BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
Coming off of two straight Top 10 finishes in the PRCA Bareback Riding World Standings, Tanner Aus enters this year’s Wrangler NFR just outside that mark at No. 11 with $85,675.
Over the last two seasons, Aus has rode 181-for-183 horses with 61 rides of 85 points or more. He won also six rodeos in 2021 and two of those were Xtreme Bares and Broncs events, which have rapidly growing in popularity.
In May, he won the Daily Record Xtreme Bares and Broncs in Ellensburg with 88 points on Game Trail.
AUS ON GAME TRAIL
In August, Aus won the Wayne Herman Invitational Xtreme Broncs by riding Cat Nip for 86 points and Stat Witness for 89. The victory earned him close to $5,000.
Aus also won two rodeos in his home state, Minnesota. Between July 8-11, he was 88 on Blessed Assurance to win the Hamel Rodeo and 87 on Hectic to win the Isanti Firefighters Rodeo.
Aus all performed well at two of the biggest rodeos he competed in 2021 - the RAM National Circuit Finals and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
At the RNFCR, he was 4-for-4 and averaged 86.6 points. He won $14,458 total and more than $6,00 was thanks to a 91-point ride on Famous Dex.
In Cheyenne, Aus was 3-for-3 and won $8,446 with an average of 83 points.
AUS IN CHEYENNE SEMI-FINALS
Aus also closed the season well by placing at the Pendleton Round-Up and ProRodeo Tour Finale in Salinas at the end of September. He was 2-for-2 in Pendleton and placed sixth in both rounds and in Salinas, he won a check on all of four of his rides and brought in $8,543 at one of the season’s final events.
Aus first made the NFR in 2015 and has finished in the Top 6 four times since. The most he has ever won in a season is $235,715 in 2017. In 2016 and 2017, Aus finished in the Top 5 both years and made more than $448,000.
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