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 Elite Veteran
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| How sad. I learned so much from him even though I have yet to take a clinic with him. Prayers for Martha and his family. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
 
Location: 31 lengths farms | caracer - 2016-03-30 2:07 PM
Ed was truly an exceptional horseman. I was so blessed to learn from him His will be a great loss. I am so grateful that I was able to take my daughter to one of his clinics as well. Ed had a very tough battle with Lyme disease that got the best of him. Services will be at Erath Cowboy Church in Stephenville this Friday at 10 am. In lieu of flowers they ask for donations to the church
Thank you for sharing this info. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 374
Location: Drumright,OK | So sorry to hear this. My prayers are with his family. I know all too well this terrible disease called Lyme. I too battled it and doctors. I'm praying for more research and better treatments. God Bless He will be missed! |
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 Three in a Bikini
Posts: 2035
| This hurts my heart.
Rest easy Ed. You were truly a blessing to so many of us in the barrel racing industry.  |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 547
Location: Greencastle PA | So sorry to hear this. Lots of prayers to the family. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 396
| I'm in total shock to read this. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 337
Location: WI | I was fortunate enough to go to one of his clinics many, many years ago and absolutely fell in love wtih him. He had a teaching style that worked, at least for me! He will be missed by all in the barrel racing community.
I wished I would have known about the lymes. For all of you suffering with this terrible disease, there is an alternative to medical doctors. We have a wonderful natural care doctor here who has written multiple articles on this disease and has helped 100's if not 1000's. He has helped everyone in my family. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 746
Location: Missouri |  A heartbreaking loss for the barrel community... He will be greatly missed. |
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 Scorpions R Us
Posts: 9586
Location: So. Cali. | I enjoyed reading all these posts about Ed. Even got teary-eyed. Never went to any of his clinics nor had the opportunity to meet him, but what an amazing man he sounds like he was. It was great reading about all the people that walked away with so much from him. RIP Ed |
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| I attended one of his clinics in Salina, Ks I believe in 2008. I actually went to the trailer and cried a few times until I finally got what he was trying to teach me. He rode my mare who was naughty and tried to pitch a little. He said she had talent because she was so quick which made my day...haha! He will be missed and this news is such a shock to me. I didn't realize he was sick.
Edited by newracer 2016-03-30 8:34 PM
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He was a legend, prayers for his friends and family. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 726
| I can proudly say "I survived a Ed clinic without crying" I'd heard how hard he was.. nothing less than perfect would do for him. I "got" what he was telling me to do with my big geld. I hope he finds peace in heaven. And Uncle Ed.... Please don't make the angels cry! I've had more rain here than I need. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 933
Location: north dakota | I'm so sorry to hear this. I went to 2 clinics and took my daughter when she was 10 to one. I think I could have went to a 100 and he still would have helped. He was so good with my daughter and I was impressed when he jumped on her 12 inch bear trap saddle with the short stirrups. I had offered to switch the saddle. Ed was a true horsemen and was passionate about teaching others help communicate and understand their horse |
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 Expert
Posts: 1613
Location: Wild Wild West | I've attended an Ed Clinic yearly for almost 30 years and never went away disappointed. I loved him as a friend and a trainer. I always called him my Obi Wan Kanobi. I cannot imagine what Martha is feeling. I pray our Heavenly Father wraps his arms around her and comforts her in her time of sorrow. Rest in Heavenly peace, Uncle Ed. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 312
Location: KS | Wanted to share. With sympathy and many prayers from Kansas. So sorry to hear of his passing.
Service Information
Time, Day, Date: 10 a.m., Friday, April 01, 2016
Place: Cowboy Church of Erath County
Officiating: Rev. Werth Mayes
Disposition: Brazos Sundown Crematory
Edwin Fuller Wright, 69, of Dublin, submitted his life to our Lord Father in Heaven on Monday, March 28, 2016. Ed was born in Onslow County, North Carolina to Edwin Chester Wright and Miriam Beryl Fuller on October 14, 1946. Ed was raised in Gatesville, Texas and at an early age developed a deep love and a special way with animals, especially horses. He spent his childhood riding, roping, and wanting to be a cowboy. He attended college at Eastern New Mexico University and met the love of his life, Martha Tompkins Wright at a college rodeo. They were married in January of 1972, settled in Erath County, and together became one of the most successful duos in the sport of barrel racing for over 40 years. Ed will gladly tell you that Martha’s way with horses is a God given talent but, he on the other hand, did not come by it as easily and really had to work at his craft. Ed was a talented roper and steer wrestler, having qualified to the Texas Circuit Finals multiple times and later earning a PRCA Gold Card. Through the decades Ed and his wife raised, trained, and competed on some of the best horses in the country. The /W brand became synonymous with GREAT barrel racing horses. Ed was also a world renowned clinician, teaching barrel racing clinics for over 3 decades, nearly 40 weekends a year, in states from coast to coast and Canada. He loved helping students learn to better communicate with their equine partners through timing and feel.
Ed leaves behind a legacy of great horses, great horsemanship, and great friendships. He touched so many lives and made a positive impact on anyone who rode with him or received his advice. His voice and teachings will live long beyond his time here on Earth. He would not want anyone to be sad and would likely slowly and calmly say, ýtake the emotion out of itý and get on with the task at hand.
Survivors include his wife Martha; cousins: Jim Fuller of Tyler; Tom Fuller of Arlington; and Suzanna Collins of Chilton. Also, many close friends who are loved as family. The rodeo world is a very large group and is known for support and sympathy in times of need. The family and friends of Ed are blessed to be apart of it.
Ed was preceded in death by his parents Edwin and Beryl. The family will receive friends Thursday night, March 31 from 6-8 p.m. at the Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville. Funeral services will be. Friday morning, April 1 at 10 a.m. Also at CCEC. In lieu of flowers, the family ask for contributions to the Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
Location: 31 lengths farms | Crud, now I"m crying. The man was more than a legend. He was a friend.
Edited by run n rate 2016-03-31 6:01 PM
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Nice article from Stephenville paper - Casey did a great job. I still can't believe he's gone. :,(
Rodeo, barrel racing lose legendary horseman Ed Wright
March 30, 2016 Brad Keith Rodeo 0
Legendary horseman Ed Wright passed away Monday at his Erath County home. He is shown steer wrestling back in 1981. || Courtesy DUDLEY BARKER/DudleyDoRight.com
By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com
STEPHENVILLE (March 30, 2016) — The rodeo and barrel racing communities are mourning the loss of a legendary horseman.
Ed Wright, renowned barrel horse trainer, clinician and even author, passed away at his Erath County home Monday. He was 69.
A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. Friday at Cowboy Church of Erath County. Visitation for friends of the family is 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the church.
Stephenville resident Casey Doebbler has worked with Ed and his wife, Martha, since graduating from Tarleton State University in 2004, but she first met the awe-striking horseman at a clinic in Sinton, just north of Corpus Christi, 10 years prior.
“I knew who Ed and Martha were, and I was just excited that he would be the instructor at my first clinic,” said Doebbler. “It was 1994 and I was in junior high and I remember being intimidated by him and just in awe of him.”
Ed Wright was a steer wrestler in his younger days, winning a National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association championship. He continued steer wrestling into the 1980s.
Martha won an NIRA barrel racing title and went on to make two trips to the National Finals Rodeo. She won six of the 10 go-rounds at the 1971 NFR.
But the Wrights, owners of Slash W Barrel Horses, are best known for their training, taking two-year old racing quarter horses and turning them into barrel racing champions, as it says in their biography at EdandMartha.com.
So what set Ed – and Martha, too – apart from so many other successful horse trainers across Texas and the country?
“He had so much patience and such unbelievable timing,” Doebbler explains. “He knew just when to put physical pressure or mental pressure on a horse, but he also knew just when to back off and release that pressure, which is just as important.
“It always amazed me how much of Ed would rub off onto the horses. The horses seemed to propel themselves forward with the same positive energy that Ed and Martha instilled in them, and I still don’t know how to ingrain that into a horse the same way he did.”
She may not be able to replicate Ed’s ways, but Doebbler has found the perfect way to explain them.
“Horses are kind of like kids, and Ed was the perfect parent,” she said. “He was really kind with the horses, and always had the horses’ best interest at heart.”
That passion led to a busy schedule for the ultimate clinician. Busy as in 40-45 weekends a year away from home at clinics across the country and in Canada, Doebbler says. Ed and Martha even spent weeks teaching barrel racing in Italy in the 1990s.
“He got invited to go to Brazil, Australia, all over the world. Everyone knew he was the best,” Doebbler said. “But he didn’t want to travel that far. After Italy, they just went around the US and Canada mostly.”
Doebbler said there is no way to estimate the number of barrel racers from amateurs to NFR qualifiers who can contribute at least some of their success to Ed and Martha.
“It didn’t matter if you were struggling in a rodeo in Eugene, Oregon. You could call Ed up and tell him, ‘My horse ducked the first barrel, what do you recommend,’ and he would help you the best he could over the phone,” she said. “Anyone who loved horses or barrels or both, Ed would help them any way he could.”
Over 22 years of acquaintance with Ed including 12 years working for the Wrights, Doebbler was blessed to get to know not just the trainer, but the man.
“He was always very motivated. He meant what he said, he didn’t sugarcoat things. That doesn’t mean he was brash, he was just honest and called things the way he saw them,” Doebbler explained. “He didn’t really have many hobbies because horses were just his thing. He did enjoy old western movies and reading books.”
But movies, books and just about everything else always came second to training the next great horse.
“He loved horses. Animals were his true passion, and of course horses were his absolute favorite,” Doebbler said. “I always believed he did the schools for the horses, so that people would be better with their horses and learn how to treat them and train them correctly. He never did it just so ‘Suzy’ could win more buckles.”
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boon
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| I met Ed in 2002 when I emailed him about him doing a clinic in TN. He called me back immediately and said, would you like to host it? That was the beginning of treasured friendship, that even though I only saw him for a few days each year, I felt very close to him. He would call at random times just to see how we were doing. I hosted his clinic every year except one from 2002 to 2015. His clinic for this year was already full and had a 13 person waiting list.
Hearing about his death, was so heartbreaking. I'll miss his knowledge, his honesty, and his friendship. I learned so much from him throughout the years. He was a horseman among horseman. Every year, he would amaze us with his way with horses or a piece of advice that would give you a totally different perspective. Our clinic in Tn had new people each year, but there were a few that attended every year or close to it. Our little bunch are so saddened and all feel lost now without him. Rest easy Ed, you are profoundly missed. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 726
| Very well written. I cant imagine the whole in their hearts with his passing. Some people where lucky enough to know him but Casey knew him. Prayers for her and Martha. I never saw Martha at a barrel race that Ed wasn't lurking around somewhere watching. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
| Casey couldn't have summed the last line about Ed up any more perfectly.  |
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