HOUSTON – You have seen their impact at RodeoHouston, but you may not know their name.
Across seven decades, the Cervi family has been part of the competition and the magic inside the rodeo arena each night.
Behind the bright lights and packed crowds at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo there’s a massive, well-oiled machine moving long before the first cowboy rides into the arena. A large part of this operation is run by the Cervi Rodeo Company, a family tradition that stretches back decades.
“My father started this rodeo company in 1967 and we just love coming to Houston,” said Chase Cervi, ranch manager for Cervi Rodeo Company. “It’s a very special place to us, a lot of family and friends and it’s one of the biggest and best rodeos there is.”
That legacy includes raising and training hundreds of bucking horses, animals that are carefully bred for the sport on 60,000 acres of ranchland in Greely, Colorado.
“We raise all those bucking, all those baby colts and mares at home,” Cervi said. “We have about 800 bucking horses at home, and we’ll breed about 100 to 150 mares a year.”
While fans see only a few seconds of action inside the stadium, Cervi says the animals spend very little time actually performing.
“They buck for maybe two minutes a year. They’ll buck eight to 10 rodes throughout the year. and the rest of the time they’re turned out on thousands of acres in Colorado on the ranches,” Cervi said. “Some of these bucking horses sell for $200,000 to $300,000. So it’s a very high investment. Very expensive. You have to make sure they’re healthy. You take care of them and they’ll take care of you.”
The Cervi Rodeo Company also supplies Rodeo Houston with many of the bulls seen in the competition. But perhaps the highlight of the night is when several generations of Cervi horses makes their grand entrance to represent their Born To Buck program.
For Cervi the rodeo is more than just a job, it’s family history.
“Just being around this kind of life, it’s one of the most special places we’ve gone through in terms of great people,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to be here. We just hope to keep his legacy going.”
The family is about to mark the one-year anniversary of the passing of their patriarch, Mike Cervi. Chase Cervi says RodeoHouston was near and dear to his father’s heart and they plan to keep this connection for quite some time.