Do you ever think about that special someone you met on Mackinac Island?
The one who showed you the sights on a carriage tour? Who took you down secret trails in Mackinac Island State Park? Who whisked you away by taxi to a romantic dinner?
Yes, we’re talking about the horses of Mackinac Island. Do you ever wonder where they go and what they do in the winter?
What happens to Mackinac Island horses in winter
Just as the number of people visiting Mackinac Island declines sharply in the winter, so does the population of horses. Although a couple dozen horses remain on Mackinac Island through the offseason delivering mail to year-round residents and transporting workers, most of them retire for the winter to farms between the Mackinac Bridge and Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Basically, they go on vacation.
For the most part, winter break for the horses of Mackinac Island involves some of the same things that people enjoy on vacation. They basically just frolic around and sunbathe. And they eat. A lot.
When they first start arriving from Mackinac Island toward the end of the visitor season in the fall and things are still growing on the farms, the horses graze on grass. Then, as the season turns to winter, the horses move to various feed lots.
What Mackinac Island horses eat in winter
One of the winter destinations for Mackinac Island horses is Chambers Farms in Pickford, Mich. There, the horses go through 6,000 round bales of hay over the winter. That’s roughly 3,000 tons of feed!
Plus, they eat about 30 tons of oats and several tons of mineral supplements.
All those nutrients help the horses grow a thick winter coat. In fact, many of the horses get so wooly in the winter that it can be hard to recognize them!
Another reason the horses eat so much through the winter is that digesting the food creates body heat that warms them on cold winter days. All the eating also builds up a hay gut that will help the horses remain strong and durable when vacation ends and they return to work on Mackinac Island the following spring.
What Mackinac Island horse farm workers do in winter
The winter routine for farm workers mostly involves putting feed out, refilling the heated water supplies and driving through the fields to check on the horses, who they know by name. Sometimes they’ll come across a horse who got tangled up in a fence while reaching for a sprig of grass or they’ll notice a horse with a sore foot that needs attention from the farrier. Those horses may be brought into the barn for a little extra TLC.
The farm workers also get a kick out of seeing horses run around and play in the snow, roll around on the ground like they’re giving themselves a bath, itch each other’s necks or all stick their rear ends to the wind on a cold winter day.
When do Mackinac Island horses return in the spring?
In the spring, groups of horses will start returning to Mackinac Island in April to pull drays, draw carriages and provide taxi service. The return is gradual as the island wakes up from its winter slumber. Come June, all the horses will be off the farms and back in action on the island.
Then for the next few months, as Mackinac Island bustles with visitors and the clip-clop of hooves, the horse farms will be quiet – until next winter when it’s time for the horses to go back on vacation, romping around the fields and whinnying for extra buckets of feed.
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