teammate) Alejandra Franco. We wholeheartedly wish that you find the strength and comfort in these moments of pain. May she rest in peace, the team wrote in an Instagram post.
Additional tributes poured in for Franco by her friends and teammates with the phrase and hashtag “Live Like Ale.”
Paying tribute to Franco, the SRSU Rodeo team announced it would hand out purple ribbons and called on attendees at Friday night’s show to wear the Tarleton State color.
“Tonight a rodeo family is carrying a heavy heart,” an announcer at Friday’s show said, according to WFAA. “If one of us hurts, we all hurt.”
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