Ivory McCloud maneuvers his horse, Diamond, down a street in Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016. Although best known as the birthplace of gangsta rap and the hometown of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, Compton has a long and vibrant equestrian history.

Ivory McCloud, right, and Mike Jones work with horses at their stable in the backyard of a house in Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016. Hundreds of people keep horses in backyards in this agriculturally-zoned Richland Farms neighborhood and ride them on the streets around town, as well as at rodeos and other equestrian competitions across the country.

Ivory McCloud poses for a photo with his horse, Diamond, at his stable in the backyard of a home in Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016.

Ivory McCloud exercises one of his horses at his stable in the backyard of a home in Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016. "I've got 40 years in this, man," the 56-year-old horseman says. "My dad was a cowboy. I'm a cowboy. I grew up in Compton. I live in Compton and I've been training horses since I was a kid."

Nathon Bonner warms up one of the horses in the Compton Junior Posse Youth Equestrian Program in Compton, California, June 6, 2016. Hundreds of people keep horses in their backyards in its agriculturally-zoned Richland Farms neighborhood and ride them on the streets around town.

Ivory McCloud, left, and Mike Jones ride their horses through the streets of Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016.

Participants and spectators listen to the national anthem at the start of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in Industry, California, June 16, 2016.

Cowboys take part in the grand entrance ceremony at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in Industry, California, June 16, 2016. Over the years, many Compton cowboys have ridden in the event, a traditionally African-American Western competition.

Tre Hosley competes in a bareback riding event at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in Industry, California, June 16, 2016. "Gangsters turn into little kids when they see a horse," says the Compton resident, recalling how he once rode one into the wrong neighborhood and was confronted by a handful of gang members who wanted to play with the horse.

Ivory McCloud, left, and his friend, Mike Jones, ride along a path under power lines in Compton, California, Aug. 7, 2016. Compton was a nearly all-white city in the 1940s, and essentially all black in the 1980s. Its population of 98,000 is now 65 percent Hispanic, 33 percent black.

Ivory McCloud bathes his blue-eyed Palomino, Diamond, in a backyard stable in Compton, California.