story by Siri Stevens
At the age of 10, Lola Parnell has more than 707m views on a viral video from Stockyards Championship Rodeo in August. Lola has been making quite a splash into the world of barrel racing in person and on social media – especially the latest one where she beats her mom (Lauren Howe) at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth.
The whole thing started as a simple competition to beat her mom each run they compete together… it has now grown into quite the entertainment as Lola is not only beating her mom who competes professionally, but outrunning majority of all her competition.
Lauren grew up competing since age 6, rodeo for Hill College and then at Tarleton, before moving to Sanger, where she continues to compete, raising, training, and racing her own horses. The ranch is called Wild Eye Ranch because one of her horses had a wild eye. “We named the ranch and opened the LLC because of a really notorious horse name The Duke who still goes on to compete today. He was quite the challenge to train but he went on to be great. Now I’ve got a daughter jockeying on our horses and winning.” Her husband, Heath Howe, is part of a family lightning protection company which funds the horse hobby.
Through the past ten years, they have collected the horse power, along with the infrastructure of veterinary care and an army of family support. Lola recently was mounted on her uncles famous bulldogging horse, Ote.
Ote carried Bray Armes to the NFR four times and was handed down to his kids before Lola got him. The seasoned old horse with a heart was the best beginner horse that Lola could have had.
He carried her and her cousin Breely Armes through the AJRA, where she continues to compete. “It’s a kid’s association and it’s fun. A lot of my friends do it and their families park next to each other,” she said. She likes cookouts and dances.
She has two go-to horses now that she hauls to the rodeos. “The speed horse is Cadilac, and the gritty horse is Barbie.” The gelding is bred for speed and Barbie is cow bred for goats and breakaway, but she is really fast in barrels too.
Lola is a fifth grader at Butterfield Elementary and likes science the best. “I like doing experiments and I like building things.” When she gets home from school, her mom has the horses saddled and ready for her to practice on. She has three step siblings, two (Hunter and Hayes) still live at home. The high schoolers golf and play basketball. The youngest, 8, also plays golf. Sophie is in college at OSU. When she grows up she wants to be a professional horse trainer, just like her mom; and like her uncle, she plans to go to the NFR.
