More Than a Makeover
(left) Lydea Logsdon, Jack Parsons, Emma Wilson, and John Logsdon with their Makeover mules in the summer of 2021
How three junior youth contestants turned a competition into friendship
by Cori Daniels
When three junior youth contestants applied to compete in the Missouri Mule Makeover in January of 2021, they expected to put in hours of hard work and training, and come to the show in September ready for a weekend of demonstrating their mulemanship skills. What they didn’t expect was to come away with new friendships and connections built on more than just a competition.
This was the first year of competition for all three contestants. But the youngest competitor, 10-year-old Lydea Logsdon, Oklahoma, was no stranger to the Makeover, having watched her father John Logsdon compete since 2019. “I entered the Makeover because I thought it would be fun and I could get a lot of experience from it,” said Lydea.
Emma Wilson, Ghent, Ky., was also familiar with how the Makeover works. Her father Jared Wilson competed in the Makeover in 2019 and 2020. “After watching my dad compete, I wanted to try it out,” said 14-year-old Emma.
Jack Parsons, an 11-year-old from Edmond, Okla., entered the competition because he wanted a challenge. “I knew it would teach me a lot with training mules,” said Jack. “I’d really like to train mules for a living when I get older.”
The task these kids set out to accomplish was not easy. Taking an untrained mule and working the next 150 days to prepare it for the competition was hard work and not always fun.
The junior youth contestants picked up their mules at the same time as the rest of the competitors, in April in Eminence, Mo.
Lydea had a very tough experience when her first mule had to be put down. Towards the beginning of their training time together, they found her mule in the pasture unable to walk. “We tried so many things to get her up and she would try to walk, and she would just fall over.”
“We had four mules in reserve for the youth, just in case something happened,” said Les Clancy who organizes and runs Ozark Mule Days and the Makeover. “We picked the mule closest to Lydea to replace her first mule. Her first mule was going really well, but this mule was barely halter broke. She had a hard road ahead of her after that.”
But Lydea started over and didn’t let the loss of her first mule derail her enthusiasm for the competition. Her second mule, named Spade because of the big spade on his hind end, was a three-year-old john mule.
“The first thing I did when I got Spade was get him used to me,” said Lydea. “We did some simple groundwork in the round pen and worked on getting him gentle.”
Jack drew 4-year-old Eileen, a molly mule.“My first steps with Eileen were to get her comfortable with me,” said Jack. “I started with some groundwork, and then I started to put a saddle on her and crawl on her back, and get on and off quite a bit.”
Emma said her first step with her mule, Nova, was to tie her up. “The day after we got home, I tied her up to brush her, but when I would walk away, she would rear up. She wasn’t happy,” said Emma. “I put her food and water by her and let her work out her problems.”
The kids did have setbacks in their training.
“At first, he jerked away from me, and he ended up bucking me off five times,” said Lydea. But she did not let that stop her. “I got back on him and made him tired.”
“Eileen bucked me off twice,” said Jack. “Because this is the first mule that I’ve trained, she was learning a lot quicker than I was.”
Emma had different kinds of setbacks to overcome. She splits her time evenly between her mom and dad’s house, so she only had half of her 150 days to work on her mule. Also, as showtime approached, Nova began limping. The Wilson’s found a puncture would in Nova’s hoof. “We didn’t know if she would be able to compete,” said Emma. “We called the vet and she came late at night. We had to flush it out and put medicine in it. But it got way better and I was able to show her.”
The junior youth competitors all went in with the goal of winning, but they had specific smaller goals they hoped to accomplish at the show, too.
“I wanted to have a good halter class, because we practiced halter quite a bit,” said Lydea. “It went OK, but he was nervous.”
“In my freestyle, I really wanted to be able to ride her up on the bridge, stand up in the saddle and crack a whip,” said Jack. “At the show, she lost her foot placement on the bridge.” But Jack did not give up, and at the end of the freestyle, he did get her on the bridge, which resulted in the crowd cheering. It showed a lot of determination and grit to stick it out.
“I just wanted to try my best,” said Emma. “Nova wasn’t acting bad at the show, but she was doing better at home. I was nervous.”
In the end, Emma’s calm approach to the competition brought home the win in the junior youth division. With that win, she received a custom bit, a custom breast collar, a pair of boots, and a custom belt buckle.
After the competition, each contestant is faced with a difficult choice: to sell their Makeover Mule at the auction on Sunday and take home whatever their mule sells for, or no-sale their mule at the auction and take their mule home.
Emma did decide to sell Nova. “She was one of my favorite mules that I have ever had,” said Emma.
Jack, who came in second in the competition, did not sell Eileen at the auction. Eileen has since been enjoying some time off. “We have been busy working and I haven’t rode her, but my dad did ride her on a trail ride recently. I’ve got an Appaloosa mule I’ve been training, and I’m trying to catch up with that since I took five months off for the competition.”
Lydea, who finished third in the Makeover, sold Spade at the auction to Brock Milam, of Milam Mules, Benton, Mo.
Though each of these kids had favorite parts at the competitions, it was unanimous among them that their favorite parts were the time spent with each other in the summer training their mules.
Both Emma and Jack spent time at the Logsdon’s house over the 150 days they had their Makeover mules. Emma lives in Kentucky, but she spent a week with Lydea in Oklahoma. Jack, who lives about three hours away, visited several times a month, and sometimes for three of four days.
“My favorite part was getting to have Emma and Jack here,” said Lydea. “We practiced arena work and went on trail rides together.”
“Being able to go to the Logsdon’s house was my favorite part,” said Jack. The Parsons knew the Logsdon’s prior to the competition, “but not very well,” said Jack. John invited them over, and they were there when Emma and her dad came, too. “John and Lydea helped us a lot. We got to know their family really well, and they are some nice people. I think we will be lifelong friends.” Jack used his freestyle performance to thank John, with a banner that read “Thank you John Logsdon for all your help” on his bridge.
Emma stayed with Lydea after the spring Oklahoma Mule Sale (which is John Logsdon’s sale) so they could start their mules together. “Going to Oklahoma and working all of our mules together was my favorite part of the competition,” said Emma.
It’s easy to see that these contestants improved their mulemanship skills over the course of the 150 days they had their Makeover mules. But it was just as easy to see that they took away much more than prizes.
The Missouri Mule Makeover is held in conjunction with Ozark Mule Days in Springfield, Mo., each Labor Day weekend (read more about the 2021 event here). Applications to be a trainer in the 2022 Missouri Mule Makeover contest open January 1. Additionally, some changes are being made to the youth division. For more information, visit their Facebook by searching Missouri Mule Makeover/Ozark Mule Days.