Compton Junior Equestrians: How Horses Help Kids Heal, Grow, and Find Purpose

Transcript auto-generated from the episode audio; formatting has been cleaned up, but wording is verbatim.

I'm Cynthia Marks, and I head up the Holistic Psychoanalysis Foundation established by my late husband, Doctor Bernard Bale. Welcome to And Now Love. It really makes me happy to have Mark Keenan and Carlton here with us today. The three of them are doing so many fabulous things for youth in the Compton community, beginning with the transformative power of the relationship between horses and kids. They are the leaders of the Compton Cowboys and the overseers of the Compton Junior equestrians. They grew up together as participating members in the local horse program founded by Maisha akbar in 1988.

They have been dedicated to the essential core mission of keeping kids on horses and off the streets for over 30 years. Their message is simple no matter how hard your back story is, you can rise and be a force for positive change so long as you believe, dedicate and collaborate. Thank you all for joining us today and taking a little time away from the important work that you do day in and day out. I think it's almost 24 hours a day. So this was started so long ago. How did Maisha come to deciding to turn this into this program? Well, back when she brought her kids to Compton, there was a lot of gang violence.

So then when she came to the Richland Farms, which is the name of the neighborhood that her kids ended up getting into light gangs and being in the streets. So she wanted to help them and their friends get off the streets. So she had a few horses in the back. Then she started bringing more kids and bringing more kids in to help them get off the streets to. And then it just went from there. Is that kind of the would that have been sort of a natural path for kids, because there was so much gang influence in the neighborhood that they would be attracted to that community of people.

At the time, everybody. I guess all the people in the streets thought it was fun for the to to learn about horses. So I had my cousin, which is my son Misha. Her son, my cousin was one of the first people, and then they had their friends who she also helped get off the streets by teaching them about the horses. And now we're influencing the youth. We have our program. We wish there teaching kids about horses and helping them stay off the streets. It's amazing. And the three of you as little kids were involved in this organization for her direction?

Yes. Carlton's correct. Carlton is Miss Maya's nephew. So when he said when her son was actually my age, when I moved to the neighborhood at the age of nine, I own my own horse. But I didn't know who to ride with. And, you know, just so happened that I have ventured into my neighbor. He was he lived across the street. His name was David Dodson, and he was like, hey, you have a horse come hang out. And we were like, okay. So that's how I got introduced. And then so that was the first generation of the Compton Junior Posse, which was the foundation foundational name of our program, and then eventually a transition to the Compton Junior Questions when the proverbial reins was handed over to Randy, which is Carlton's twin brother.

And is it Randy that's running for City council? He is. That is awesome. What a family you have. So how did Misha. And maybe you don't know the answer to this, or maybe you do from your own experience, come to know that this experience with the horses for the kids would be sort of life changing. Yeah. So at a very young age, we all started at a very young age. And by us being in the environment that we were in, it was very critical for us to either make a decision. It was about decision making, and our parents made the decision for us, but it was up for us to maintain and continue to, you know, do positive in the community.

So growing up, there were a lot of challenges behind the environment that we stayed in. And the program ultimately saved our, you know, mindsets and, you know, put us on a positive role model figure from Aisha and her founding fathers. Heard, you know, the cowboys that she ran with, you know, kind of took us under their wing at a very young age. And ever since then, we've been we've been there. We've been here. It's really an unbelievable story. And to think that, you know, it started out being really effective and it just continues on today. I mean, doesn't that just speak to the dedication that the three of you have to it?

And, and the amazing work that actually is being done to help these kids, that you continue to attract these kids in the neighborhood. And it is pretty much the neighborhood, right? No. Not necessarily. We do try to venture with the kids in the neighborhood. The thing is, everybody in the neighborhood has their own horses. So the kids that are part of our program are people that are outside the neighborhood that have learned about the program, but we still are able to collaborate with people in our own neighborhood to go ahead. Like when we do, like get togethers and, you know, things right along, we call them.

So we're able to partner up with other local riders in our neighborhood because, again, they're they're fortunate enough to own horses because of their property and our property and the Richland Farms area. So the kids that we we work with, we work with kids, the wards of the state, kids that are in foster care, kids that are in group homes, you know, so they were just contracted out where I should say, they inquired about our program and then they just became students. I see how did people find out about you? So I really do give a lot of testament to the company cowboys.

They've given the Compton junior a very immense platform to even showcase us because, again, even when I answer people's emails or calls and then I always say, I always start off with the company and junior questions and they're like, who? And I was like, oh, you know, we're part of the Cowboys. And they go, yes, now I know. And again, if it wasn't for the company Cowboys, people can find us through their website, Compton Cowboys or visit our website, Compton Junior questions and multiple ways. Our social media their social media is really really important to our program.

So again, these guys are the superstars. And just to let you know like we we are just a part of the team. We're not the whole team. We still have Anthony, which is our ranch manager. And then we still have Randy, which is the we call him the captain because he is the, the, the force that's driving us and is allowing us to give us this opportunity. And then we also have Mr. Lewis, which is Carlton's dad, Miss Micah's brother. He is our CEO, and he's he's he's the brains behind everything. He's the end all, be all. And he's a Harvard grad, MIT grad.

So his knowledge and skill set is is phenomenal. And we are very, very fortunate to work with people. I am very fortunate to be able to work with not only the guys, but also to Mr. Lewis. Yes. So Mr. Lewis is involved in kind of a supervisory way or you come. For me. He's pretty much the glue that holds the book together. He was a part of the first chapter. He was one of the first Founding fathers and he always was was right there behind us. Every chapter that we we created, every pages page that turned. He was pretty much the glue and, you know, the number at the bottom of the page.

So he he's pretty much the driving, driving force in my eyes. So he sort of helps everybody keep the eye on the ball. Yes. Yeah. And so your brother. Yes. So what is what is his position? How does he help the operation move forward? So Randy's really again he is the he is the CEO of the company Cowboys. He is the founder. He he founded the program. He founded that organization, the Compton Cowboys. Again, they all kind of grew up together. So I always tell a great story is that when I used to live, when, when, when we first moved to the neighborhood, my mom couldn't find work.

So what she would do is she would go around the neighborhood and ask people if they needed their house to be cleaned. And Mr. Lewis was very kind and said, yeah, sure, come by. And so for a good while, I remember going to their house on a Saturday morning, and I would sit down in front of a TV with Randy and Carlton, and my mom would clean their house. And again, so, you know, Randy is pretty much the driving force. He, like Carlton, says he has a great vision. He has a great plan. And, you know, and he's really dedicated to making it work. He finds avenues in ways that we are really not able to even venture into.

But he finds a way to overcome any obstacle to make us make this happen. So he he's the man with the master plan for sure. We all need one of those people. So then when it comes to funding, is he sort of managing that part of the organization? Yes, yes. So he pretty much he he goes into the real world, into the corporate spaces, and he pitches to them his vision and our purpose and our mission, and give him 20 minutes with any corporate executive from any company. And I guarantee you at the end of that 20 minutes, he, the company owner or whoever it is would be like, you know what, I back I understand what you're saying and I believe in what you just told me.

So let's let's come up with a deal. Let's come up with a sponsorship. Let's come up with anything that can help your vision and your mission grow with, you know, just an amazing backstory with the youth and the horses. I mean, it's such a unique thing that you're doing with so much success. I get that it's hard to imagine that anyone could say no. Right, right. He's also a psychology major, so he he he can speak very, very well. And, you know, he gets his point across to where if you say, I can sell or to a tour, well, pretty sure that well will buy it.

So, so we all understand what is the difference or the distinction between the cowboys and the junior equestrians. So the junior equestrians. It is, I call them the little brothers or the little sisters of the program. They are the students that, you know, they see the coolness and the likeness of being a cowboy or cowgirl, and we give them avenues to explore in the real world. You know, you can go be a horse Ferrier, which, you know, they take care of the horse's feet. It could be a horse dentist. You can be a rodeo star. You can be anything that you want.

Horse related. We're going to find a way for you guys to do that. And us being the Compton Cowboys, we were part of the original program, which was the Compton Junior Posse, and we're considered the alumni of the program, pretty much the old the old guys that they can still ride. But as far as the athletic stuff goes, the sporting, the sports involved, we're kind of on the back burner because we want to see the students prevail. Like back in 2008, we started to adventure into the Olympics and we found a driving force that can, you know, potentially push us into the Olympics.

As far as sporting goes, it didn't work out for us because we didn't have the funding or whatever reason at the time, but we still have that mission and that goal to, you know, push our students to the next level of, you know, the athletic parts or the equine therapists or the, you know, the veterinarian skills. So we're we're the big brothers to the next generation. So, so for you, it's no longer so much about horses as a sport. It's it's all these other elements. Multiple things. We we do have one student. Zoe, who's been going far with her horsemanship and her riding her equestrian chip.

She's with the furthest out of all of our students. We've had more than a handful of students through the years. So what? What does that mean? How is how how is she moving forward? Is she taking place in competition? One of the top 25 riders in California right now? My gosh. And has she been with you a long time? Yes, since she was about maybe 9 or 10. She wasn't been there since she was five. That's how long she's been there yet. And she's in her 20s now. I think. That is awesome. So that happens though to a lot of people that come to you, right?

They start like you guys did, really young and then they find a passion for it. The connection. Yeah that the horses give them. And but some people come to you not really knowing or caring about horses. Right. Like when you go to some of the foster care facilities and it is just a way of helping them find. Safety things to do, maybe take them out of the scary circumstances that they're in? Very much so. And again, this is the beauty of our program, especially when it comes to working with animals like a horse. The horses have this sense of feeling, a sense of connection.

They they, they can read a person by their the way they come in. And we are offering a space to people that have over that have been through so many traumas in their lives that we can't really fathom or even understand. But what we do is we allow them just to be themselves. Let's give them that hour or 2 hours or 3 hours of our program to be able for them to kind of detach from what's going on in their reality and their lives, to be away from whatever is ailing them. And when it comes to either a trauma, a feeling, and by the end of the 2 or 3 hours that they're with us, you can tell their mindset is totally changed.

And they look forward to coming back. All. The time. So everybody has everybody has their unique set of circumstances that led to whatever unique trauma they carry. So we as you say, you can't really dissect that. All you can do is offer a place where they can take a deep breath and relax and sort of take a moment to figure out who they are inside. Exactly. I would imagine, too, that there are a lot of people who take part in your program who maybe then in the end don't have an interest in horses, but they've figured out a way to kind of express themselves or even say, make a connection, a feeling connection because of the relationship with the horses that they can take on in some other aspect.

Yes. Some of the students that do come to the program can get intimidated by the fierce and growth of the horses, how big they are, and we try not to force them into any situation that they're uncomfortable with. So with that being said, we you know, we give them the option to, you know, just be in the safe space of the horses. You don't have to technically ride the horse to feel a connection to the horse, just the birds in the background, the chickens crowing. The pigs are Lincoln. You know, it gives a child, you know, a safe space without, you know, feeling the danger or the or the scared of.

Do I really have to write this horse? No you don't. You could just come and be in the environment and be, you know, playing the dirt. A lot of a lot of kids take their shoes off and, you know, touch the earth in the dirt around the horses. And it, you know, it grounds them. It gives them, you know, a peace of mind that they don't they don't have to get on on the horse's back. You know, you can just as soon as you walk to the backyard, it's a different feeling that you that you receive. And it's not just because you're riding a horse, it's because you're, you know, in a horse's safe space..

That's such a special connection, just being in that world. Yes, yes. Very smart. Yeah. I was one of those kids growing up. My my grandparents had kind of this funky ranch setting and, you know, they were struggling and they. But they just loved, loved horses. And they did everything they could to keep the horses on the property. And they, you know, rented space and managed other people's horses just to pay their rent. And I was that kid who was like, I'm not getting on a horse. Not ever. And but the experience is just what you're saying, just to be in that environment and to hear the chickens and the dogs and the smells and the dust flying up, I that was my favorite place to be.

Yeah. I get it. And you're correct. Again, Keenan makes a great point when it comes to us just having that property again, our our predecessors, Miss Maisha, she knew that the importance of just being able to detach from the urban, concrete lifestyle of the city of Compton. Or. You're right in the. Middle. But we're right in the middle. But when you walk in through those gates and you actually get into the ranch, the first thing you do is you do smell that farm life. You do hear those birds, you hear the the pigs winking. Yeah. The whole essence of it will liberate you.

Kind of. I think so. Well, and even being there, because we did come the other day and, and just to see everybody working the kids and the. Is it your is it your cousin that's managing the ranch? Oh no. He's talking about aunt. Yeah. He's like my cousin. Pretty much. All. Anthony and I were part of the original group of writers, the Junior Posse's. And then Carlton, Randy Keenan and other people came after us. So myself, Anthony Caffra Akbar, which is miss, my son Rashid and other people, we were Terence Tea man. He he was we were part of the original Compton Junior Posse.

And then as we got older, as they got older, they came up afterwards. That's why the Comedy Cowboys was established with between the guys that actually grew up together. And we all kind of grew up together. But after a while, you know, our life trajectory is always going to take us to different paths. But for some reason, somehow, some way, we all knew that this program was going to be something that we were going to use and utilize for the rest of our lives, and the importance of just being in our own neighborhood. It does speaks a lot to our dedication.

That's for sure. Yeah, that the three of you are still and all of your cousins are still doing the same thing. And it's so fascinating that this beautiful bit of agricultural space is in the middle of Compton. I mean, it I mean, that's one of the things I love about Los Angeles is that if you just make a different turn, you'll discover something you couldn't even imagine, right? Oh, great. And you mentioned that if you flew a drone over the neighborhood, you would just see little farm after farm. And it's really something I love that that's such a treasure.

And Richland Farms has been there basically since Compton became a city. It was part of it was incorporated as part of their city chapter to to be zoned for agriculture. Back in the day, it was actually a gated community. It was gated and it was only it was into like the 70s, 70s 80s is when they actually opened up for a and became a regular neighborhood. So when it was gated, you could live there. If you say promise to maintain the space and have animals. Or to be honest, back in the day, because of the such of the racial conflict that was in the city of Compton, this was before the the was it the the white flight, as they call it?

It was pretty much a all white community. And again, this is this is Jim Crow era. This is so that that area was actually has his own. Well it has his own school. It has his own church. He has his own grocery store. He had his own everything. Like I think there's a hot term coming up now of these 15 minute cities where everything's going to be localized and then just little sections. Pretty much. That was what it was from back in. The day. I see, and now it's open to everyone. Thank God. It's open to everyone. Yes. So. Take us through a day, let's say, for someone who's newly visiting, when we were there, we saw kids working in the garden and others painting, and there were some arts and crafts stuff, and people were walking amongst the horses.

I think that one of your associates was teaching them about the horse. Yeah. So that day was the day that we were able to offer. So in our program, we were able to offer field trips for organizations. That is a after school program located in the city and Koreatown, and they bused their kids over. And that was we were able to facilitate that field trip. But for a normal day, I'll let Keenan go. Hey, because he lives in the property and also Carlton. So I'll let him give you a description of what he does on a day to day basis. So on a normal day at the ranch with me and Carlton, our duties consist of waking up very early in the morning, pretty much at the crack of dawn, to reassure that the horses are fed properly and they have the decent amount of water.

Now they have to have clean water in order to survive, because nobody wants to get sick off of, you know, mosquitoes and pesticides and stuff like that in the water. So we pretty much our first thing to do in the morning is make sure they have clean water and clean food and exercise as much needed for the horses because they're their athletes as well. So we usually let them out, let them free rein. I call them, we call it free roaming. Let them get their little kicks out, you know, stretch the legs. Carlton likes to, you know, physically stretch the legs with them because he's very hands on.

And after that, our, you know, our day just consists of maintaining whatever needs to be maintained. Pretty much cleaning up around the ranch, making sure the chickens are, you know, properly taken care of. The pigs have water. So it's basically a constant back and forth of, responsibilities and duties that we over the years. We've been doing this since we were about nine years old. And at a certain age, I think about 15. My Akbar was able to, you know, give us after school jobs. And this was it taught us responsibility at an early age to where, you know, 25 years later, those same responsibilities are within, you know, me and his his day to day life.

And, you know, we get a lot of visitors. We get a lot of people that are just very curious to know or see if this is really a program in Compton. And when they pull up, if they have an appointment, we actually will give them a tour and we give them, you know, a history lesson, a background of how long we've been doing this and the positivity that comes out of responsibilities and stuff like that. So every day we pretty much just get up in. Our main focus is making sure the animals are happy and if any visitors come, we give them a pretty much a rundown of, you know, how our program works and if they want to, you know, seek any more information.

We, you know, pass them on to miss the mark. And Mr.. Mark talks to the parents and we you know, so we are always getting new students just by curiosity or social media. And, you know, our day to day operations just consist of being, you know, available to the public if it's, you know, if they have an appointment. And if not, we still accommodate whoever the visitor is, in a safe space of the animals. Very cool. And so by the time you have people arriving, kids, let's say the horses are fed, they've had their exercise. They're sort of ready for anything.

Yeah. They ready. They'd be ready for the kids. Some of them get excited. The horses. They do when the kids are coming. Interesting. And is it. And we can talk about this equine therapy in a moment. But is do horses have a different relationship with kids than they do with adults. Different horses do. Some horses tend to try to give safety and extra security to the kids. Some horses will treat the kid like different, will ride different with the kid. It's funny, some of some of the horses are different with. Kids really. So they they know to be gentle.

Yeah. And then also protective. Yeah. That is fascinating. And are the horses different with you than with other people? Because you're. Like. Yeah, for the most part they're a little bit, just a little different. I communicate with them. What me and him probably communicate just as just about the same. But the horses. Yeah. We have like a spiritual connection. Yeah. Just to piggyback off of what Carlton was saying, the horses have emotions. Some horses that we come have been donated to us throughout the years. Do deal with trauma. So the the horse and the student might come in with the same traumatic experience throughout their life and them growing together and creating this bond like we've created the bond over the years with all of our horses.

So we communicate and we understand our horses a lot differently than, you know, say, a random new student that, you know, is first day on the ranch. He might have had a very traumatic experience with a dog. I called them big dogs. So, you know, to relay that message to the student, it's more of a, hey, have you ever been around an animal? You know, you start off with just the animal and you're like, yeah, I've been around dogs and I hate them. And it's like, well, these are softer dogs. If you, if you, if you breathe slowly and just listen to their, to their feelings which they can't speak, but you can feel their feelings, the student has a different outcome.

And same with the with the horses. The horses may have come from a very, you know, low end traumatic experience to where they're looking at the kids as a threat. And, you know, by the end of the session, if we had the horse for maybe three months, the horse is able to adapt to, okay, I don't have to be fearful of humans anymore. You know, just like big dogs, you know, they remember everything for about seven years. Horse is about the same. What a beautiful thing. That's amazing when when you say you have a spiritual connection, how does. How does that present itself or what do you feel inside?

Well, a lot of people who see it, they called me the horse Bush Bird. So that's kind. Of. It's kind of. Just. It just brought itself out, you know, so you see it when you see it. It's a little hard to describe, but I can tell you. I think, so this is this when when Carlton speaks on that growing up, I feel like the movie avatar. So the blue, the blue aliens on the blue horse looking animals, when they get on that horse, it looks like a horse. They connect their their tentacles. And, you know, me and Carlton, we have dreads. So these are our tentacles.

And but it transitions into real life to where when you grab those reins, you become one with the horse. You know, you get you're feeling every every part of the the body structure. You're feeling the muscles move and you become, you know, synchronized. It's like, you know, you synchronize with this animal and over time, you know, we can we can get on there and close our eyes. And, you know, we can pretty much ride the horse blindfolded to a certain extent, of course. But yeah, it's more of like a, just a really deep connection that, you know, kind of it grows over time.

But once you get that superpower like Carlton has, it's more like the avatar, the movie. And do you think that is that something you teach to the kids or they need to come to it on their own terms? It's a little bit of both. It starts off with, okay, this is how you stop the horse. This is how you turn the horse. So that first communication level is one thing. And then as time grows, you can literally walk out and your horse can sense you and they'll speak out loud. I walk out the front door and this is because I feed them. But as soon as I step out the door, they smell me.

And they, you know, they hear my boots come in and they're like, hey, it's breakfast, it's breakfast. All the horses are, you know, just. The personalities open up. They get to making noises. Do they. Do that with some of the kids, too? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Some horses get happy when they see the kids and they are making noise. The little horse noise that you hear. I feel like there is. And maybe I'm just in the dark, like there's this undercurrent that I'm beginning to understand. There's this whole world of people who are just completely enamored with horses and want to spend as much time as they possibly can with horses.

And I think if you don't understand what you guys are describing right now, it's kind of a curious thing like, well, why? And to have this connection and to, you know, just gain some amount of personal growth, whether it's understanding empathy for other people or even animals and just finding your own space and someone, something, an animal to help you carry the trauma or undo the trauma that is such a gift. Is that what equine therapy is about for? For me, the undoing, the trauma part is what has taught me and given me life lessons dealing with, you know, therapeutic things.

I wasn't really that outspoken as a kid, but you can tell that there was some. I've been through some traumatic experiences and, you know, just being able to overcome them and undo them, as you say, was a, you know, really big challenge growing up as a as a young student. And nowadays we have more structure behind that. I think Mr. Mark can give us more insight on that part. Yeah. So our program is we're at that point right now that we do not say that we're doing any equine therapy, but we are doing a lot of psycho, and we're trying to redefine what it means to have a connection with the horse, but in a way that's more holistic.

We want to make sure, again, you spoke about when if someone has never been in this environment, they don't really understand what that connection is about, because, again, Carlton's right. Like some people are just born with it and he is for sure the horse whisperer. And we've developed that skill because we've owned horses our whole lives. You know, we've we've been around that that type of environment. And people just adapt. Kids are very resilient. Kids are very adaptable to their environment. You know, I'm a big believer in systems theories where an individual is, is, is, is impacted by its not only their environment, but their environment is impacted by the individual and every aspect of that.

We definitely have to understand that it isn't what's the situation? It isn't the child at the moment, but what happened before the moment and what can happen after the moment and our environment. What we try to do is again, we try to hold space for everyone and also your economic status, cultural background. We do a lot of cultural humility, humility in our program because again, we want to understand who they are and what they're bringing to our program because we want our program is so beautiful that we're able to adapt our situation and our curriculum to fit every need.

So every time, even when we have field trips, my first question to the to the organization is, okay, what are you, what do you do as a program? And what we're able to do is morph our program to fit their program so that their mission can be our mission. But in the equity facility, you know, we can do it using horses. And that's the beauty of our program. And what we're trying to do is eventually, again, once I graduate from Cal State Long Beach and get my master's degree right, we're almost there. Class of 2027. Shout out to Cal State Long Beach.

So once I do that, half of my time is going to be working to get my hours for my license ship to become a licensed clinical social worker, and the other half is going to be we're going to be working with an organization called Igala. Igala is a a facility that can train individuals to learn equine therapy. The hard part about it is that it has to be two people. So it has to be the therapist themselves and a person that has a lot of experiences with the horses. What both of these guys fit that criteria. A lot of our guys fit that criteria. And together, collectively, we are going to go out and make sure that we can legally and officially say that we we are offering equine therapy, and that is in the works because of the foundation our predecessors had laid down for us.

So then the equine therapy requires two people plus the person receiving the therapy. Yes. That's a big endeavor. It is, and. It's very costly. But at the same time, again, our horses are phenomenal. Again, Kanan made a great point that some of our horses have a back story, just like every human, and they've been through traumatic experiences, whatever it may be. And we were able to kind of rehabilitate them and have them see that not all humans are alike and not all animals are alike. And again, each horse has their own personality. Sometimes some horses can be stubborn and they don't want to do anything.

And, you know, unfortunately that's how people are. We got a couple of horses that get like that. We really do. And you know what? To be honest, we have to accept that. And we have to understand that. So what we do is these guys are really good at noticing the small things because again, it's very, very important for us to keep safety in all aspects, not only for the student, the coach and the horse, because again, we really are very, very passionate when it comes to horse safety. Horse safety is by far paramount because again, without our horses, we wouldn't have a program.

We'll be a glorified after school program and we are not that at all. It's interesting to hear that you really need to be in tune with the horses and understand. Okay, well, this one's stubborn today. Yes. And I'm going to have to allow that. I can't really force something. Patience. Yeah. And that's what we need to do with each other too. Right. So what a great thing for these kids to see. I can't change this horse today. This horse is feeling stubborn. I don't need anyone to change me today. I'm feeling stubborn. Or, you know, this horse is feeling fearful and a person.

Well, you guys can see that. And I'm thinking that these kids eventually see that and they know then over the course of time, how to how to maneuver, how to be in touch with that horse, how to sort of do some horse whispering to make a connection and help soothe that horse. Yeah. Horses are automatically their, their heard their, their herd animals. So they're, they, they're social. They're real social animals. And they always want to be together. And this is the, the, the hard part for us and is, is allowing them to kind of find their own. And again, these guys do a great job at being able to give them that opportunity to again, unlearn some of the traumas that they've had in their past.

Because even horses, horses and some horses, they take a while for them to to even bond. But because of that, we we allow that space. And these guys are very, very in tune to how horse is going to react before the horse reacts. And again, we want all our horses to be able to work together. And it's very important because sometimes through through one of our after school programs, we have about 4 or 5 horses out in the arena at the same time. And, you know, we have students on those horses. So we want to make sure that when they are comfortable with them selves, also, they are comfortable with the other horses that they're working with, because at the end of the day, it's a partnership and they have to work together.

But at the same time, you know, everybody just has to. There's always a day that someone's just going to have a bad day, and we have to make sure that we. We allow that. Yeah. That's life. It's interesting because you could if you took out the word horses and you put people. Yes, it's the same scenario. So what a fabulous skill to learn. And I wonder too, if kids might be more open to, let's say a lot of these kids have grown up in situations where they're not getting what they need from their family or their friends. There's a lot of trauma or there's there's no advantage.

And then they find this horse that hears them, sees them, and lets them say the things that they, for whatever reason, are not comfortable saying or feeling in their own environment away from the horses. Like so many of us, we train ourselves to be a certain way so that we can exist in the confines of the trauma that were exposed to and. And what a relief. Yeah, horses. Horses are amazing creatures. They're they're the ones that were there. Non-judgmental. They will give you the opportunity to tell. You can tell them your your deepest, darkest secrets, and they'll hold that for you.

And to be honest, they actually feel it. And they know that. And they know that, you know, they they they know your emotions. Again, it's like a horse can feel the, the touch of a fly on their back so they can actually feel your heart rate. They can smell you, they can sense you, they can they, they know that when you're being dysregulated, they know that that's happening. Sometimes they just want to come up to you and they just want to just give you their space, give you their energy so that you can go ahead and keep yourself coherent. give you their energy so that you can go ahead and keep yourself coherent.

Because the moment that you're incoherent, a lot of things can happen. And, you know, our emotions get the best of us, and we really want to make sure that we are providing that space not only for kids, but the horses are doing it by themselves, their rock stars. Yeah. So when we visited, you mentioned that there are a lot of steps that take place before anyone really gets to really engage with a horse. And what are those steps and what is the purpose of the. So that would go under our equine science part, basically learning the anatomy of the horse, learning the techniques to use around the horses, learning what they eat, and pretty much getting a understanding of what the horses require from you.

So that way you can get what you require from the horses. Because you're not going to just jump up there and automatically know how to do every part of riding a horse, because there's multiple things that you have to consider while you're riding the horse. You're not only putting your life in danger, but you can potentially be putting your horse's life in danger if you don't know how to properly do something correctly, or if if the feeling of the horse is uncertain and you don't know how to change that reaction. For example, just if you're riding in the in the rainforest on your horse and there's a snake ahead of you, you're not going to be able to see the snake, but the horse will see it first.

The horse will give you a heads up like, hey, there's something ahead of us. Are we safe enough to continue? And you're going to look at the horse like, no, I think we should find a different path. Because if I put you in a if I put you in, if we move forward in this situation and it's dangerous, if a horse gets bit by a snake, you're pretty much you're on your own at that point. You know, in the survival world. So the person writing the horse has to be able to know, hear that kind of messaging? Yes, yes. And does that take a lot of experience to come to?

Yes. Years of of falling, literally falling off the horse and just having that mindset of, okay, I got to get back up for one, but for two, what can I do differently next time to avoid that traumatic situation or that, you know, scarce moment. And every time you do it, you might it might happen a couple more times, but you're learning how to avoid it or how to catch it next time before it actually happens. Is it a relationship? It's not. There's no fault to put, you know, on the horse. It's a relationship. But I think that's a hard thing to come by, too, because I think a lot of us are really afraid to sort of take part in an experience.

We want to put all the bad stuff that happens someplace else. And what a nice place to actually discover that. Absolutely. Because I think, again, you know, that's something that we do, we we don't want to be the bad person. And so we, we like to push that out on other people. And the other thing and maybe this happens with horses two is I think a lot of us carry the bad stuff that happens around us, like this is happening in my family. It must be my fault somehow. It's my fault. And then is it possible that in an experience with a horse, the horse helps you understand that what's going on outside of you is not your fault?

Totally. Just from my experience alone, you know, as humans, we we go through things every single day. It could be something work related. It could be something family related. It could be, you know, a death in the family. And for me, I use the horses and the animals that we have as a I call it a soft reset. If I'm having a troubled day, if I'm angry, I just go and I don't have to ride the horse. I can just sit in the horse's stall. I can just sit around them and like Mr. Mark said, was, you know, we can we can speak to the horses and they they won't speak back, but they can feel your emotions, they can feel your anger.

And they're, you know, they're just there to listen. And, you know, 15 minutes later after me, you know, expressing my emotions to my horse. The horse gives me a head nod and it's like, hey, you'll be all right. And I walk away, you know, not yeah. Not putting that that situation, that negative situation behind me. But, you know, just coming to an understanding that, you know, you'll get through this because that's just that that feeling that that happens in that moment. There's a big takeaway there. I think for all of us just as humans. We need a place to go with another human where we can have that kind of relief or satisfaction.

And maybe it is just as so similar to what a horse can offer. And it's just listening. No judgment, a safe place. I think we need a lot more humans that provide that. Yes. And I think these kids who are growing up in this environment are learning how important that is as humans to support each other that way. It's very, very critical for for kids at a certain age to understand that you it's okay to express yourself, it's okay to have feelings. And a lot of times a lot of kids don't have that that parent or that mentor to, you know, go go to, to express how they feel or if they're having a bad day.

And, you know, we're very fortunate. We're very privileged to I call it having a silent therapist. You know, as humans, we you know, if you're having a troubled day and, you know, a lot of people have therapy sessions with therapists, that's one, you know, that's one form and it might work for them. But for me, it works better for me with horses because the horse is not going to judge me. The horse is not going to, you know, give me a negative feedback because, you know, sometimes I don't want to hear that. You don't want to hear the truth, and the truth may hurt.

But, you know, horses are they're very powerful, very, you know, keen animals. Yeah. That's a fabulous path that you found outside of the traditional therapy modality. Of course, a good therapist is never supposed to judge you. But yes. A lot of us live life always feeling like we're being judged anyway. So I remember you saying to that there's some amount of responsibility taking that needs to be learned before you can hop on a on a horse. Oh, yeah. And I think a lot of the kids get so excited about being on the horse is that it must be hard for them to focus on going through all these steps.

That need to be done, and check those things off on the list. It gives me so excited to get up on the horse. They'd be they'd be having a hard time listening first. Like, we gotta show them how to introduce yourself to the horse first, and then you start to rub on the horse, and then you talk to the horse as you rub it on them, then you, then you can start to groom the horse with the grooming tools, then you, then you work your way to the feet and get the bonding with the horse, cleaning the feet. That's all a process before you mount the horse and the kids learn that process before they start to put the tack like the saddle and pad, they learn the process of bonding with the horse before putting on a saddle pad or bareback pad, amongst other stuff.

They take a lot of time. It takes repetition because kids, they don't necessarily pick it up right away. You say that again? No. Well, our predecessor miss my shagbark. She always told us like, you have to. You have to earn the right to ride the horse. You just can't come and ride this horse. My dad used to always say like, you know, why are you over there helping clean their stalls? You got your stalls to clean. I'm like, yeah, dad, I'm done with my stalls. It's like, so then why are you over there helping them? I'm like, well, because that's part of being part of the group.

You know, we need I want them to I want to help them finish their stores too, because the moment they finish their stalls, they can grab their horses and we can go riding. So and we're all together. So it was one of those things that she. We have students have to earn the right to ride the horse again. Our program is in one of those grab your pony and go right kind of situation. You. We have these steps like the equine science, the horsemanship, the guardian holder culture and the self-development as part of the program so that kids can learn those kind of life skills, responsibility, keeping one accountable, making sure that they are dedicated to their to to keeping up their grades if their grades are not there.

That was another thing. Miss my. She used to tell us like she would ask us for our report cards and let us know, like, okay, let me see your grades. And then if our grades are not there, she would not let us be a part of the program. So it was really big. Her her motto and the one thing that I am going to again honor her through my graduation is she would always say education is the great equalizer. And it's one of those things that is really, really strong. And it has stood with me to the testament of time. Like, I hear it and I see it. And again, we try to install that to our kids as well, because they need to understand that it isn't just no.

I always say no one wants to hear Mr. Mark talk. No one wants to do the the, the feelings will. No one wants to do it like no one wants to write about their day and journal or anything. But they have to do that because again, it's part of our program. And so what is the feelings wheel? The feelings. Well, it's just a it's a will that a lot of therapists use to kind of like when they talk to do therapeutic sessions. Again, we are not offering therapeutic sessions, but we use a lot of the same tools again. And this is just to measure where the child is at.

And it's it's colorful and it starts off with the core feelings, which is happy, sad, happy, sad, angry. And what is the other fear. Fear. So it starts off with those and then it breaks off to other little subcategories and then so on and so forth. And we have a big one there. So that again my first thing is like how are you feeling today? What color are you. What color are you. You know, and it's one of those things that we want to make sure that kids understand how to express their feelings, because that's the one thing. Even as adults, it's really hard for us to to even when someone asks like, how are you doing?

We always give that generalized I'm all right. And again, and it's one of those things that, okay, how can we help kids be able to express themselves in a positive way, make sure it's meaningful, and then make sure that they're getting a lot out of it. Because again, at the end of the day, we really aren't going to be there. And, you know, therapy's them at all. But we really want to see how they're doing. And because also to we want to make sure that they're in the right headspace before even getting on a horse, because again, our horses are phenomenal.

They do. They do the routine by themselves. But at the same time, we have to make sure that the kid and the child or person individual is coherent themselves and their understanding what's going to happen next. Because if they're not focused on their task, you know, that's when that's when things can go awry. Yeah. Well, and it's such a great gift for these kids to each be seen and heard as individuals. You know, I'm not the result of the same traumas that the kid next to me. Exactly is that you really respect every individual. Wouldn't it be cool if the next generation grew up not always saying, yeah, I'm just fine, right?

Give us more than a word or two again. And that's one of my my main things that I hold my hat on to because I want kids to be able to express themselves in whatever fashion it may look like, because again, expression can look different in everybody's way and whatever that looks like, so be it. If you want to color today, if you want to paint today, if you want to draw today, if or if you just want to just sit here, so be it. Again, you have that opportunity and we're very grateful to even provide that for kids. I love that the kids get to learn all of these things before they get on a horse.

And at the end of the day, when they're finally ready to get on the horse, they must have gained a whole lot of self respect. Like, look at all that I did to get to this place, and then they can have this fabulous relationship back and forth. Respect with the horse. Yeah. These guys are really amazing mentors. Again, that's one of our programs that we really do offer a lot of mentorship because again, I did a collage and experiment with one on, but a, a, an assignment with the kids for one of my classes, and one of them was to have a child make a collage, and then I make a collage and see how our coaches react.

Right. The one thing that kind of stood out to both of us is that we could not find pictures of people that look like us, and that was the one thing that the child in front of me was telling me was like, it was like, hey, Mr. Mark, I want to use this, but he don't look like Keenan or Mr. Carlton or Mr. Anthony. I'm like, well, okay, so what I ended up doing, I went on Instagram, took some of their pictures, I went to some of their articles and stuff and took some of those out, and I printed them out the next time I was like, look. And I showed him, he was like, yes, I wish I would have had this yesterday.

And again. So we're trying to that that was something that stood out to me a lot, because again, we want to make sure kids that look like us, that come from our same background, can actually see that there is an opportunity to be in this environment. And there is people like Mr. Keenan, Mr. Carlton, Mr. Anthony, you know again Randy to be able to like yes, there are cool people out there that look like you that are doing what you want to do. Eventually. Is that hard for a lot of little kids because unfortunately there is this stereotypical picture of a horse and a white person is do the kids see that?

And they have to change their mindset. Like you said, this little person was like, I don't see the people that I relate to. Look like me. And again, and this is one of the things that we, the Compton Cowboys, are doing a phenomenal job at that. Given that that urban cowboy, black cowboy exposure, you know, people of color have always been stifled by Western society. Our culture, our education, our our viewpoint has never been able to see the center stage. And again, the Compton Cowboys are doing a phenomenal job when it comes to giving that exposure to us.

Again, this is part of where I feel very blessed and honored to be a part of a program like this, because again, we are showcasing people of color. We are showcasing and people don't understand, you know, the whole history when it came to, you know, the cowboy person and where the name come from. And you know, us here in Southern California, you know, the the rich Mexican culture that we have. Again, my dad was really, really into the big charro image again, big old ten gallon hats and, you know, the regalia and everything. And he used to look amazing.

He would sing and dance and he actually wanted me to do that. But that was not my lane. That was not my style. He did. And this is the reason why we moved to that area, because his whole dream was to have a horse in his backyard. And when we lived in another part of Compton, which was really, really, really hard to live in, I'm the youngest of seven, and my older brothers, unfortunately, were, you know, part of the gang culture and stuff like that. And they went we went through a lot of trauma and circumstances because of that. And then when we moved to the when my dad, he was like, you know, I don't want to continue to live here.

He was able to find a house in Richland Farms and so be it. The realtor that was selling us the house was Miss Maisha, right? So again, she was the one that was selling houses in the neighborhood. And we bought the house in 91 and we've been living there ever since. And if it wasn't for that again, I don't know where I would be at to be honest. So I give them a lot of credit. Yeah. So you're siblings then? You're the only one that ventured into the horse world? Yes. Again, I always tell them I go when we have family get together. As I say, you know what?

Sometimes they say like, oh, you know, it's just because you're the last one. And I tell them I was like, unfortunately, I had no say in the order that I was going to be born. I'm sorry. And you had no say in where your parents were going to move. Exactly. And but I tell them, I go, look, if anything positive came out of your negative experience is the fact that you showed your little brother of what not to do, and you showed me what I shouldn't be doing because I want to make sure that I don't follow. They wanted to make sure that I didn't follow in their footsteps.

And I tell them all the time, like you guys, you guys definitely should. If there's something again, if there's something positive, it came out of your negative experiences and stuff that you went through. Let them know that I never wanted to even live that lifestyle because I knew that wasn't what I wanted. To do. That's a beautiful thing to say to them. How are they all doing now? They're doing great again. They're they're all they're obviously, you know, older men now we're all older men and we're at our position in a position and in this life right now to give us the opportunity to even, to to be a family again without all that drama and that negativity.

And, you know, they used to always say like, oh, I always have to look over my shoulders because I don't know who their past actions might have, consequences that, you know, and they all move far, far away, you know, and as they should, because, you know, everybody has the opportunity to grow. And wherever they find their safe space, let them be, you know. So, and it's it was hard for them to understand that. And again, we had to sit down a lot of times and talk about the stuff that happened. And, you know, a lot of my older brothers, especially my oldest brother, had a lot of resentment towards me because he said that I was I was I was being so babied throughout my whole life now.

And I told him I was like, I'm sorry. Like, I wish that I we can change spaces. I wish I had an opportunity to to make things different. But I had no say in the way that my life or our parents life was going to be like, and this is just where we're at. But, you know, now as adults, we all see each other as men. We all see each other. As you know, we're not defined by our past, but we're just focused on the future. So are you really seven men? Oh, well. It's three guys. Three. Three men, my sister, and then three more. So there's a there's a girl right in the middle again.

And she, to be honest, she she is the backbone of our family. She is the one that really, like, sets the tone. She she as she should. I'm more afraid of my sister than I am or my brother's, to be honest. Well, and as the baby in the family for you, you didn't just have your parents. You had all these other individuals who were looking out for you or taking care of you or being annoyed by you, whatever it might be. They all raised me, and my sister was the one that she really took a lead in that because again, my my dad worked odd hours, my mom worked overnight.

So when I would get out of school, my mom would already be getting ready to go to work. And, you know, my sister would be the one, take care of me. My sister in law's, you know, again, they they used to just collectively, they all raised me to be, to be honest. And, I always tell my mom now, like, you know, don't she? She would make a comment like, you know, I'm sorry that I had to work so much. And I'm like, don't be sorry you had to do what you had to do for your family to maintain. And to be honest, I am very grateful for what you've given us and what your sacrifices was.

And yes, you weren't there to see me growing up, but you're here to see me as an adult, so I give you all credit. And again, my my dad's not no longer with this. He's he's been he's passed away about about 15 years ago. So again, it's one of those things that, like I don't I don't hold anything against him and I try to give them as much grace and peace because they did a phenomenal job with the with the things that they had to. Work with. Right. No matter the circumstances. You know, our, our own parents came from some amount of trauma on their own.

And, you know, generally speaking, all of us are trying to do the best we can. Yes. Given our trauma, our our history, our environment, you know, and it's not it's not always easy. No. So you shared this success story of this young woman who's now in her 20s, who's like a crazy good writer. Do you have another success story you can share? I say every story that my I come across with my students is a success story for me, because they come in with a certain mindset that you won't get unless you have spent enough time, either in the saddle or on the ranch, and they come in at a very like a very critical age to where decision making isn't probably their best skill set.

But after, you know, trial and error and parent teacher conference with me as the the teacher and, you know, talking to the parents about individual students that have come through the program that I still have contact with today, they always reach out and say, thank you so much for for not giving up on, on. I got one, one kid named Josh, he started at about nine years old, very troubled little kid. And I couldn't figure out the best way to encourage him to, you know, be all you can be and, you know, put your best foot forward. So I just let him, you know, experience life.

And, you know, his dad would always come back to me like, hey, man, you need to talk to your boy. And, all right, we'll bring him over. So he would come on Saturdays and I would, you know, mentor him with, you know, duties around the ranch. I would, you know, bake him, clean the stars and, you know, make him pick up after the chickens. And a few years later, you know, he he actually branched off from the program because he was going to high school, but his dad ended up buying him a horse. And that was a step one of his responsibilities. And now he's playing lacrosse.

And, you know, just those small lessons that he learned at a younger age allowed him to, you know, mentally grow and be more, you know, responsible and, you know, just learning through his experiences of life. And it always brought him back to the horses. So I have a couple of other students like that. I can go on and on and on about them. But, you know, every student that I've worked with that you know, that caught on to me and caught on to the horses. They they're returning students and they, you know, they come work for us every summer because they want to give back the same way that it was giving back to them.

And, you know, now, wow, that's I feel old ten years later, eight years later, I have, you know, the students that started at seven, eight, nine. Now they're coming back 18 and they're thanking me and they're like, hey, I need some part time work for the summer. Can you? I'm like, yeah, well, you know, we'll reach out and we'll make sure. So it isn't. I can't define it with just one student. Got it. Well, those little lessons as you describe them, are giant gifts, obviously. Yes, yes. Yeah. What a treasure. The same lessons that our mentors gave us.

The cowboys in the neighborhood that I grew up, you know, looking up to, you know, kind of makes me feel like, okay, they paved the way for me. So let me pave the way for next generation. Well. It sounds like you're chipping away at a little bit of what we talk about around here in that you can't be your best self. You can't come from a place of love. You can't have empathy for others until you really know who you truly are outside of your environment, outside of what people say you are, or tell you you should be. When you can really dig deep and see yourself, that's when things like that happen.

And I think you guys are, you know, getting to it in a in a way that is unique, but it's a valuable, viable thing that you're doing. And I'm just so grateful to you for helping all these people, you know, walk their own path and feel a little lighter because they're able to undo some of this trauma that they have unknowingly had to carry around. I mean, I'm sure you must see it in some of these kids, like almost a weight on them. Yeah. And to then watch that, kind of that, they watch their load lighten a little bit. Because they do. You're right.

You make a great point. And some of the stuff is unseen trauma. And we don't even recognize that it is a trauma or, you know, we just think it's just part of our culture or it's just the way our parents talk to each other. And, you know, we don't know that. And so we become the adults. And this is the again, when you talk about success stories, these gentlemen are success stories in themselves. Again, they were able to overcome so much adversity and so much, of the influence that could have changed their lives. And they chose not to, which takes a lot of courage.

It takes a lot of standing up and for them to even find their own path in their own way and knowing that they have a purpose beyond themselves. Again, the best thing one can do is be able to be of service of other individuals, and these guys are great at it. Again, these are the rock stars. I always say this 100 fold. They do all the hard work. I do all the easy stuff. If it wasn't for their hard work and dedication, what they do when no one's around is is the reason why our program is where it's at, and the reason why our program is going to grow.

Yeah. Well, it's such a great thing that you were able to walk this path that led you to know that one of the most valuable human experiences is being able to, you know, help your neighbor, help your loved one, help strangers, really is. I mean, I think that's one of the most important things about being human. We spoke with a gentleman who is part of the homeboys program, and he was incarcerated for probably I think it was like 32 years. And he had murdered a he was in a gang and he had murdered another gang member when he was about 16 years old.

And he had a life sentence. It's a long story. But he managed to, you know, on his own, figure out a way to better himself over the course of many years, enough that he was able to be released. But he said growing up, that was what he thought love was, was what was coming from this gang. They were there for him. We've got your back. You know, you're part of our team. And in his home. Yeah, there was nothing like that. And he just ate it all up. Of course. And gang gangs actually thrive on that because they are. You made a great point. They offer that stability.

They offer that mentorship that they're saying, like, you'll be part of our family now and we will support you and we will hope it will help you. And that's the detriment of living in in an environment that is gang related. And again, we could have went that way. You know, a lot of my brothers went that way because they didn't have someone outside of their own family that showed that that caring support, that you could do something else. And and doesn't. It seem like a simple path to. Take very, very easy? Yeah. And all this attention I'm. Getting, it's attractive.

Yeah. A lot of kids are attracted to that because again, some of these gang members, again, they drive around in nice cars, they have fancy clothes, they have all this jewelry, they have all this money, you know, and it's easy because again, it's easy for them to do the bad things in life. It's always going to be easy to do the bad things, and it's hard to do the good stuff because the good stuff comes with a delayed gratification, unfortunately, and rewarding. Very much so. So what happens going forward with your organization? Are you. Do you expand?

Do you love the arena that you're in and it doesn't need to expand? Life changes as time goes on. My vision for our scenario or our program is, you know, to keep growing and, you know, to maintain a upscale or a renovated space throughout the years. We have a lot of stuff on our ranch that are weather beaten and, you know, just rusty and old. And, you know, in order for us to continue the next generations legacy, we need to refund the foundation if that makes any sense. And that's expensive. Yeah. So we've we've we've had the property since 1988 and we've had, you know, multiple sources.

And outside people come in and and donate their time and their efforts and stuff like that. But, you know, we're at a stage in life that we want to just keep it going and we want to, you know, renovate our stores. We want our horses to have, you know, top of the line health care. Humans don't have health care. But, you know, just keeping it going. But, you know, bringing in, bringing a more modern, more, you know, refreshing new look to the environment. So that way, you know, when somebody sees something old, they're like, oh, that's old. I don't really care for that.

Or if it's, you know, just if it's maintained and well kept, which we've been doing for years is maintaining it well, keeping it. And it's like, okay, maybe, maybe not. But, you know, everybody likes to the finer things in life. And you know, the horses deserve the finer the finer rooms in life. So, you know, just focusing on, you know, renovating our ranch and you. And that's upcoming. Right. You've got some. We're in the process of it now. Again, we have a donor that is an anonymous donor. All of our donations come from the private sector, and they've given us a substantial amount of money to go ahead and give that opportunity for our horses to be to have that that upgraded lifestyle.

Again. Keenan touched on that, that the the stables are going to be enclosed. There's going to be systems where there's no more flooding because the rain was really, really bad. And it gets that way. And you know these guys do a phenomenal job at, you know, making sure that they can do the best that they can. But the rains are really, really hard on our ranch. And with these renovations, we're planning on being done by the start of our summer camp, which is June 8th. And we're going to have this big yeah, and it's going to be a big old grand opening and the whole thing.

So that the beginning of our summer camp, we can actually showcase our new facility. And then even still then we're still in the process of renovating more of the ranch so that we can incorporate, again, have this state of the art facility in the city of Compton. And then when people walk in, yeah, they see it. And like Keenan said, you know, sometimes some people kind of disregard our program because of what they see. You know, that speaks volumes. When something is nice, clean, kept up it, people would just gravitate towards that. And we've been able to do the best that we can, what we've had.

But now that we are the adults in the room, we're able to say that we we've we're almost completing the mission of what Miss Misha Akbar started. And we were able to give that now to the future. And again, I just can't wait to see what the ranch is going to look like after the everything is done. And I know some of these guys are going to sit there and cry and their eyes out because again, especially Mr. Anthony, he's been he's been he's been working with us for the last 20 something years. And he's been all he's been asking is, please, please, can you guys find somebody to help fix our stables?

And we found somebody. And again, even now, he still seems like it's not true because it isn't done yet. And he even says it. He goes, yeah, I see all this. But until it's done, I believe it. And seeing is believing for sure. I get that you need improvements and sort of state of the art facilities or as close to that as you can have, but you guys don't give you enough credit yourselves, enough credit because it looks pretty good. Oh thank you. It does. It looks like all the parts and pieces are working together. You know, you've got your farm area and the chickens and the horses look like they're happy.

So it's pretty good. Thank you. Thank you. And again and it's a testament to these guys dedication again. They're there all the time. They live on the premises and they're they're you're right. It's a 24 over seven job. Yeah. Well and it's your. Home. And it's their home and you know and we want to make sure that we can give that to, you know, their kids, you know, because at the end of the day, that's that's the whole goal for us as individuals and as. Parents just to keep it moving forward. Exactly. So speaking of funding, how do people listening to us now figure out a way to fund you?

They can. There's multiple ways. The quick and easiest way to go to our Compton Cowboy web page at cowboy com. And there's a link there where you can actually donate to the Compton Junior questions that will send you to the Compton Junior Question web page. Or you can go to the Compton Junior Questions web page. Or once they're on our page, give an inquiry. If anybody has a group of individuals that want to do team building field trips, we can help facilitate that. And all 100% of your proceeds come to making sure that our our facility is being funded, making sure our horses have adequate funding for them because it's very, very expensive.

Again, anything that has to do with horses, they call it the sport of kings for a reason and it's very, very costly. But say on average about maybe like $3,000 per horse per month. Oh my god. Yeah. We have 15 right now. We've, we've had a total at one time maybe 25 horses. Yeah. Not close to 25. Wow. That's a lot to just take care of let alone pay. For it. Yes. That's that's food. That's water. That's vet veterinarian bill big. You know, dental bills and just a space that they have to sleep in. It's pretty, you know, it adds up. Yeah it does. You mentioned too, that you have like a summer camp.

We do. And that is also mostly funded by private donations. For the most part, we're able to subsidize the tuition. So for a child it costs about 275 per week. It's a Monday through Thursday from 9 to 3. Chef Keenan provides the lunch. So everything is made in house. We give two snacks. So it's two breaks and a lunch and it's a six hour period. But if you if you fill out a scholarship form you can qualify. Everyone qualifies for the scholarship just to let you know. And we're able to reduce the rate at $50 per person for a week. What a difference.

Very much so. It must have a waiting list. We do. And again it's a first come, first serve. And to be honest, we kind of we work with a lot of our kids. A lot of the kids in that are in our surrounding areas like the city of Compton, the city of Lynwood, the city of Long Beach, the city of Carson, the city of Gardena. We kind of focus more on people within that area. And then I venture out and again, I'm the one that's getting all the emails. So I have to kind of make that hard decision, but not only with myself. Mr. Lewis helps me out, and during our meetings we talk about it.

But yes, we do have we do have a waiting list. And unfortunately, I do have to say no to a lot of people. But the best thing about our program is our program is a week by week program. So if for some reason, a family can only be a part of our program for 1 or 2 weeks, so be it, because they have other things that they want to do for their summertime. And I'm able to go ahead and those spaces that are open, I fill them in. And again, we're able to facilitate 50 students per rotation per week. So that's pretty that's pretty. That's a lot of kids.

So that's why we use a lot of our junior staffers and kids that want to continue to work with us. We allow them. We have our volunteers. So if anybody wants to be a volunteer, they can go ahead and again, send me an inquiry about it. I will send them a volunteer application. They fill that out. Lots of people. I I'm all for it again. I do a lot of volunteer again a lot of volunteer orientation. So again, that's part of what I do. Again, I live down the street from the ranch. It's not something where I have to drive. I just have to watch out for a wild coats here and.

There. Which is hard to imagine when you say that in Compton. You'd be surprised. Yeah, I. Would add some turkeys. Turkey. So what would you say if you look at your organization, where where do you see love. What what? I think I know the answer, but what part of this boils down to love? It boils down to waking up every day, keeping that same passion, the family oriented space that we've created for ourselves, and just ultimately having a positive mindset every, every day we wake up. Because life can be challenging. Life can also not. It can be not lovable.

Some people, you know, they go through a lot of mental hardships where love is not even a question, or it's not even in their vocabulary. And no time. For. No time at all. So, you know, just waking up every day with a positive mindset, family oriented, coworkers like, I don't call them my coworkers. This is this is my family. And, you know, waking up, having them support me if I'm having a bad day. That's love. Using the horses and the chickens. That's considered love for me. And, you know, just taking it one day at a time. It feels like all of you are family.

But I also get the sense that these kids that are coming become part of your family. Oh. Yeah, they do. Yeah, yeah. We want to make sure that we give that that opportunity for again, we are the adults now and what where our goal is to make sure that for our kids that they can get we can be receptive to their feelings. And if they're looking for something, you know, when it comes to a mentor or just, like I said, just wanting to detach from their home environment for whatever that looks like, we're able to offer that. And again, I know miss is very proud of the hard work that we're doing, and I know that we're still we're still on the we're still growing and we're still developing.

Because at the end of the day, the moment we stay stagnant is the moment we start losing. And we keep learning. And we're and we're there again. And I think that we are actually in a really good space mentally because we were able to have this program when we were younger. Now that we're adults, we want to make sure that all kids are able to our kids are able to go ahead and benefit from that as well. So speaking of our kids, can we bring in your two? Yeah. Go for it okay. Yeah. They they've been running. Running amuck out there. You want to bring them in and wanted to say hi.

Okay. Yes. They're superstars in their. Own. Actually use them in our our field trips as well. When I'm with. You they actually are facilitators I have them I have all the kids and make sure my daughter is a part of it as well. It's best. We want them to learn those life skills and it's we give them really minute tasks. They're really small, but in their eyes. They're mazing. Come on. You guys, come on in. Hi. Have a seat. Sit down. You mean the juice? I've been hearing you through the wall. Having some kind of fun over there. Oh, we must be almost.

So these two adorable creatures are spending a lot of time at the ranch. Because that's where they live. Yes. So they were actually born on the ranch? Both of them were home births. So they were, you know, conceived in on the ranch, in the living room next to the chicken coop. Talked about being grounded with. Where you are. Absolutely. And, you know, ever since they could, before they can even walk, I put them on a horse. And this is their lifestyle now. They they wake up. They get mad at me because I don't take them outside to feed the horses in the morning, and they'll get on the horse any chance they get.

All day, every day. They are my little angels, my little headaches, my rock stars. All of those things. So both. Can you both be on a horse all by yourself? Yeah. Do you want to introduce yourself? Say hi. My name is. Wow. Oh, okay. Okay. She's a little shy now. That's all right. It's okay. So this. Her name is Coco. And howdy. You're for good. Go. Yeah. Okay. All right. It's all right. We practice this all the time, but, you know, they get. They get a little camera shy. And as they should, you know, at the end of the day, we're we're just able we're again, we're happy.

I am very happy. I have a 22 year old son that went through my our program, have a 17 year old daughter that's in senior high school that went through the program. And again, I can't wait for Mr. Keenan to go ahead and experience that type, because, again, prom, prom dress shopping for for a father. Oh my God, I hope you're ready for that. Because it was it's an experience. Yeah that's a big one. That's a big one. It's a little ways away. Yeah, yeah. We'll take our time. Yeah. Enjoy it. Because in the blink of an eye, they grow up so fast. And it is true.

I mean, look, you look back, and you guys were there. Seemed like you were just eight years old and getting started. And it was because it was one of those things that we actually thought that it was like that for us. Again, we didn't know what the future held for us, and we didn't know that it was an opportunity that what our program was delivering to us. We just wanted to get on the horse to ride. To be honest. Yeah, that's that's how. We formed you. It did. Well, girls, thank you so much for joining us today. Really nice to have you. And thank you.

Adults in the room, too. You're welcome. It's been awesome. Really a lot of fun. And you're doing such great things. So hopefully all of you will pay attention to the website information that we've given you and come by. Participate. Help fund. Yes. Follow us. Follow us at the Compton Cowboy on Instagram Compton Cowboys Compton Junior questions. We we're on all social media platforms. Again, visit our website at the end of the day. This is the opportunity for us to share our story. And again, we thank you so much for giving us this opportunity.

Because again, if it wasn't for individuals like yourself, our story could not be told. And people that we unfortunately are not able to reach your your, your platform is allowing us to have that. And again, we owe you such so much gratitude and again, honor. And we're going to invite you to our grand opening as well, so that you guys can definitely take a look at it. And again, you guys are now part of the family. So I hope you get your cowboy boots ready. That's right. I've got some. Let's go. I'm gonna cry. You're fine. We'll put you on a horse one of these days, Okay.

I'm feeling a little bit better after what you've described here. The two of you. Oh, yeah. You'll be surprised again. The horses are amazing. And again, we. They sense it. They feel it. But again, we would love to have you back. And then again back. We'll be back. Thank you. Please follow us. Rate and share our podcast and pass along this episode to someone who might need. It. Might be all of us. This is and now, love. Listen to your dreams and live from. Your heart. Thanks.