Super Bowl weekend.

Come on, mama.

Good girl.

Good girl, mama.

She was tied up still.

Grab her neck.

Grab her neck.

She was tied up?

Yeah.

A lot of people think we're just out here trying to show off or, you know, you know how that go.

But it's really just more than that because a lot of people don't get to experience these horses out here.

So, once we do come out here, we make a lot of people's night.

What are you guys doing here?

We just hanging out.

You know, we always come down here on the weekend.

Do you?

Okay.

I haven't been out in, like, 27 years.

It's been so long.

This old "Big Red" right here.

Oh, hi, "Big Red."

She a sweet, sweet four year-old.

Hi, beautiful.

Oh, it's been so long since I've touched an animal.

This is so awesome.

You wanna get up there?

Seriously?

Would you let me?

Okay, honey.

It's alright.

It's alright.

I'm good.

There you go.

Yes.

Oh, my God, I haven't done this since I was a teen.

That's exactly why we come out.

I just ended a 27 year relationship and this is the first time I've been out in like 27 years and just that short little ride was like, it was like releasing all of that control and becoming me again.

You made my life.

You made my life.

Thank you.

All of you.

Every single one of you.

Don't be shy, mama.

I'm a city girl, but I want to farm really bad.

So, we run a nonprofit.

We the "Copper Boyz."

We do a lot of stuff in the community with the kids and stuff like that.

So, we just out here trying to give back.

A lot of people don't get this experience.

How long you been in Kansas City?

Two months.

Like nine weeks.

You like it?

Not for real, homie.

Aye, I'd clean your hooves, too.

I would, Sexy Redd.

You been on a horse?

I did in India.

You know what kind of horses?

I don't know.

If nobody ever told you there were Black cowboys See "Black Rodeo."

You can't just be a cowboy.

It's a lifestyle.

I was on the ranch every day, throwing a rope, riding horses, like, I lived it.

The sensation like of just being able to touch this huge animal.

It just helped me cope.

We got up and worked from can't to can't.

Can't see when you get up and can't see when you lay down.

Ain't too many of us left.

I'm just trying to keep the legacy alive.

It just feel like a sense of control.

That's it.

That's all I can say.

A sense of control.

I'm controlling it.

"B.J."

Come on.

Black Jack!

He alright.

Come on.

"Sexy," here.

Here, mama.

"Sexy," here.

Here.

This overnight right here.

Overnight ice.

We fill this up, come back out here.

Gotta make sure they got that fresh water.

I be feeling like If I don't come feed em, or come check on em, come look at em, I done failed em for the day.

Committing to something like that, man, it's really rewarding, because a horse is not going to just follow you just because.

It's just like human beings.

If we don't trust you, we're not going to trust anything you say or tell us to do.

But if we build that foundation, and we build that trust, then, you will do whatever, you know, whatever we ask of you.

Thank you for thinking about it.

Good boy, "B.J."

Good boy.

It takes weeks, months, a few years to get a horse all the way how you want it to be.

You can beat em into submission, but it ain't the same, you know, you break its spirit.

Give him a little grain for coming when I asked.

I don't wanna trick him or nothing like that.

Patience was not my thing at all.

I was so quick, quick with everything.

I wanted everything to be just like that.

I got incarcerated at 16 years old, and I had to spend two to three years in a juvenile system.

You really get to find yourself.

You get to sit down and think and find yourself.

And cowboying is me.

Sitting down behind a cell, not being able to talk to your family, be around the people you love, it's not, it's not fun.

So, I want the children to know that, hey, I come from the same background as you.

I come from the same environment you come from.

The same kids that you hang around, I done been around the same kids.

So, whatever you, you want to conquer, you can do it.

Just slow down and think about life.

If it wasn't for my daddy, I woulda never know what horses was.

And it took years for me to play in the streets to figure out what this meant to me.

Well, this is a picture of my pops about 2010.

This is, this the first baby I ever produced.

His name was Trigger.

His mama name was Sugar.

That's my pops right there, Man, this right here, this situation, is what made me who I am today.

This what made me fall in love with horses.

So, when you was a kid, when you was riding, what'd y'all ride the horses with?

Bareback.

Bareback?

Everywhere?

Everywhere.

Store, movies, everywhere.

Everybody had horses?

Yeah.

Just about.

My job brought me here from Minnesota.

I worked for the Army packing house.

That's one of the reasons that we had a a large space in between having horses and not having.

When I worked at the packing house, that took up all my time.

So, I couldn't have horses like I wanted and take care of them.

But after I moved down here, you could keep horses closer to you than you could out in Minnesota.

I don't say I taught you how to ride.

I taught you how to, I taught em mostly how to take care of their stock.

You proud of the Copper Boyz?

I like em.

They alright.

You like em?

I like em.

You think they doing good in the community?

I think so.

I think they in the in the position where they have other kids that look up to them and do the right thing.

You know, instead of standing out wanting to box and fight, so they mess with horses.

We try to be around where we know, where we grew up.

So, I used to be around the city a lot growing up.

I know a lot of where it's not safe, a lot of parts where it's cool.

I know where not to be, you know.

So, I kind of try to factor that in and try to go ride in those areas and see if they're still the same, and if they're still the same, we just flood it every weekend.

We try to be around it, be at the park, be around, riding through the neighborhoods just so the children can see our faces and know that they can come up to talk to us.

We're not monsters.

We're not strangers.

We all one.

We all one.

I'll speak to you even if you don't speak to me.

I'm one of a kind for real.

I'm like the only person I know that know how to ride horses at my age.

So, like, I'm really, like, special to me.

Like, it's special to me.

Like, I ride all types of horses.

I ride Quarter horses.

Tennessee Walkers.

Aye, I could ride any horse.

Like, it's, it's not easy to learn, but it's easy to learn.

It took me, like two or three years to learn how to ride horses.

I just love it.

It's the best.

It's like, I just want to really show the community, like, my talents and stuff.

When I was a baby, I used to ride.

And one time I cried because I couldn't go feed my horses.

First time when I rode one, it was fun.

Yeah.

I just be having fun.

Somebody called me broke.

I was like, "Do you got a $10k horse?"

They was like, "Nope."

"You got that."

We've been working with Ron and Ro'Niyah since they was babies.

Since I was a kid, my daddy used to always tell us, "Let them kids ride."

When they get to see other kids ride, It give them some confidence, like, I can do that, too.

One kid can spark the interest in a million of them.

Like, Can I be in it?

When people get around these horses, their whole mentality change.

Especially people that never got to be around horses.

I linked with the Copper Boyz They just wound up bringing me in.

Like.

I was out in the streets, riding bikes, basically running from the police, getting in trouble, whatever the case may be.

The Copper Boyz was always around.

We always seen them on the horses.

They'd stop us.

We'd stop them.

I hopped off the bike, mid-ride.

Let them have the bike and hopped on the horse.

Just being around them, they kept me with hands, your feet, the way you sitting.

So, they just stayed on me about everything.

Really.

They, like, if I wasn't holding the reins right, they'd be like, "Fix your hands."

If I wasn't sitting right, "Scoot up."

The horses was like a change.

It just helped me get away from all of that.

Like I ain't rode a bike in a minute.

For real.

Like, it was like something I could sit and do peacefully.

Having control over a thousand plus pound animal, you know what I'm saying, and you only 100 or so, it's definitely a give and take relationship.

Like, when you when you in control of anything, you know, you got to, you got to take that as a point of leadership.

That's one thing that I learned that I'm trying to pass on to the kids.

You got to get a relationship with the horses for real.

If you beginning, and you're just now getting on a horse, it's kind of scary.

They tall.

And they weigh a lot.

You just got to get on the right horse.

She on the honor roll.

Okay.

Now I want $20 each.

When I was around 14-15, I got expelled from school, you know what I'm saying, from the whole state of Missouri, man.

So, school was over for me.

So, my parents was like, "Man, you going to do this homeschool, or you gonna do this ranch work."

It kept me out of a lot of trouble, man.

Like I always felt like I could fall back on this.

I just want to instill that to people, man.

You always can come back.

Ro'Niyah on a horse when she was a baby.

I like third through ninth grade because them the ones you can impact the most.

They need to see a big brother, a big homie, real Black men coming and standing on their, on their square, showing them that you can be you.

You can really wake up every day and put on blue jeans and a white t-shirt and go get your white t-shirt dirty and do it again the next day.

I thrive for that.

Just another day, another dollar.

Yessir.

My boy, Tony, in the back.

Yeah.

I do this during the day.

And I teach kids at night.

Nah, I'm just playing.

But yeah.

You know what's going on.

It's my daytime gig.

Nothing major.

Just something, you know what I'm saying, to keep me out of trouble.

Keep me busy.

See y'all later.

On the way to pick up these horses.

The best thing about today, about having the Saddle Club is being organized.

It's probably one of my most organized days.

I wake up, go to work, go catch the horses, shoot to the class, teach the kids, fully prepared for the class.

I just enjoy the whole, the whole day.

Really.

And the best part is watching the kids run up to us.

And so ready to ride these horses and learn.

Like, that's the beauty of it.

They just ready to learn, asking a thousand questions.

Just loving on the horses and stuff.

And you don't get to see that every day.

Kids really being kids.

You know, with all this technology going around and going on nowadays, you don't really get to see kids just being kids and enjoying the outdoors and animals and stuff.

So, to be a part of that or to bring that to the kids, man, that holds a spot in my heart and it can't be replaced.

That's why we do what we do.

And it ain't going to stop.

Glad y'all here, man.

My granddaughters left me.

They said, "Granny, you taking too long."

They took off.

No.

Get over there.

Who's my volunteer?

Show us how it's done.

Put your popcorn down.

How are you going to do it with your popcorn?

I love you, girl.

You won't never hurt yourself if you always keep your foot in there.

Nah, she was next.

When you're up there, like it kinda feels like a moving chair without you moving it.

You can get on this red horse.

The evolution between I'm looking at this large, majestic creature, I'm feeling some trepidation and fear about touching it, and what you see today.

It really has been amazing.

They're relaxed.

The kids feel comfortable.

And I think it matters that the instructors and the cowboys that are leading this this look like the kids from the community.

The level of connection that they have is so different than if they had gone to some program, you know, an hour from here, 30 minutes from here.

You don't consider yourself a cowboy yet?

What's it gonna take?

I don't know.

You don't know?

Nah.

I'm so proud of y'all.

Y'all's confidence is going through the roof.

I see all y'all doing something new every time I see y'all.

Team building.

Team building.

Leadership skills.

I like it.

I love it.

Love y'all.

So, I'm gonna see y'all next Monday.

Everybody put your hand in the pot.

Y'all know what we're gonna do on three.

One, two, three.

Copper Kidz!

Oh my God.

6-7 brain rot.

Y'all be good.

Bye.

Glad they caught on to what I would've liked to do.

Feed em and be nice to horses and stuff like that, because they are the foundation of our culture, you know.

The Indians had em, we had em, and now the white folks have em, got em.

So, I'm proud of em.

I'm proud of em.

Yup.

Love you.

I appreciate you.

You taught me a lot.

Love you, too, man.

You definitely taught us a lot.

Yup, y'all looking good.

Appreciate you, man.

You taught us how to do this thing, man.

We just passing on the legacy, man.

I'm gonna go get the ranch.

All the cattle, pristine studs and mares breeding program.

You know, all I can say is speed it up because old man is getting old.

It's coming.

It's coming.

It's coming fast.

I would like to see that.

Did you tell them how old you were?

Nah.

They didn't ask.

I'm 93.

93.

1932 model.