The saddle horse adoptions go on about three times a year at Stewart Conservation Camp next to Northern Nevada Correctional Center.
Buyers come from all over the west, sometimes farther, and bid on horses trained by Nevada inmates.
The horses can go for a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand.
And while they look perfectly tame…
It did not happen over night.
It all starts four months prior to the auction.
Hank Curry the main trainer at the camp, sorts the three to four year old geldings early on and matches each one of the horses to one of 15 inmates
“They are not trainers. They will tell the other inmates that are interviewing, don’t go in there and lie to Hank. Cause he’s going to know right away if you are lying. Be honest with him, and if he likes something about you he’ll give you a chance. If you show a willingness to work and a desire to improve yourself, he may take you,” says Curry.
