The agreement morphed over the years and today the inmates train Bureau of Land Management horses and burros. Nevada’s prison program to gentle and adopt out wild horses started in 2000 as a cooperative agreement between the Nevada Department of Corrections and the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Lastly, it helps chip away at the growing number of wild horses that need to be adopted. It makes it easier for the average horse person to adopt a wild horse if it is already gentled and started. It helps the inmates learn new skills and aids in rehabilitation. Fans say the program is beneficial in many ways. Attendance has steadily increased at each auction and so have the prices. Since the Carson City prison program started just over 20 years ago, word has spread and it has developed a cult following. The trained horses are offered to the public through a competitive-bid auction several times a year. There, the inmates are paired with wild horses and will spend several months transforming them from untouchable to rideable. A small group of those inmates, with approval for good behavior, are allowed to join the prison’s wild horse training program. The Northern Nevada Correctional Center is a medium-security prison that also houses minimum-security inmates. Indeed, as I arrive early in the morning, a small group of inmates wearing matching blue denim uniforms and riding helmets are already warming up their horses in the arena. But the barbed wire fences, guard towers, and armed officers roaming the grounds are a stark reminder that inmates are the cowboys on this ranch. Hay bales are stacked high, tractors are scattered around the pastures, horses and cows stand in corrals and pens. A few movie stars and celebrities have even attended over the years.Īt first glance it looks like any other Nevada ranch. A prison may seem like an odd place to buy a horse, but this particular auction regularly attracts buyers from around the country. I’m on my way to the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City for a horse auction. It was tempting to bring my trailer… just in case.
Thankfully not in handcuffs and not with a horse trailer.
It’s late October and I’m headed to prison.
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