Horses return to Mackinac Island for upcoming season
After a long winter, many look for the smallest sign that spring is on the way. For those on Mackinac Island, it comes with the sound of the horn from the Arnold Freight ferry arriving and the clip clop sound of horse hooves as they head up the hill to the stables at the Grand Hotel.
“When the ice starts melting, the boat starts running, I know I’m going to get a call,” says Ron Atkins, of Mackinac Island Carriage Tours, the man responsible for getting the horses to and from the island.
“It’s a big deal,” says Veronica Dobrowolski, co-owner and CEO of Arnold Freight Company. “When the horses arrive on the island, it means that this island will be up and running soon.”
It’s late afternoon on Sunday near Pickford in the Upper Peninsula. There’s a chill in the air, the ground is muddy from melting snow, yet there is a sense of change to come. As the sun casts a glow on the deep red barn, a group of horses eat fresh hay, enjoying what will be their last day of the winter break. “They seem to know what time of year it is. … Many of them have been doing this for years,” says Atkins.
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Atkins loads the horses on the trailer, one by one, six in all, and takes them to the Arnold Freight ferry dock at St. Ignace for the ferry ride to the island. In years past, they loaded the horses individually on the ferry. Now, they stay in the trailer and the truck and trailer are taken over. The trailer is a safer way for them to travel. This first load will be horses used to move freight around the island to get it ready for tourists in a few weeks.
“Generally by the middle of April, I’m going five days a week with eight horses at a time. By the first week of June, I’ve got roughly 300 on the island,” says Atkins.
Once the horses arrive and get settled in, they are groomed and are fitted with their equipment and a new set of shoes.
Mackinac Island Carriage Tour employee Jim Pettit has been working at the Grand Hotel stables for years. He walks the horses into their stalls one by one.
“Pretty much from now until Memorial Day, we will be hit hard getting ready for the season,” he says.
Horses are a staple on the island for both tourists and residents alike. According to the Mackinac Island Tourist Bureau, at its peak, there are more than 500 horses on the island with most of them working for Mackinac Island Carriage Tours.
Out of the more than 500 horses on the island, a little fewer than 100 are saddle horses with the rest being privately owned.
With no cars allowed on the island, the horses — known as draft horses — are used for the movement of both tourists and commerce and have been working on the island since the late 1800s.
Draft horses have been called gentle giants by many who work with them. Their temperament makes them an ideal horse for the job.
Atkins, who has been moving the horses for over 25 years, says: “it takes a good horse to be on Mackinac Island. They have to be trustworthy because there are so many distractions, bicycles, pedestrians and other carriages.”
The horses are definitely celebrities, Dobrowolski says.
”Many people refer to them as the hardest working employees on the island."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Horses return to Mackinac Island for upcoming tourist season
