Cathy Hollabaugh

Any time I am asked to answer this question: “Who are you?” I always think of Ephesians 1. I am blessed, chosen, adopted, favored, redeemed, forgiven child of God. Or as the song says: “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.” Yet, we are all somebody in the eyes of God.

My greatest blessings are the children and grandchildren God has given me. My daughter Lacy, son Jay, granddaughter Samantha, and a pretty special son-in-law as a bonus.

I have been a part of the barrel racing and rodeo world most of my life. I started training barrel horses in high school simply because we didn’t have the money to buy one. My first really good horse taught me more about the sport than I ever taught her. But I fell in love with the training process.

I had some success in the futurity and amateur rodeo world but being in the support role of NFR dreams and mom to some talented kids with goals of their own…I was content to be a trainer who sold them when they were ready to go to the next level.

My life has simply been living proof of the goodness of God. Not because of my life was easy and not because it turned out as I planned. Because it didn’t. I cannot remember a time in my life I did not feel God’s hand on my life or hear His voice calling. There were however, many years when I didn’t follow or listen very well. I’ll just call those the years when I was “working on my testimony.”

I always loved music and singing. I believe music speaks when there are no words. I grew up singing in church and with praise and worship teams. But I distinctly remember when the “Cowboy Ministries” started in the early 80’s, a cowboy pastor saying that he heard I could “sing a little” and would I bring my CD player out to the grandstands at the rodeo in Flagstaff, Arizona and sing something before he preached. That was the beginning of this unusual ministry that I stumbled headlong and heart first into. I have led services at the Texas High School rodeos, USCRA ropings, Lone Star Series Barrel Races, and others over the years.

I’m glad God doesn’t just call the qualified. I just feel honored that He has placed me in a position to do a couple things that I love the most: Talking to people about Jesus and talking about great horses. I have been a lifelong student of both.