The Black Horse History They Left Out | Louis Hook | LFRF 60

✨ "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