05/20/03
Rodney Wallace The horse world lost a wonderful friend this past week. Rodney Wallace of Tyler, Texas died of a massive stroke. He was 59 yrs young.
Rodney founded his life's dream with the creation of Wallace's Saddle Up Program in 1987. Wallace's Saddle Up Program provides recreational horseback riding for Special Needs children and adults.
Many in the barrel racing industry were familiar with Rodney, as they had donated horses to his program. His promise was that if you wanted your barrel horse to retire and never be run on barrels again, whether sound or injured, he would take that horse, give him or her a good home, and that horse would be loved by children for the rest of its life. He also got hundreds of school kids involved, by using them as volunteers. At one ride the Tyler Jr. College baseball team helped out. You could see the change in these young men as they led a horse around the arena, held on to a child that needed stability or lifted these people onto the horses.
Rodney and his family have devoted their lives to this endeavor, never taking a penny for themselves and most of the time working a full time job in order to be able to feed and care for these horses.
In the last couple of years they were blessed with numerous grants and donations. Rodney and the program have been recognized for the service they provide and have received several awards, which include the J.C. Penny's Golden Rule Award, Honorary State FFA degree, East Texan of the Week, Good Neighbor citation from Woodmen of the World and other volunteer awards.
Rodney's wife Carolyn and son Aaron want to try to continue this program, but they are going to need some help. First and foremost they need your prayers. As we all know, these horses have to be fed. If you or anyone you know has hay, grain, or tack, you would like to donate, it will be greatly appreciated.
Also memorials may be made to the Rodney Wallace Memorial Fund at:
Arp State Bank
734 S. Fleishel
Tyler, Texas 75701.
For more info you can email
[email protected]
