Colorado rancher: Bucking horses, bulls in National Western Stock Show have it best

ROGGEN, Colo. (KDVR) -- The ranch looks a lot like that famous fictional ranch on television that is named after a national park, but the Cervi Ranch isn’t fictional. It’s the real deal.

“You don’t really realize it just when you are born into something. You don’t realize it because it’s all you’ve ever known,“ said Binion Cervi.

He was born and raised on the Cervi Ranch. Nowadays he manages the operation. The ranch is famous for providing the National Western Stock Show with bucking stock since 1967.

“Bucking horses and bucking bulls are the animals that cowboys attempt to ride in a rodeo," Cervi said.

Horses and bulls are bred and raised specifically for the professional rodeo on the Cervi Ranch. According to ranch manager Larry Haug, they're the best-treated animals in North America.

“It’s actually a pretty easy life if you think about it because I mean, if that horse, you’re talking an eight-second ride, and that horse probably only performs 10 or 12 times a year. You’re talking a couple of minutes a year is all it’s really working,“ Haug said.

The rest of the time, they can be found on Cervi’s 60,000-acre ranch in Stoneham, running free.

“There’s no better life for an animal, in our opinion. Getting feed every day, vitamin supplement with lick tubs. Hay, alfalfa, they live as good a life as any horse in the world,” Cervi said.

At this year’s National Western Stock Show some 250 bulls, 450 bucking horses and 45 riding horses will make an appearance. When the show is over it’s time to head back home for a little, or should we say a lot, of rest and relaxation.

And that would be accurately described as home on the range.