Not to mention if you buy one of these guys think of all the great show names:
Done My Time (or Dun My Time if you have the appropriate color)
Conjugal Visit
15 To Life
Chain Gang
Proven Guilty
Oh the things you could do with the name of a prison horse!
In my barn, they’d all be named after famous criminals! :lol:
[QUOTE=Weighaton;5158981]
Just call the prison and ask for the warden, Burl Cain. Tell him what you are looking for and he will surely be able to find you something or direct you.[/QUOTE]
I can just hear the conversation now…“yeah, I need to put in a phone call to my horse broker . He’s the warden at Angola…yeah, the prison.”
I went and checked it out today. I was impressed with the horses and the program. I’m headed away from the computer and will post a more detailed summary later but if you’re thinking about going then definitely do! Get there early to register as a buyer and bring your trailer :yes:
And for those of you who can’t make it tomorrow but might be interested in purchasing, I have contact names and numbers for you. Feel free to PM me if you’d like 
There were some horses shown by police officers at dressage shows that were bred by Burl (when he was at Dixon Correctional, before Angola).
Their names were:
Misdemeanor
Affirmative Action
Felony
A long, more detailed report (hey-you asked for it!)
Here are a few of the horses I saw today. The pics do NOT do them justice. They were all tall, well put together, well behaved horses. They’ve obviously been brought along patiently and slowly and the inmates take great care and pride in these animals. Everyone was eager to show off the horses and they were more than happy to bring them out of their pens to be inspected, and those that were trained were saddled and ridden. I watched one horse being brought out into the ring to be shown off and he was a little lookey and unsure, but he was willing (they had just been moved to the rodeo area that morning). When his rider mounted he hopped in the stirrup a couple of times and the horse never moved a muscle. Once he was up the horse was a little nervous, but the rider sat still and was patient, asking him to move forward and any time he balked it was more of the same patient asking. It was very impressive to see. I talked to him later and he said that the man that normally rides that horse had work duty somewhere else that day so he couldn’t be there. It was almost like he was appologizing for not getting the best performance out of him.
I was especially impressed with the yearlings. They had them in a big round pen on the far side of the arena and they were all loose together. They seemed to be taking everything in stride and were just happy to be there. They all looked like they’ll be big and tall when they grow up.
One of the inmates told me that once they’ve been trained they use them to inspect the farming areas of the prison and they get ridden all over so the ones that have been undersaddle seem to get good exposure to a variety of settings. And many of the horses being sold are listed as being under saddle in the printed catalog I got when I was there, even though the website doesn’t mention training. Keep that in mind while you’re picking which ones you like tonight 
Here are some of the ones I saw. All of them were horses I would be proud to own (especially 615-made my heart go pitter pat. If anyone in the Baton Rouge area is going and has an extra spot on their trailer/space in their pasture for a few days and you want to PM me…). The ones I saw trot all seemed to have nice, floating, springy trots. Really some good, quality horses. :yes:
Grey Yearling, #912
5 y/o grey gelding, #514
5 y/o grey gelding, #520
4 y/o grey gelding, #615
4 y/o grey gelding, #618
4 y/o bay gelding, #616
4 y/o chestnut gelding, #624
4 y/o chestnut mare, #635
3 y/o strawberry roan gelding, #700 (Didn’t actually see this guy taken out, but he was one of the favorites of the inmate I talked to. He was especially adament that he’d make a great kid’s horse.)
So…who’s going? Make sure you update us and tell us who you bring home!
Sparky thanks for the report! It looks like we have the same taste in horses, I amin love with 514! I wish I had room, time and money for another horse but we are full!!!
If anyone goes today please let us know how much the horses are selling for and if you brought one home!
Thanks Sparky! I LOVE 616 and 618! I actually started a thread in the breeding forum about WB/draft crosses. Maybe Angola will start a trend!!
I’d love to know prices as well!
fizzy you have excellent taste. 616 was turned out with the young ones instead of being back in the pens with the other older horses and stood quietly while one of the guys hopped up on him bareback out of the blue. And 618 seemed like a real sweetheart. A woman asked for him to be brought out and she visited with him and he was happy to lower his head to give her better scraching range. He seemed totally unconcerned with the hustle and bustle.
I hope they will post which horses sell and at what prices. I’m very curious about that.
Part of me wishes they would have another sale in a couple of weekends (and, of course, the horses I like wouldn’t sell today) so I could make some shippment and boarding arrangements and purchase one :lol: Maybe they’ll switch it from an annual sale to a semi-annual sale and have another auction when they have their spring rodeo. Then I’ll buy myself an Angolian Warmblood as a graduation gift. I can always dream… :yes:
I went to the sale today. I did not buy anything but there were some nice horses. The ones I had picked to bid on all went over my budget. Several did go for $300 I guess to a dealer. When I left they were offering people the chance to pull them out of the $300 pen so they could go ahead and bid on them. The highest priced one that I wrote down went for $5100. Most went for three figures with the nicer ones with time under saddle going for the most.
Most went in the $300-$1000 range and probably about half didn’t sell. The flashy ones with more undersaddle training went for more. There were several with training that didn’t sell though. Most of the horses that were bought were the “sporthorse” types…the “lightest” horses there.
prison
[QUOTE=Tamara in TN;5145704]
the largest employer in this county is a mountain prison with a history just as nasty,black and long as Angola…I’ve lived my whole life in it’s long shadow one way or another…there is lack of “comfort” and then there is wickedness for it’s own sake.
Tamara in TN
Where in Tenn. is this prison?
I live in New Orleans and think our PD has nicer horses than Boston and NYC. There’s a particularly handsome black one I see near work that I’m tempted to run off with. I didn’t realize that the NOPD had a source like this. Now that I know, I know the first place to look for a horse! Anyone know how long under saddle were the horses with the most training at the auction?
linquest - from the sale catalog, it said the 5 yo were a solid year, going well under saddle. One of the posters who went to the preview said they used them to patrol the agricultural areas of the prison, so are out and about.
I think they are a super resource, even for me up in NY! I might have to snap up some of the WB/draft/TB crosses!
I’m not horse shopping at all, but I lived closer to this place I’d be tempted by this guy:
http://www.angolaprisonhorsesale.com/listings/3-year-old-bay-bay-gelding
Check out the noggin on that boy! Now I’ve always had a soft spot for big heads…this guy has got to be the winner for big head contests.
Yeah, the head is the same size as the neck. Add in pig eyes, roman nose and a muzzle the size of a dinner plate…and I’m in love. His head and face look almost exactly like my first horse…the original Misty Blue. Oly the color is different.
Poor guy…hope he goes to someone who can appreciate his non-conventional looks. (and who will keep an eye on those front pasterns)
I went to the rodeo today and watched some of the men that I saw/spoke with on preview day show off their riding skills as the Angola Rough Riders. Then I spent the rest of the day regretting (more that I already was) not going and getting one of the horses. :sigh: Silly me for thinking I could see them in person and not get hooked. Does anyone know if 615, 616, or 618 didn’t sell? I’m betting they did, as lighter/sportier types. Or who the dealer was that scooped up several?
Warden Burl Cain started a Percheron breeding program when he was at Dixon Correctional Institute (a minimum security facility mainly for non-violent offenders) in the early 1980s. Can became well-known in Percheron breeding and show circles. The Angola hitches not only entered shows, they often appeared in parades throughout the state.
Sometime in the 1990s, I believe, Cain started a program to cross the Percherons with QHs that had been traditionally used by guards in the fields who watch the inmates on farm duty. He found that these larger “warmbloods” were particularly suited to guard duty and police work. Angloa has been selling horses to police mounted units all over the country for some time now.
From time to time, some of the “excess” horses-- especially recently – have been sent to open auctions. I think many times there are interested buyers already waiting, and the bids are started very high to make sure the horses end up with the “intended” buyers. I believe another poster actually witnessed this at a sale.
This production sale is the first public sale to be held in conjunction with the famed Angola Rodeo. I did not go even though I live about an hour or so from LSP (Louisiana State Penitentiary) at Angola. DCI is a mere seven or eight miles from where I live. I do not buy horses-- except to keep them out of the hands of KBs. I really doubted that any KBs would be at the Angola sale. I expected most of the Angola-breds to go for at least $800 or above. I am sorry to learn that some went for $300-- that puts them in the KBs’ price range if they are in good flesh.
Louisiana Prison Enterprises-- the business arm of the prison system has been selling horses for some time. There was a report recently about some of these horses having been sold to private parties over the Internet without public advertisement. One of the higher-ups resigned, and I think was charged or is still under investigation.
My late husband worked as Classifications Director at Angola for several years in the late 1960s. At that time, many guards either owned their own horses or were allowed to buy their horses when they reached a certain age or were declared “surplus”. We had one very large QH mare named Sunshine that was a former “line horse” from Angola. My husband had bought her from a guard’s widow who was moving off he prison grounds and needed to sell her.
He said that some of the other guards were trying to “steal” the horse by offering only a few hundred dollars for her. My late husband was one of the last of the “southern gentlemen,” so he offered her $2000 for the horse, and she threw in an inmate-made saddle. Needless to say, this didn’t make him any friends among the guards. Sunshine wa a real gem. She outlived my husband, who died in 1989. One of his son’s took her for his children to ride. She was in her 20s then but still sound and sane.
At a barn where I boarded a horse briefly about ten years ago, a boarder who worked for the state Forensic Mental Facility (next door to DCI) had gotten a very nice large buckskin gelding that was a Percheron cross. He had the older “LSP” brand on his cheek. He would have been absolutely stunning except that someone had allowed a halter to cut into his nose when he was younger, and he had an unsightly indentation and some hair loss there. But he had the nicest personality and was a real steady Eddie.
This May, I was given a 1989 year model mare originally from Cain’s Percheron program when she was retired by her third owner- a children’s camp. Dixie has the “state map” freeze brand and the number 210 on her near hip.
I was told that Dixie was sold by Prison Enterprises after being advertised as required by law when she was seven. Before that she was a wheel horse on one of DCI’s show hitches. I learned all about her past life from the gentleman who was brought down here by Warden Cain to train the Percherons. She was bought by a couple who had a wedding carriage business not to far from Baton Rouge. When they got out of the wedding carriage business, they donated her when she was 14 to the children’s camp. She pulled a hay wagon full of campers all by her self for six years. She was replaced by a team of seven year old Belgians this spring.
Dixie is a most intelligent mare. If I leave the gate to her run-in unlocked, she will open it with her nose to come and go as she pleases. At feeding time she will go ahead of me, and put herself into the shed to await her feed. She is particularly fond of children, whom she apparently believes to be the source of all kinds of yummy treats. (Probably with good reason as I’m told that they had trouble keeping campers from saving their cookies and fruit snacks to give to Dixie.)
I remember seeing a post, I think it was on COTH, by a man in New Jersey who had purchased an “Angola horse” out of an auction but didn’t know it, and was asking about the freeze brand on the horse. He was trying to find out more about the horse and was very surprised to learn it was from Louisiana. How it got to an open auction in New Jersey is any body’s guess.
Angola horses have always been prized for their sense and docility. “Retired” line horses are really great trail mounts much sought-after around here. Again, I’m surprised these horses did not bring more-- but then they were selling lots of young horses without much if any training.
FYI- Angola or LSP is situated on 18,000 acres at the far end of Louisiana Highway 66-- formerly known to locals as “the Angola Road” but now officially known as “The Tunica Trace.” The prison grounds are surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River, and on the fourth by the inhospitable and wild Tunica Hills- known to be home to several black bears and rumored to harbor several panthers-- cougars. Of course there are also lots of snakes, raccoons, opossums and millions of biting insects in those hills. There is only one paved road in or out-- the aforementioned LA Hwy 66.
It was originally a privately-owned plantation whose owner leased convicts from the state to work on his plantation-- a practice that was fairly common in the 19th century. Eventually he sold out to the State of Louisiana, and the state acquired more of the adjacent land. My late husband’s family and later he owned the plantation adjacent to the prison known as the Rowe Plantation. Anyway, there are two prehistoric Native American mounds just outside the front gates at Angola.
The warden and many of the guards and their families actually live on Angola. The prison has its own radio station KLSP - The Incarceration Station, its own award-winning magazine The Angolite, medical facilities, various industrial areas, an auto shop-- and of course, the license plate factory. It has its own US Post Office and zip code, a grocery store for the “free people” who live or work there, a cemetery and a museum with a gift shop.
Inmates who die and are buried at Angola are carried to their final resting place in a reproduction of a 19th century horse-drawn hearse built by the inmates themselves. A black Percheron pulls the hearse. Warden Cain believes that these men deserve a dignified funeral and burial.
The prison farm produces many of the vegetables eaten at the prison, cotton, cattle and horses. There is also a breeding kennel where the famed and feared Angola Chase Team Bloodhounds are raised and housed.
At one time, Angola had the deserved reputation as the bloodiest prison in the South, if not the nation. Inmate guards were used and inmates considered dangerous or flight risks were sent to the infamous Red Hat lock down building. Death sentences were carried out by electrocution.
Beginning in the 1960s a series of reform-minded wardens and DOC secretaries as well as the Federal courts began cleaning up and reforming Angola. No prison is a “nice” place to be, and the most of the men at Angola-- no women prisoners live at Angola–are in there because they were convicted of violent crimes including murder and rape. But Angola today is not the “lawless” place it once was. Inmates even have several organizations, and chapels and other places of worship. Warden Cain and other administrators encourage inmate ivolvement in organized religious services and in civic-minded organizations at the prison. And of course there’s the Angola Rodeo and the inmate craft show and sale.
Probably Angola’s two most famous former inmates are Wilbert Rideau and Billy Wayne Sinclair – both sent to Angola on murder charges. They were former co-editors of The Angolite. Rideau was granted a new trial and won his freedom fairly recently. He is now a published author with a book about his life experiences and has married. Sinclair testified against crooked politicians involved an a “pardons selling scheme.” Sinclair is still a prisoner, though he was moved from Angola for his own protection. Sinclair, who did not actually kill anyone-- he was with someone who killed a store clerk during a robbery, is still trying to win parole.
The children of the LSP employees go to school at nearby Tunica Elementary, but travel some 45 minutes down to Bains to attend West Feliciana Middle and West Feliciana High School.
The public may visit Angola and its museum and gift shop. All vehicles are subject to search coming in and going out and introduction of contraband (weapons of any kind, alcohol or drugs) is prohibited. A tour of Angola is a very interesting experience.
To keep this horse-related-- Since the 19th century the work of the gangs of field workers – chained together in gangs in the past–hence chain gangs – was overseen by guards mounted on horses.
Even during the period when inmate guards were used, the field hands were guarded by mounted men. Yes, shades of the overseer of the Old South. In the past, these guards sometimes carried bull whips in addition to shotguns. Even today, mounted guards go out with the gangs of field workers who march to and from the fields in orderly lines. Because “The Farm” relies heavily on mounted guards to keep an eye on the men in the fields, it was natural for the people running Angola to take an interest in breeding horses suited to the task.
Oh, I almost forgot- LSP at Angola also apparently now has its own Facebook page-- can Twitter be far behind?
Here are some prices from the sale. I did not write down most of the horses because I was too busy visiting with friends that were there.
Brand price
607 2500
522 4200
609 400
504 500
626 500
480 5100
624 400
600 600
614 2200
714 1500
615 1100
608 500
616 3000
That is about it.
Bopper
Sparky6 - I just went on the sale site, and they have the prices on there now. 616 and 618 both sold…618 went for $700! :eek: I’m kicking myself!!!
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