Franks rides rank for NFR cash

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – For 10 minutes after his Saturday night ride during the third round of the National Finals Rodeo, Cole Franks felt amazing.

On Minute 11, he started to feel the affects of being in a Las Vegas prize fight, the after-effects of a battle with one of the rankest bucking horses in ProRodeo. Franks rode Duane Kesler’s Hot Shot for 87 points to finish third on the night, collecting $20,104.

“You’ve got to ride as close to the same as you can on the buckers like that, but I was in kill mode for sure,” said Franks, who increased his NFR earnings to $62,885 through three nights of the sport’s grand championship. “You just bear down and get back down to the neck (with your spurs). That was definitely a kick fight.

“We were trading hits for sure. She hit me a couple good ones, and I think I hit her a couple good ones.”

That’s what happens in the “eliminator pen” of bucking horses, who can deal a heavy blow. Bareback riders wear thick neck braces to help protect them from the beatings they take; they wear specially designed gloves with binds on the edges of the hands to lock themselves onto their riggings, which are strapped tightly to the animal’s back. Every jump the horse makes can land on the rider’s arms, shoulders and necks.

When they ride the toughest horses in the world, the impact is greater, but Franks battled through it. He’s placed in all three rounds at this year’s NFR and has a cumulative score of 257 points, the best of the 15 men in the field. He’s also pushed his season earnings to more than $202,000 and is sixth on the money list.

“I was a little sore today before we got on, but I’m definitely going to be more sore tomorrow,” said Franks, 23, of Clarendon, Texas. “I’m more sore than I probably should be, and I got a (neck) stinger tonight. She hit me pretty hard.

“I’ll go in and get some dry needling, some ice, whatever they’ll let me get. I’ll let them torture me for a little bit. It’s what I signed up for, so I can’t complain about it.”

Despite the pain. Franks loves riding bucking horses. It’s how he won both the bareback riding and all-around intercollegiate championships in 2021 while competing for his hometown college and why he was later named the Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year in ProRodeo. It’s why he’s playing for the biggest pay in the game for the third time in four years.

“You don’t really feel the pain until once everything floods over,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun when you get off and you know you just slayed a dragon.”