Ashton Sahli Turns Around Tough Start to 2024 in Lethbridge, Alberta, with Podium Finish

AIRDRIE, Alta. – Ashton Sahli’s trip to Lethbridge, Alberta, for the Cup Series event at the start of March was exactly what the Red Deer native needed to reset and take home some of the early season points up for grabs.

During a lackluster January, Sahli made a four-week, four-event trip through the United States on the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, which wrapped up with a return to Canada where he has a tough showing at his home event in Red Deer.

Deciding to put the bull riding gear away for a few weeks might have been exactly what Sahli needed.

He showed up to the South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, inside ENMAX Centre on March 1 and not only tied for the Round 1, but also covered his bull in the 5/5 Bucking Battle, taking home 39 national points on the first day of the event to crack the Top 10 in the nation.

“Lethbridge was good. I knew that bull I had on Friday was a really good one. He would be around to the right and come bucking. If I can do my job, I like them that way,” Sahli said.

“He put me at the top of the standings, then we have that 5-for-5 round, it sets you up cause it’s a draft. All the bulls to pick are bulls you want to get on, bulls you should be riding. A riding contest for sure. It worked out.”

While he was shutout in Round 2 and the championship round, the early haul of points catapulted Sahli into the No. 7 spot in the nation, now comfortably inside that coveted Top 20.

As a veteran of the sport, Sahli says that you must push through the inevitable tough stretches in this sport. He knows he is at his best when he hasn't gotten on in a while.

“Everyone goes through it, it’s just the highs and the lows,” Sahli explained. “After that I had a reset. I put the bag on my porch and didn’t really touch it and got craving it a little more. That couple week hiatus doing the things I like to do in my life other than bull riding helped get my craving it a little more.”

“That is my time of the year, that busy Cowboy Christmas time where you have six or seven bulls a week. You may have a bad day today, but you wake up and have two more to get on the very next day. I think that I do best when I am hard at it, getting on a lot of bulls.”

Sahli is fully committed to the PBR Canada schedule this season. He is eyeing event wins as well as the $100,000 Champion’s bonus at the end of the year. Giving himself the best odds to be at the PBR Canada National Finals, and be in a position to win that title, will come with a very busy season of getting on PBR’s best bucking bulls.

“PBR Canada has made it pretty tough on a guy when you can roll into Rogers Place in November and come out with No. 1 and that $100,000 over your head to want to go ride bulls anywhere else,” Sahli said.

“A guy would be silly to not go to as many of these as you can to give yourself the best opportunity to be that guy standing on the stage. That is my focus. I am going where the money is. I am going to go to a $15,000 bull riding over a $1,500 rodeo for sure.”