Purple Passion

He likes the color purple and rides with the passion it takes to be a champion. Kanin Asay of Powell, WY scored 87 on Grey Dog last night to win the eighth round of bull riding at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Only two men made qualified rides. A late re-ride attempt by Corey Navarre also fell short.

Asay always makes a thorough investigation of the bull he has drawn and knew what to expect out of last night’s mission. One fact coming to the fore in the last few years is that multiple generations of bucking bull breeding has turned out a large number of animals who most times out are beyond the grasp of just about any rider success when it comes to keeping a seat for eight seconds.

We spoke with Kanin after his success last night and he also delved into the assemblage of animals he and his fellow riders are facing at the NFR this year:



Powder River Let ‘er Buck

Two of the bulls out last night belong to the “bull guys” of Wyoming horse stock contractors Powder River Rodeo Co. based in Riverton. Lori and Hank Franzen run a tight ship and since horses are their forte they leave the bulls to people who specialize in that animal, in this case D & H Cattle out of Oklahoma.

The luck of the draw put Wyoming riders on D&H bulls last night. Clayton Savage of Casper – competing at his first national finals – drew Sure Fire. Look closely at how he refuses to give up. Savage lasted past the seven-second tick but not quite to eight:



As mentioned earlier, Kanin Asay had the other D&H bull and made a great outing to win the round. Powder River’s Hank Franzen spoke with us afterward:



Kanin Asay finds himself at the top of the average leaderboard with two rounds to go and still much ground to make up on overall leader in the world champ’s chase – JW Harris of Texas.