Live Free Ride Free with Rupert Isaacson

✨ "Everyone knows that the conqueror writes his story." – Louis Hook
✨ "I stood up. I told my son, 'That's not true.' And from there, I started a research path." – Louis Hook
Louis Hook is a founding member of the Compton Cowboys, the decades-old therapeutic riding program based in Compton, Los Angeles, and previously featured on Rupert's Equine Assisted World podcast. He carries an MIT PhD program background and a Harvard Business School education, and for the last several years has redirected that analytical training toward an independent research project: documenting the African cavalry traditions written out of mainstream history. The catalyst was watching the film The Woman King and being stunned to see a Black cavalry on screen — a moment that sent him down a research path he is still on today.
Rupert brings his own family history into the conversation, including a 19th-century surcoat, chain mail, and sword taken from a Mahdist cavalryman at the Battle of Omdurman by his ancestor, George Spotswood Sparks. Together they trace the arc of African equestrian power — the Moors' 800-year hold on southern Spain, Mansa Musa's cavalry-protected gold empire in Mali, the Kanem-Bornu Empire and Sokoto Caliphate, and the horse cultures of the Sahel that, as Rupert notes, never went away and still produce true Barb horses in Senegal today.
From there the conversation moves to the American side of the story — the "brain drain" model of slavery that targeted skilled horsemen, blacksmiths, and rice farmers, and the land-grant gated-horse tradition of East Texas that Rupert witnessed firsthand. A wide-ranging, deeply researched conversation.
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What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:01:44 – Rupert's family connection to African horse cultures, sparked by a 19th-century surcoat and chain mail taken from a Mahdist cavalryman
00:07:23 – How watching The Woman King sent Louis on a research journey into Africa's erased cavalry history
00:11:19 – The Moors' 800-year conquest of southern Spain and their overlooked African identity
00:23:00 – Mansa Musa's cavalry-protected gold empire, and Louis's case that he ranks among history's five greatest men
00:35:19 – Why true Barb horses survive today only in Senegal
00:37:43 – How the Catholic Church whitewashed Christian imagery and helped embed a racial hierarchy
00:53:29 – The "brain drain" model of slavery — how expert horsemen, blacksmiths, and rice farmers were targeted and bought at a premium
00:58:00 – The land-grant horse culture of East Texas, where freed slave families built a gated-horse tradition still alive today
01:13:29 – Louis and Rupert trace the likely African roots of dressage rising star Nashon Cook
01:30:04 – The "horses to heal, horses to harm" philosophy — how the same training system can wound or heal
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:04:02 – Rupert describes the surcoat, chain mail, and sword hanging on his family's wall, taken from a Mahdist cavalryman by his ancestor
00:09:36 – Louis recounts standing up in the theater during The Woman King and telling his son, "That's not true"
01:00:13 – Rupert recalls roughly 200 Black riders on gated horses passing his Texas home, beer trucks blasting hip-hop
01:19:43 – Louis describes the emotional experience of visiting "The Last Bath," the Ghanaian site where enslaved people were bathed before auction
01:34:38 – Louis walks through using AI to fact-check erased history, using the Benjamin Franklin slavery example
Guest Contact & Links
Louis Hook's book, Black in the Saddle: From African Cavalries to Modern Cowboys https://amzn.to/4htcuPf
Louis is a founding member of the Compton Cowboys, the Compton, Los Angeles-based therapeutic riding program also featured on Rupert's Equine Assisted World podcast. https://educatedhoodrat.com

About Louis Hook
Louis Hook is a founding member of the Compton Cowboys, a therapeutic riding program serving Compton, Los Angeles for several decades. He brings an MIT PhD program background and a Harvard Business School education to his independent research into the African cavalry cultures erased from mainstream history. He is the author of Black in the Saddle: From African Cavalries to Modern Cowboys, with a second volume in progress tracing his own ancestral roots to Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.

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✨ "I've never used Baucher to train anything. I've always used Baucher to heal." – Nahshon Cook
✨ "Does your horse feel good after you've done what you've done with them? ... That's connection." – Nahshon Cook

Nahshon Cook is a classical dressage trainer based in Colorado whose path began riding donated horses as a kid at the Urban Farm at Stapleton, an inner-city youth program in Denver. Two mentors — Cynthia Spalding and former Cadre Noir rider Jean-François Fabier — introduced him to dressage before he was out of his teens, and after a detour through divinity school, Southeast Asia, and a stint training show and race horses in Thailand, he returned to Colorado and built a reputation for taking on horses other trainers had given up on.
The conversation moves through Nahshon's approach to kissing spine, poll and TMJ tension, and how he reads a horse's tongue as a barometer for what's happening throughout the rest of the body. He walks through three distinct flexion positions he uses to unlock the hips, stifle, and hocks, and describes rehabilitating horses diagnosed with DSLD and a herniated disc using Baucher-based flexion work, treats, and nervous-system regulation.
A rich, wide-ranging conversation that moves between technical dressage detail and questions of safety, mercy, and what it means to truly listen to a horse.

FREE Helios Harmony Intro Course: https://longridehome.com/onoutpout
All Books Mentioned: https://longridehome.com/books

What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:02:07 – How riding at the Urban Farm at Stapleton in Denver opened the door to dressage
00:06:13 – What mentor Cynthia Spalding taught him about feel, not just technique
00:11:21 – Learning from ex-Cadre Noir rider Jean-François Fabier and matching training to each horse's breed
00:19:18 – Leaving divinity school for Southeast Asia, and training horses in Thailand
00:31:14 – Why he swore off training for clients, and how horses get used as "bait"
01:05:13 – The real cause of kissing spine: tension in the poll and TMJ
01:07:38 – How to use a noseband correctly so it helps the horse feel safe
01:15:44 – Reading the tongue as a map to the horse's fascia and poll
01:26:16 – The three flexion positions that unlock the hips, stifle, and hocks
01:30:45 – Treats, poll work, and grooming tools for regulating the nervous system
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:38:31 – A client asks a 15-year-old Nahshon to fake a South African accent to hide his age
00:49:34 – Healing a chronically colicking horse with stones and touch
01:14:33 – Popping a horse's spine and ribs back into place with Baucher flexions
01:28:06 – A herniated-disc horse's dramatic physical release during a flexion session
01:55:15 – Nahshon closes the conversation with an original poem
Guest Contact & Links
https://www.facebook.com/NahshonCookHorsemanship/
About Nahshon Cook
Nahshon Cook is a classical dressage trainer based in Colorado who began riding at 13 through an inner-city youth program and went on to study with mentors from two different dressage traditions before he turned 18. His approach centers on reading tension in the poll, TMJ, and tongue as the key to unlocking a horse's back and hind end, and he's known for taking on horses — including cases of DSLD, PSSM2, and herniated discs — that other trainers and vets had written off. He now holds small working gatherings in Wisconsin rather than teaching public clinics.

See All of Rupert's Programs and Shows:
Website: https://rupertisaacson.com

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Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

✨ "Your horse does not anticipate. He simply reads your mind." – Dominique Barbier
✨ "I want people to smile when they ride, because if they don't smile, why are you riding?" – Dominique Barbier
Dominique Barbier grew up in France with no horsey family background, but an early and almost uncanny sensitivity to horses that set him apart from the biomechanical training he encountered in England and France. After training and competing across multiple disciplines, he made his way to Portugal to study for two years with the legendary Nuno Oliveira, absorbing lessons that would go on to shape the French-Portuguese school of dressage he now teaches worldwide from his base in California.
This conversation centers on Don Giovanni, the volatile, nearly-destroyed stallion who became Dominique's greatest teacher, and the three-step process of "getting out of the way" that Dominique developed to earn his trust. Dominique and Rupert also dig into descente de main and descente de jambe, the difference between riding physically and riding mentally, and Dominique's blunt take on spurs, competition, and the pursuit of joy over technique.
A candid, wide-ranging two-hour conversation from one of dressage's most original voices.
FREE Helios Harmony Intro Course: https://longridehome.com/onoutpout
All Books Mentioned: https://longridehome.com/books
What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:03:00 – Dominique's unusual early sensitivity to horses and how his father let him follow his passion
00:12:00 – Why Dominique says a horse doesn't anticipate — he reads your mind
00:16:00 – The nine months Dominique couldn't ride, and what he discovered about the intellectual mind blocking connection
00:20:00 – Dominique's 90/10 philosophy: staying out of the horse's way
00:39:00 – How Dominique met and nearly lost the chance to save Don Giovanni, the horse who taught him the most
00:48:00 – The three-step process Dominique used to earn Don Giovanni's trust
00:52:00 – Reading a horse's true preferences through nature, play, and "crazy time"
01:04:00 – The story behind descente de main, descente de jambe from Dominique's time with Nuno Oliveira
01:13:00 – Why Dominique now teaches people to smile when they ride
01:50:00 – Fear as simply "what you don't know," and how Dominique helps students move through it
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:42:00 – The dramatic story of winning the right to bring Don Giovanni home — a horse marked for destruction
01:26:00 – Dominique's candid reflection on Nuno Oliveira's complicated inner life, and why he never wanted to "be" his master
01:42:00 – Dominique's confession about once owning 300 spurs, and why he regrets it
02:00:00 – Dominique reveals his upcoming book, simply titled Consciousness
02:16:00 – Dominique's parting invitation to share a glass of Merlot with Rupert in California
Guest Contact & Links
Dominique Barbier Website: https://dominiquebarbier.com
About Dominique Barbier
Dominique Barbier is one of the leading figures in classical dressage, known as an exponent of the French-Portuguese school. Raised in France with no equestrian family background, he trained across multiple disciplines before spending two formative years studying under the legendary Nuno Oliveira in Portugal. He has authored numerous books, including Dressage for the New Age, with a new book titled Consciousness forthcoming, and continues to teach and train worldwide from his base in California. His approach emphasizes visualization, presence, and reading what a horse genuinely enjoys over rigid technique.
🐎 Want to go deeper? Join the Long Ride Home membership — weekly live sessions, exclusive content, and a community of riders seeking real connection with their horses. 👉 https://longridehome.com — just $24.95/month
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Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

✨ "The difference between destruction and creation kind of just disappears, and this is a beautiful thing to be able to do." – Arne Koets
✨ "Are you making a foundation for a skyscraper or are you making a foundation for a shed? Those are not the same foundations." – Arne Koets

Arne Koets is a historical dressage teacher, jouster, and practitioner of Rossfechten — mounted sword fighting — who trained at the Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg, Germany, reaching the level of Hofberater (courtly rider). His work draws on European martial arts manuscripts dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, blending biomechanics, classical in-hand work, and the disciplines of combat horsemanship into a living, practiced tradition.

In this conversation, Rupert and Arne trace the deep connections between martial arts on horseback, tango, and the finest ideals of classical dressage. They explore how the same biomechanical principles that make a good fighter also make a good dancer — and how understanding this can transform the way we train and relate to our horses. The conversation moves through in-hand work, the role of the schoolmaster horse, the philosophy of building community, and what it actually takes to get a beginner riding with confidence and joy from the very first lesson.
A far-ranging, intellectually rich conversation that will delight history nerds, dressage geeks, and anyone who has ever wondered what riding was really for.

Timestamps
How Arne's background in reconstructing European martial arts led him to historical dressage and Bückeburg [00:01:00]
The connection between Argentine tango, wrestling, and riding — and why the line between building balance and destroying it is thinner than we think [00:10:00]
Why teaching the collection work first, not last, is the old way — and why Steinbrecht actually agrees [00:16:00]
The concept of unificare — inviting the horse to come up into an embrace with the rider — versus driving the seat bone down [00:25:00]
Why confused definitions (what does "forward" actually mean?) have degraded the modern system of riding instruction [00:32:00]
Arne's step-by-step in-hand training sequence: figure-of-eight, lateral movements, piaffe steps, and preparing for the first rider [01:03:00]
The role of the "ground monkey" and "sky monkey" — why team work is not optional in breaking young horses [01:13:00]
How Rossfechten (mounted sword fighting) builds community, releases ego, and teaches riders to feel what their horse is doing [01:26:00]
Why horses become genuine strategic partners in mounted fencing — including Arne's story of a horse who executed a spontaneous 360 to protect his rider [01:41:00]
How "deliberate hacking" — making conscious choices in the terrain — builds the horse's back and collection as effectively as arena work [02:30:00]
A beginner sword fighter with zero riding experience sits piaffe on a stallion during his first lesson, then rides one-handed with a sword in canter by his tenth [00:16:00]
Arne recounts confronting an FN clinician about why German riding schools don't follow what Steinbrecht actually says on page three [00:20:00]
The horse who competed fully blindfolded by accident — caparison covering his eyes — and never put a foot wrong because rider and horse were one [01:44:00]
Arne describes a group cavalry skirmish with 200 infantry and 48 mounted riders — and how the horses learn to aim the sword [02:13:00]
The moment Arne's horse spontaneously executed a 360-degree bullfighting spin mid-sword fight, placed the weapon to parry an incoming blow, and then resumed the attack — entirely the horse's idea [01:41:00]

Arne's Website: www.arnekoets.com
Rosswochen Symposium (first weekend of May — academic lectures, workshops, tango night, mounted demonstrations): www.arnekoets.com
Fürstliche Hofreitschule Bückeburg (the Princely School for Riding Art referenced throughout): www.hofgestut-bueckeburg.de

About Arne Koets
Arne Koets is a Dutch-born historical dressage teacher, jouster, and the foremost practitioner of Rossfechten — mounted sword fighting in the tradition of the European fighting manuscripts. He trained at the Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg, Germany, achieving the rank of Hofberater, and spent years interpreting equestrian history at the Royal Armouries and the Dutch Army Museum. He now teaches clinics internationally and hosts students and riders at his home in Thuringia, Germany. His approach synthesizes biomechanics, classical in-hand work, and the martial arts manuscripts of the 14th through 16th centuries into a living, teachable system. His events attract riders from across Europe, the US, and beyond.
🐎 Want to go deeper? Join the Long Ride Home membership — weekly live sessions, exclusive content, and a community of riders seeking real connection with their horses. 👉 https://longridehome.com — just $24.95/month
See All of Rupert's Programs and Shows:
Website: https://rupertisaacson.com
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New Trails Learning Systems 
Website: https://ntls.co 
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Affiliate Disclosure:
Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

✨ "All social species seek connections. People and horses are no different. Safety and comfort are the core elements to build strong social bonds regardless of species. “ – Mary Ann Simonds

✨ "The best tool we have is be the best human you can be. You don't have to know everything. You just have to be clear on yourself and be pure and be silent, and then help your horse be the best horse it can be." – Mary Ann Simonds

Mary Ann Simonds has spent more than four decades sitting at the intersection of wildlife biology, consciousness studies, and horsemanship — and almost none of it has looked the way science was supposed to look. She grew up in California riding hunter/jumpers, earned her BS from the University of Wyoming in Wildlife Conservation and Management and a minor in Range Management studying wild horse ecology and whole systems approaches.   She was appointed to the National Advisory Board for Wild Horses and Burros in the early 1990s after years of field research on wild horse behavioral ecology.  She has worked for oil and gas companies as a reclamation specialist, pioneered ecotourism partnerships with ranchers in Wyoming and Oregon, taught interspecies communication at Nippon Veterinary and Life Sciences University in Tokyo, earned a graduate degree in Inter-disciplinary Consciousness Studies and has spent years working quietly behind the scenes in the sport horse welfare world near her home in Wellington, Florida.
Her new book, A Horse by Nature, published by Trafalgar Square, draws on all of it — wild horse social behavior, domestic horse psychology, welfare ethics, and practical communication tools — organized in red, blue, and green tips so riders can go straight to what they need most. It is, as Rupert and Mary Ann agree at the end of this conversation, Part One of what will be a longer series.
This is a conversation about what happens when rigorous science and genuine animal communication occupy the same person — and what that has to teach anyone who lives and works with horses.

FREE Helios Harmony Intro Course: https://longridehome.com/onoutpout
What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:05:30 – How Mary Ann first recognized, at age 11, that a trainer couldn't hear what a horse with a headache was saying — and why that question drove her entire career
00:13:00 – What double degrees in range management and wildlife biology taught her about the gap between academic science and what animals are actually doing
00:39:00 – The dietary overlap study she conducted as an undergraduate — and how it became the data cited to justify mass BLM removal of wild horses decades later
00:44:00 – How BLM's gate-cut removal policy destroyed wild horse social structures and caused reproductive rates to skyrocket
00:47:00 – Why a Nevada rancher admitted he hated the wild stallion eating his alfalfa — and what that revealed about the real psychology behind mustang persecution
00:56:00 – How she converted ranchers into ecotourism operators years before the concept had a name — and why she calls herself a solution finder, not an activist
01:04:00 – The discovery that studying nature with a quiet mind produced completely different wildlife sightings than looking at it with scientific intent
01:20:00 – Why she went to graduate school to study human consciousness after watching a BLM official throw a briefcase at a rancher in a public meeting
01:38:00 – How she taught interspecies communication at Nippon Animal Science University in Tokyo, and why Japanese vet students grasped it almost instantly
01:44:00 – Why a horse's first two years determine everything, and how not knowing a horse's early history is one of the most common mistakes buyers make
01:49:00 – What A Horse by Nature offers: how to teach a horse to be a functional horse, the OFFER technique, and why eye contact, nose bump, and buddy scratch transform the relationship
01:51:00 – The red, blue, and green tip system — and why safety and comfort, not food, are a horse's primary motivation for bonding with a human
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:12:00 – Mary Ann describes sleeping with rattlesnakes as an 18-year-old after refusing to leave the field — and what it taught her about looking with nature rather than at it
00:43:00 – She discovers her own undergraduate data, filed under her maiden name Canny, was the study used to justify mass wild horse removals — and the range manager confirms it was never statistically significant
00:49:00 – An Oregon rancher comes to her door late at night to confess he killed a band of horses because they looked too pathetic to live — and her response: "So if you look like that, should I shoot you too?"
01:33:00 – A Wyoming cowboy's horse jumps into the back of his pickup truck with his dog, unprompted and untrained — and that moment becomes the seed of her interspecies communication research
01:42:00 – Rupert describes aloud, for the first time, all the prayers and invisible preparation he does before every training session — after an audience member tells him he didn't ask the horse permission
Guest Contact & Links
A Horse by Nature by Mary Ann Simonds (Trafalgar Square Publishing) https://amzn.to/4glHTCp
Mary Ann Simonds website and contact: www.maryAnnsimonds.com

About Mary Ann Simonds
Mary Ann Simonds is a wildlife biologist, behaviorist, and consciousness researcher who has spent more than four decades studying the relationship between horses, nature, and human awareness. She holds double degrees in range management and wildlife biology from the University of Wyoming and a graduate degree in consciousness studies. Her fieldwork spans wild mustang populations in the American West, dolphin behavior research, ecotourism development, and interspecies communication programs at veterinary universities in Japan. She has served on the National Advisory Board for Wild Horses and Burros, worked as a reclamation specialist for oil and gas companies, and spent years advocating for welfare reform in the sport horse industry near her home in Wellington, Florida. Her new book, A Horse by Nature, is published by Trafalgar Square.
🐎 Want to go deeper? Join the Long Ride Home membership — weekly live sessions, exclusive content, and a community of riders seeking real connection with their horses. 👉 https://longridehome.com — just $24.95/month
See All of Rupert's Programs and Shows: Website: https://rupertisaacson.com

Follow Us:
Long Ride Home 
Website: https://longridehome.com 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh 
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@longridehome

New Trails Learning Systems 
Website: https://ntls.co 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/horseboyworld 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/horseboyworld 
YouTube: https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems
Affiliate Disclosure:
Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.