Leanna Arcement is being grafted into the Cajun world, and she’s learning the culture well. The two-time Cajun Rodeo Association Breakaway Champion grew up in Bosque Farms, N.M., but after meeting her husband at college in Texas, moved to his home town of Raceland, La.
And, according to her mother-in-law and friends, she’s doing quite well with the Cajun cooking and the accent. She grew up riding horses and competing in junior high and high school rodeo, making the National High School Finals in 2003 and 2004 in the goat tying. After accepting a rodeo scholarship to Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, she competed at the college level and met her husband there. Wesley Arcement caught her eye one day, and the two “hit it off right away.” Wesley roped calves at Frank Phillips, and convinced his soon to be wife to move to Cajun country with him.
So Leanna left Frank Phillips, moved to Raceland, and began cosmetology school. She got her cosmetologist degree in 2005 and began work at a salon in Raceland.
She and her husband have cattle and train horses on the side. In 2013, on her way to her second CRA breakaway title, Leanna broke her arm while riding a colt. The injury kept her out of rodeo from March through June, and while she couldn’t rope, her husband rode her breakaway horse, fell in love with him, and decided to rope calves on him. So Leanna was without a horse. While her arm was casted, she and Wesley began to look for a horse for her. They found a five year old black colt named Casino, and Wesley put two months of riding on him, before Leanna started hauling him. Even with the little bit of training, Casino did well, carrying Leanna to her average and year-end wins in the CRA. “There were mess-ups (with Casino), but I was very lucky. When you’re seasoning a horse, you have to expect issues. But it fell into place, worked real good, and gave me an opportunity to win something and get to finals.”
This spring, she will season a new horse, a brother to Dually, the horse she rode to her 2012 title. Peppy, the name of the sorrel, will get a year of seasoning before he goes to Wesley for calf roping.
Leanna is 1,200 miles from her parents’ home in New Mexico, and it was a culture shock, moving to Louisiana, “but I love it here, absolutely. The people are so nice.” The hardest adjustment has been the weather. “I had a hard time adjusting to the weather. It’s so much hotter and humid, but I love it here. It’s definitely become my home, for sure.”
And she’s learning to cook and eat Cajun. “My mother-in-law has done very well in teaching me how to cook Cajun food. She always tells me, ‘I’m going to turn you into a Cajun yet’, and now she says, ‘I’m getting you there.’” And she loves boiled crawfish. “I never liked it in the beginning. It took me a long time to get used to it. You have to peel it, and it’s too much work, and it looks creepy, but they’re good. When it’s crawfish season, I say, we need to cook some crawfish.”
Wesley was the 2013 CRA Calf Roping average and year-end champion, so their dual win at the CRA Finals last year were extra special. She also competes in open rodeos, Tri-State Rodeos, and Professional Cowboy Association rodeos.
