As this week’s Positive Times Moment sponsored by American Hat Company, we talked to high school students Weston Hart and Masyn Friemel, who undertook designing and building a handicap accessible horse trailer for paralyzed team roper Justin Walkup as their Vega FFA Ag Mechanics Project.
They’ve been working along the trailer for more than two years — two years of researching, conceptualizing and tweaking the design, along with 620 hours of manufacturing.
“We really did start from the ground up, trying to put ourselves in Justin’s shoes and trying to make sure that every aspect of the trailer was completely custom designed for him,” says Weston."Every nut, bolt and piece that would be on a normal horse trailer that we had to customize, we made sure that we did it right. There’s many, many options on this trailer that make it one-of-kind, unique from any other trailer in the world.”
Weston met Walkup, who was paralyzed in a car crash in 2009, while at a roping with his grandfather. My grandpa was the one who introduced me to him and showed me that he still rode horses and told me about how he had to get on to a horse, and how he still persevered through his accident and in a wheelchair,” says Weston. “It really inspired from a young age, so eventually it lead to this project.”
The overall project cost $17,000, and so far the boys have raised $10,000 in donations. Their goal: to build it custom for Justin and to give it to him for free of charge. To donate and help cover the additional $7,000, reach out to the Vega FFA.
Vega FFA | PO Box 190, Vega, TX 79092 | www.vega.ffanow.org
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