About this episode

The episode discusses how the Compton Cowboys use horses to help youth heal from racial trauma and develop self-esteem.

✨ "I believe that in our ancestry we were equestrians, and that's why it's connected so hard with my family." – Louis Hook For 35 years, the Compton Cowboys mission has run a self-development program in Compton, California, that leverages horses to help kids grow into upstanding young men and women — serving roughly 30 kids a year. Founding member Louis Hook and HeartMath practitioner Kansas Carradine, who has worked alongside the organization for years, join Rupert Isaacson to talk about the mission's history and how it works today. What started when Louis's sister Maisha Akbar moved to Compton's Richland Farms neighborhood in 1988 has grown into a four-track program covering horsemanship, equine science, farming, and self-development. Kansas brings the science side of the conversation, explaining how heart rate variability and heart coherence research from the HeartMath Institute is being used to help kids and horses regulate together. The conversation ranges from the history of West African cavalry culture and Mansa Musa to the concept of epigenetic and intergenerational trauma, and what Louis calls "Shadow PTSD" in kids growing up in high-violence neighborhoods. It's a…

People in this episode

Host: Rupert Isaacson

Guests: Louis Hook, Kansas Carradine

Topics covered

• racial trauma
• equine therapy
• self-development
• Black horsemanship
• intergenerational trauma
• community programs

Keywords

• Compton Cowboys
• equine science
• heart rate variability
• youth programs
• Black equestrian nonprofits
• epigenetic trauma
• horsemanship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HeartMath Institute

Books & works: Shadow PTSD

Places: Compton, California, Richland Farms

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