Anna Holland is a barrel racer and director in the Cajun Rodeo Association. The Walker, La. cowgirl was a member of the CRA when it existed years ago, and is a member again.

She grew up in rodeo with a mom who ran barrels and team roped and a dad who team roped. She was on her first horse at six weeks of age, and by two years old, was competing in barrel races. She was a member of the Mississippi High School Rodeo Association (the farthest Mississippi rodeo was closer than the closest Louisiana rodeo), and she also competed in local and state-wide rodeo queen pageants, serving as the Livingston Parish Queen, the Tri-State Rodeo Association queen, and in 1999, as Miss Rodeo Louisiana.

After graduating from Walker High School in 1999, she earned academic and rodeo scholarships to college, and will graduate this summer from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond with a Bachelors of Science in occupational environmental safety and health. She works for MAPP Construction, a regional company based in the southeastern U.S. Her job as corporate safety director entails ensuring project compliance with OSHA regulations and protecting worker safety.

Anna met her husband, Lane, when he came to shoe her horses. They had grown up three miles from each other, and knew each other, but it wasn’t till 2008 when they began dating. When Lane proposed on Valentine’s Day of 2009, she accepted. The couple got out their calendars and looked at prospective wedding dates. At that time, Lane was a professional steer wrestler and she was running barrels, so it was either get married that month or wait till August. They decided to marry two weeks later, and Anna had the wedding planned within a week. Now the couple have two children, a son, Emmett, age four, and a daughter, Sarah, age two.

In addition to her barrel racing, Anna is co-founder and president of a non-profit organization called the Christian Cowgirl Relief Fund. She and fellow co-founder Berkeleigh Cotten saw a need for an organized support system when a rodeo family or fellow barrel racer needed financial, emotional and spiritual help. “It seems like the more people we are able to help, the more readily we recognize other opportunities to provide assistance throughout the rodeo community.” The group’s motto, “Love one another,” is based on John 15:12-13. This May, a women’s conference is planned with LeAnn Hart, the wife of retired PBR bull rider J.W. Hart, as keynote speaker.

Anna rides a seven year old gelding named Utah. Utah was a new purchase in June of 2013, and on his way to a barrel race, was involved in a minor trailer wreck. Because of his injuries, it was thirteen weeks before he could be ridden again. For the second half of last year, Anna borrowed several horses to qualify for the finals. Anna also serves on the board for the Baton Rouge Barrel Racing Association. Her husband Lane is vice-president of the CRA.