Texas Equine Photographer | Satchmeaux the Prison Horse

Satchmeaux is a 9 year old Percheron Warmblood Cross. He was bred by the Louisiana State Penitentiary, so I guess you could call him a prison horse. He is out of a Percheron Stallion that stays at Angola prison in Louisiana. He now lives at Driftwood Acres Equestrian Center.

Satchmeaux has a very interesting story. He is nearly 17 hands high. He was bred at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. One of the prison enterprises is horse breeding, primarily Quarter Horse crosses for use in their agricultural operations, but they also have a small number of Warmblood mares that they breed to their Percheron Stallion. Many of these horses end up as police horses, and a few are sold as riding horses. Satchmeaux has the Angola Prison brand on his left hip, they lovingly refer to this as his “prison tattoo.”

Despite his rather humble origins, Satch is a delightful horse. He is a real prince charming and everyone he meets falls in love with him, myself included. He wants to be friends with everyone, human or animal, that he meets. Aside from his prison tattoo, he also has an ombre forelock and is very shiny. He loves to have his ears scratched and petted.

Satchmeaux and his owner Laura do dressage. This handsome boy was broken fairly late, however with consistent work he is coming leaps and bounds. Laura’s favorite thing about riding him is that he tries really hard at everything he does. He is green, but he always tries to do his very best to please. Laura says, “It also makes me smile that a horse with the origins that he has, shows a real degree of talent for such a refined discipline.”

Laura first found Satch when her trainer Alannah of AM Dressage found an advertisement on a Facebook group, they went to see him and the rest was history. Watch was acquired from the prison by a couple from Comfort,TX who had retired to a small farm to produce riding horses. They had bought him at the Angola Prison Auction and loved him so much that they went back the next year and bought several more horses as a project.

Satch’s owner has a very unique story about finding the perfect horse, “I am Scottish originally and only moved to Texas in March of this year, my 19 year old full Irish Draft lease horse that I had had for a number of years prior to moving was retired back to his owners. Having had such a great experience with him, and getting my confidence back after a long break from riding, I was keen to find a similar stamp of horse. I’m 5′ 10” and was surprised when I arrived in Texas to find that the pool of larger horses is rather smaller than it is in the British Isles where most everyday riding horses are Irish Draft, Irish Sport Horse, or Warmblood. Quarter Horses are something of a novelty. I had had not such a great trial with a previous horse and having seen Satch advertised, Alannah encouraged me to go see him. We drove out to Comfort on a hot Saturday afternoon in mid-October to try him, he was just the stamp of horse I was looking for and he came for a weeks trial on the Tuesday. It was clear over that week that although he was on the green side, he was a really honest horse that would try his best for you. The next week he flew through the vetting (had I not bought him I suspect either the vet or her assistant would have!) and purchased him a day later.”

Laura shares that this charismatic boy loves Mrs Pastures horse treats and carrots, although she isn’t too sure he has had too many in his life.

“I have always loved horses (all animals really). I grew up in Scotland and when I was six years old we moved into a house next door to a family that had some land and bought and sold horses. I first learned to ride on whatever they had in their field, memorable horses include a pretty but stubborn welsh pony who ran me off into a stand of trees! My first experience with a really talented horse: A 14.2hh Anglo-Arab called Whisper who was (gasp!) a chestnut mare with four white socks and a jump like a stag, she was placed in top jumper classes against horses 2 hands taller due to her ability to turn on a sixpence and could turn on a sixpence, she was sold on to be a polo pony.

Afterwards I has some lessons at a riding school and my parents leased a school horse for me to ride, a 12.2hh Welsh pony X called Freddie. Freddie was also a brave jumper who would clear 3ft and took me round my first cross country course. The first horse I owned (at the age of 11) was a 4 year old Irish Cob called Murphy who had been acquired at the famous Gypsy horse fair at Appelby in the north of England. He was green and stubborn but we learned a lot together throughout my teens and he ended up in life as a riding school horse for Riding for the Disabled, a wonderful UK organization.

After a ten year break from having horses due to University and early career, I returned to riding in 2012. It was like I had never been away from horses and I was instantly re-hooked (much I suspect to my husband’s chagrin – despite the Irish being famous for producing horses he is, as a proud Irishman, rather scared of them). I soon graduated from riding school to leasing the wonderful schoolmaster Patrick (a very well bred Irish Draft who had, once upon a time, nearly been a London Police Horse himself) and when we moved to Texas, once we got settled, I started looking for a horse to buy and ended up with the horse from the Louisiana Prison :-).

There are so many things I love about owning horses but, as someone who has a very stressful job, I love that I can’t bring my stresses to the barn, when I’m riding, in order to get the best out of my horse I have to let it all go.”

Laura’s biggest tip when it comes to horses is “Trust your instincts and listen to your trainer :-)”

Although the pair hasn’t been together for too long, Laura shares her favorite memory with Satch is, “going out to the paddock with my husband, my old horse I think sensed his discomfort around horses and once scared him in the paddock by charging at him as he was trying to help me change blankets (the weather in England being somewhat….changeable), he walked out to Satch‘s paddock with me one day and Satch looked up and whinnied in a “I’m so pleased to see you” way and came trotting over to the gate. It turned out that somehow he’d managed to a stalk of some thorny plant stuck in his (luxurious) forelock and wanted us to rescue him but seeing my husband laugh at a horse’s antics (like he does with our other animals) made me smile. “

Karinda K Equine Photography is a Texas equine photographer located in Montgomery, TX. Karinda creates timeless portraits of you with your beloved horses, and other farm animals. Serving locally Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas communities. KEP also serves Wellington and Ocala, Florida, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, Aiken, South Carolina, Tryon, North Carolina, and Norco and Woodside, California and their surrounding communities.