Hopewell Valley Central High School grad Anna Hollander set to continue equestrian career at Gettysburg College
By Kyle Kondor
If you were to have run into Anna Hollander in the hallways of Hopewell Valley Central High School, she’d seem like your average 18-year-old girl, but if you saw her at Duncraven Stables Show Barn in Titusville, you’d soon know you were in the company of one of Mercer County’s youngest and most successful equestrian show jumping horseback riders.
Since Hollander was seven years old, she has managed to successfully balance two completely different lifestyles.
She’s maintained a 3.7 GPA at HVCHS, which earned her an acceptance into her school of choice, Gettysburg College. She’s also managed to reach one of the highest levels of equestrian show jumping, where she and her horse are required to clear fences up to four and a half feet high.
Equestrian consists of three divisions that are ultimately very similar. Those divisions include hunter, jumper, and equitation. Hollander is a show jumper, which means she and her horse are judged objectively based upon how quickly they complete a specific course while successfully jumping over fences. Each course typically has eight to 12 fences that must be cleared before reaching the finish line. Time faults are given if the horse is to knock over a fence.
Hollander has won several local horse shows and placed sixth out of 30 in the Garden State Horse Show on May 4, which is a nationally ranked competition that takes place in Augusta, New Jersey.
Unlike most sports and extracurricular activities, all types of equestrian take place year round.
When Hollander was applying for college, she called her essay “Everyday but Monday” because ever since she started riding as a young girl, she’s been obligated to train and attend to her horse six days a week to prep her horse for shows that usually take place on a weekly basis.
Hollander is required to spend up to four hours with her horse each day. Grooming and exercise are two things that take place during the average day of preparation. The most important tasks are completed the day before a show. On that day she must give her horse a bath, prep all of his gear, and ride him for up to an hour so he isn’t too wild on the day of the show.
“Like any athlete on game day, horses tend to get more fired up or excited when they are at a horse show,” Hollander said. “So I ride my horse for a long time the day before, so he isn’t too wild the day of.”
So while her classmates were headed to the mall or soccer practice after school, Hollander was typically on her way to the barn.
“Sometimes my friends don’t understand why I have to spend six days a week at the barn,” Hollander said. “But I love the sport. And nothing compares to the connection you make with your horse.”
Anna originally developed a love for horseback riding as a toddler while watching her mother, Leslie Hollander ride.
Leslie Hollander began riding horses right before Anna was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida can be classified as the hub of equestrian. Though Leslie Hollander was very intrigued by the sport, she never reach the competitive level that her daughter has because she and her husband, Scott Hollander, could not afford it at the time.
The family then moved to St. Louis, Missouri where Leslie Hollander continued to inspire her daughter to ride.
“When Anna was in kindergarten, she’d beg to take lessons,” said Leslie Hollander. “After she went to a camp, that’s all she wanted to do.”
Over the years, Anna Hollander has owned eight horses. When she was 15, her horse Barney died from a severe seizure that caused a heart aneurysm.
Barney was a project horse, meaning that at the time of his death he wasn’t the most talented horse, but his potential was sky high.
Just before his death, Hollander had fed Barney after he completed 15 minutes worth of exercise, which is how she usually ends her daily routine as a horse owner.
Anna was wrapping up her day at the side of the barn opposite where Barney had been. She then noticed that her dad had arrived at the barn unexpectedly, which led her to assume something was wrong. Shortly thereafter, he informed her that Barney had passed away.
An autopsy done at New Bolton Veterinarian Hospital confirmed that Barney died from what some call “fight or flight.” That is a nickname for a seizure that occurs so suddenly that it causes one to run around madly until death.
In Barney’s case, his brain hadn’t been receiving enough oxygenated blood. So he knocked over his stall and escaped, only to die in the middle of the barn aisle.
“My world just exploded at that moment,” Hollander said. “That is one of the most emotional things I’ve ever gone through.”
Hollander has used that incident as a lesson, and she is now extremely careful in doing things to avoid another incident like that one, such as allowing horses the perfect amount of time to cool down each time they are finished exercising.
The horse she rides today, Arnold, is the horse that she has owned the longest. Arnold is a Belgian Warmblood that the Hollander family acquired when Anna had turned 16. At that age, she was ready to move on to larger jumps.
Arnold came from Germany, and had previously been ridden by a man much larger than Hollander. The man had competed with Arnold in the Grand Prix of Aachen, Germany, which is one of the most prestigious horse shows in the world, making it very difficult for Anna to get used to the level that Arnold was on.
In equestrian show jumping, there are several levels of difficulty that range from two-foot fences for children that are just learning, all the way to five-foot fences that sometimes consist of six-foot falls at the professional level.
“At first, I couldn’t ride Arnold because I wasn’t at his level yet,” Hollander said. “I would fall off every single lesson for a year and a half.”
It took Anna two years to compete at the competitive level after she began training with Arnold.
Since then, she and Arnold have competed against professionals in events such as Hollander’s first ever mini-prix, which is a smaller version of the grand prix, the biggest and most lucrative class of a show.
Arnold has also helped Hollander become the Duncraven Winter Series Champion for two consecutive years. The award is given to whichever rider from the stable has accumulated the most points at the shows that took place during that season.
Hollander competed in nearly 20 shows last winter, where she acquired close to 60 points. Five points is awarded for a first place, three points for second place and two points for third.
“It’s fun winning but its great knowing that if you showed but you didn’t win, you and your horse still connected great and had a great time,” Hollander said.
Hollander credits her trainer, Nancy Wallis, for helping her develop as a rider. They have worked together since the Hollander family moved to New Jersey in 2006. Wallis has been teaching, riding, training and showing for Duncraven since 1992.
“She was very dedicated as a young kid.” Wallis said. “A lot of the kids her age that compete at a National level spend winters in Florida. So it’s very hard to compete in that crowd if you’re doing what Anna does.”
Hollander will continue to compete at the intercollegiate level when she heads to Gettysburg, but she will not be able to take Arnold with her. Instead, the family will sell Arnold partly because his worth will help pay for a portion of Anna’s college tuition, and also because at the college level you are provided with the horse that you must ride.
“It’s going to be impossible to separate myself from Arnold,” Hollander said. “I don’t talk about it with my family, because it’s going to be really hard.”
Nancy Wallis likes to refer to Arnold as a “mama’s boy” because whenever Anna isn’t around, Arnold is looking for the mints that she always gives him.
“We like to think that if the horse likes you than he’s going to try harder for you,” Wallis said. “Arnold definitely likes to take good care of Anna.”
Hollander says that they will make sure Arnold is put in good hands, and that she will visit him whenever she’s able to if the new owner allows her to.
Nancy Wallis said a lot of riders lose interest when they head to college, but she is confident that Hollander will continue to succeed in the sport and remain a part of the Duncraven family forever.
“I think riding is a part of Anna’s blood,” Wallis said. “I’m confident that someday she’ll go on and start a family and her kids will ride too.”
Anna Hollander jumping with her horse, Arnold, at the Briarwood Farm Horse Show, held at Duncraven Stables in Titusville May 17, 2014. (Photo by Emilie Frede.),
