With over 28 years breeding and raising American Paint Horses, 24 of them in Northern BC, we have focused our breeding on good sound working horses.  Whether for the bush, cattle pen or show pen, Ridennoure's Paints Horses have made a name for themselves.

Hailing from Colorado and arriving in Canada in 1986, we have and continue to promote paints and support local equestrian activities.  We currently stand two APHA registered stallions.  These stallions are open to the public, but also serve as our herd sires.

Currently we have five registered mares in the broodmare band, having retired a few of our more senior foundation mares this past year.  We invite you to view our broodmare band, and join us in looking forward to new foals.

For those interested in purchasing some of our good stock, we are offering Paint Horses for Sale of varying ages and levels of training most of the time.

Feel free to give us a call or contact us any time.  We would be willing to set up a time when you can view our horses.

BCPHC Member Profiles

Ridennoure Paint Horses - Jan & Jerry Ridennoure

Jan and Jerry Ridennoure of Telkwa, BC are likely one of the first of northern BC's APHA members and paint horse owners.  They have made a life of enjoying and raising good horses, and most notably, paints since 1982.

Jerry was raised 20 miles from La Junta in southeastern Colorado.  Born into a family of eight children to a cattle rancher, Jerry learned that riding horses was a way of life, as he shared in the work around the ranch.  Plunked on a horse at 3, by 4 1/2 Jerry was piloting horses himself.

Jan, was born in Oklahoma, but raised also in Colorado in the San Luis Valley just south of Alamosa where her father had a Black Angus cattle ranch.  She also learned to ride while young, taking part in moving cattle around the ranch.  She became involved in 4H and also some gymkhana when time allowed.  Unlike Jerry's family, who purchased their good stock, Jan's family always had a few good broodmare's that they bred to good quality stallions in their area.  One of these mares, "Ribbon" not only taught Jan to ride when a little girl, but was passed into the broodmare band, and lived to a ripe old age of 30.

Ribbon lives on to this very day in the 4th generation produced by her, a broodmare (aptly named Ribbon) that Jan and Jerry still own and brought with them to Telkwa, BC.

When Jan and Jerry first met in 1981, they not only had horses in common, but they were both single parents of 2 boys each.  Jerry's boys were older and graduating from hight school at the time, and Jan's boys were young, only 4 and 7 years of age.

Cattle and Horses had always been a part of their lives, so when they got together (in La Junta, Colorado) it only seemed natural to set up a cattle ranch and raise horses.  In '82 they made the decision to get into paints and began looking for a good stallion proscpect as a herd sire.  A good friend mentioned to them that a good quality stud, that had a lot of potential, but had been sitting in a pasture up until now, and was the property of a couple that was going through a break up.  He suggested they see if the current owners were interested in selling.  The colt had been bred by Virgil Lawson, a prominent Colorado breeder.  When Jerry and Jan saw the colt, they were sold and took home the, then 5yr old, tobiano stallion"Skips Mr. Sunup".  They rasied many fine foals from this good stallion and at their peak in operation they had 27 head.  When they did head north, they were sure to take his blood with them.  Skip's Beetlebomb, by Skips Mr. Sunup, was just a yearling when she climbed aboard the trailer to head up to northern BC, and still graces the Ridennoure's pasture today, 20 years later.  Through her and also another mare, "Canadian Sunup", they kept this line in their breeding program.

Jerry had always talked of Canada to Jan; northern BC, in particular.  In 1961, Jerrys brother had moved to Smithers BC.  In 1965, Jerry decided to head up there and visit his brother and see what Canada was all about.  He fell in love with the country instantly, and although he remained in the U.S. another 20  years and raised his children, the desire to move north never waned.  Finally after many years of talking about that northern country, he convinced Jan to "just come north to see the countryside" in a vacation, and in 1985, he took Jan and her 2 boys to Smithers.  While there, he thought it would be fitting to propose to her in that beautiful country to which Jan agreed wholeheartedly.

Heading back home, they made plans to marry, and further convincing by Jerry set the plans in motion for their move to Canada.  They applied for their immigration papers and started the dispersal of their stock.  They bred all of their mares and leased out their stallion, back to Virgil Lawson.

One year later, they were ready to head north.  They had sold their ranch.

Virgil Lawson had agreed to meet the Ridennoure's price on Skip's Mr. Sunup, and the sale was finalized.  Virgil went on to show and campaign the stallion who was a successful APHA National Champion Heading Horse and earned a superior in that event as well as mulitiple performance ROM's.  The stallion's offspring was also successful, having sired 4 APHA Champions, an APHA World Champion at Halter and 3x's APHA World Champion Hunter Under Saddle.  Off spring also acquired mulitple Halter and Performance Superiors and ROM's in everything from Heading and Heeling, Barrel Racing, Western Pleasure, Pleasure Driving, Jumping and Hunter under Saddle.

One of his offspring, "Son of a Delight" a boldly marked tobiano gelding, with owner Jeri Yarborough-Malara even became 1998 US Dressage Federation Award Winners, placing 1st in Prix St. George - Open and Adult Amateur, and in Intermediare I - Open and Adult Amateur.  This was the first American Paint Horse on record to every achieve such a status in Dressage, and was officially recognized by the association for his success in the Paint Horse Journal.

In 1986 when the Ridennoure's had finally packed up the trailer, they had 3 mares and one yearling filly by Skips Mr. Sunup, hoping to renew their Paint breeding operation in the north. They settled approximately 7 km west of Smithers on 5 acres.  Jan set up a small Custom Drapery and Blind Shop in the town of Smithers to help supplement the horse operation.  They leased a quarter section to start as well, that they had found between Smithers and Telkwa for grazing.

When looking for a good stallion to breed their mares to, they discovered that there was very little the north could offer at that time, and in fact there were no paint stallions there.  After checking the Paint Journal for a suitable stallion for sale, they headed on a road trip to Idaho, and then Washington to determine from 2 possible choices.  Their search ended in Idaho at the Rocking O Ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho, where they saw the first stallion on their list.  Their choice was "Cowboy Bandit", a 3yr old good-looking Tobiano, who had already had a few halter points on him, and had an outstanding pedigree (3 Supreme and 6 APHA Champions, and 2 AQHA Champions on his papers!).  Although registered Tobiano, it soon became clear that he should have been registered as a Tovero, as he produced not only Toby, but overos as well.

With their new herd slowly growing, they started to spread the word about the American Paint Horse in northern BC.

There was very little knowledge of Paints at the time, and Jan remembers that first Smithers Fall Fair that they proudly took their stallion to, so they could introduce the Paint breed.  Apparently, there was a well known resident at the time, who had been locally thought to have been a knowledgable horseperson.  She was sitting in the stands when Jerry paraded their stallion in the ring at halter.  She took one look at Bandit's 2 blue eyes and gasped, "Oh my God, he's blind!"

It was evident to Jan, that what was needed was more education.  Not only were blue eyes not blind eyes, they were one of the many possible "traits" produced by genes that are specific to the paint horse.  She took on a mission to educate the public at every opportunity she had and always created posters and provided information at the fairs and other functions all over the north.  They volunteered their time and knowledge in helping to put on horse activities in the area over the years and have been major supporters of horse shows and the Bulkley Valley Fall Fair.

Jan and Jerry have always made sure that skills of the prospective purchasers matched the horses they sold, to ensure that customers would be happy and satisfied with their horses.  Even if it meant turning away sales, Jerry never wanted to sell their young stock to green riders, just to make a sale.  He would turn them away and tell them to buy an old horse and learn to ride first, and then come back.  People, first taken aback, soon learned that this was sound advice, and many still, returned to buy from Ridennoure's when their skills and savy had developed.

The paints the Ridennoure's produced were solid strong athletic horses, with smart, reliable and honest minds.  This is the definition of a good horse, the bonus was the colour!  Foals by "Bandit" and their junior stallion, "R Chocolat Bar" have gone on to make outstanding pleasure, trail, reining and working horses and have done very well in the show ring having produced multiple halter and performance point winners and Performance ROM's.

By 1992, they had found a quarter section that they could purchase east of Telkwa to call a ranch of their own.  It had a cabin on it and built a few rooms on to it to make it more comfortable.

In 1997, they made the decision to build a shop to house the Drapery/Blind buisness, so that Jan would never have to leave the ranch to service her business.  They never regretted the business move as her reputation had been built and the customers still came.  She would also serve her clients by doing call outs to their homes with swatches to help them customize their selections.  Her business continued to grow, and she also worked her sewing talents into a small line of show clothes that she sold in one corner of her shop, when time permitted.

Jan and Jerry's families have now grown.  Jerry's boys remained in the US in Colorado and California, and Jan's boys in Canada, one living in Smithers.  Jan and Jerry are now busy introducing paints to their 2 young grand daughter's.

From small beginnings, to a bigger vision, Jerry and Jan have succeeded in bringing to the paint horse a new level in northern BC.  There are a large number of paints now in northern BC, many of them having their roots in Jan and Jerry's herd stock, and others brought in after people discovered through the Ridennoure's what a wonderful breed they are! The wonderful couple from Colorado have definitely left their mark here in northern British Columbia.