Paul Hansma, 50, cutting’s #4 all-time leading open rider, has leased Bar H Ranche in Weatherford, Texas, where he will operate his own public training facility.

“I’m going to keep the name, but Bobby Pidgeon is not going to be involved with Bar H Ranche anymore,” said Hansma, who went to work for Pidgeon in 1991, when the Germantown, Tennessee beverage distributor established Bar H Ranche to promote and develop the offspring his stallion Dual Pep, then six.

That same year, Bar H Ranche broodmare CD Chica San Badger produced CD Olena, who would win the NCHA Futurity and Derby and be named 1995 NCHA Horse of the Year under Winston Hansma, Paul’s brother.

Bar H Ranche quickly became a major force in the cutting industry through the offspring of Dual Pep and CD Olena, as well as the efforts of the Hansmas, who trained and rode for Bar H Ranche and Bar H Ranche clients. For nearly two decades BAR H Ranche ranked annually among cutting’s top breeders and owners, and in 2010 it remains the #2 all-time leading breeder and #6 leading owner.

Winston operated Bar H Ranche from 1991 through 2003, when he left to establish his own facility and Paul took his place. Pidgeon, 76, a member of the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame, bowed out of competition in 2005. In 2009, he leased CD Olena to Hartman Equine Reproductive Center in Whitesboro, Texas. Dual Pep, at 25, is no longer breeding.

“It was bound to happen some day, when the studs were done,” said Hansma of the end of the Bar H Ranche-Pidgeon era. “That’s what kept the whole place afloat – breeding, training, showing and selling.

“I don’t have to worry about the breeding part anymore. Hopefully I can make it work financially. I have a good customer base that’s been with us for a long time, but I have to keep quite a few horses in training to make it work. That’s my only concern.”

Horses trained by Paul Hansma, earner of  over $4.5 million, include Sister CD, with $804,533, the #2 all-time cutting horse money earner, and Hicapoo, $447,855, a mare bred by Paul and his wife, Julie, a non-pro competitor who shows the progeny of Hicapoo’s dam, Super Poo.