14 Handpicked Draft Horses Serve Island in Cold Months
By Karen Gould

Todd Massaway, who has worked for Mackinac Island Service Company since 1998, shows one of the new winter shoes being worn by Sam.

The clippity-clop of horse hooves has almost fallen silent on the streets of Mackinac Island. As the most frigid months of the year approach, only 14 horses remain on the Island to serve residents and visitors through the winter.

As it does every year, Mackinac Island Carriage Tours has ferried more than 370 horses off the Island and transported them to farms in the Upper Peninsula, where they will winter before returning in the spring, said Dr. Bill Chambers, Carriage Tours chief executive officer. Dr. Bill, as he is known on the Island, is celebrating 50 years as a veterinarian, having been graduated from Michigan State University in Lansing in 1956.

The horses that winter on the Island are chosen based on their temperament, and the experience and personality of drivers, said Dr. Bill.

During the winter months, Island horses are cared for by George Wellington. At 70 years old, Mr. Wellington, who was born on the Island, begins his day at 5 a.m. He enters the warm Carriage Tours barn on Cadotte Avenue, where the horses have spent the night. He feeds them a customized grain breakfast, cleans the stalls, replenishes water troughs, and delivers fresh hay.

Dr. Bill Chambers holds two horses while their dray is unloaded.

"That's an iron man right there," said Dr. Bill looking across the table at Mr. Wellington.

Mr. Wellington and his wife, Geraldine, have two grown children, who also live on the Island. He began working at Carriage Tours when he was 17. He left to work for the Mackinac Island State Park, where he retired after 29 years. He then returned to Carriage Tours 15 years ago.

When the dray drivers arrive for work at 7 a.m., Mr. Wellington matches the horses with the drivers. He said he knows the temperament of the horses and the personalities of the drivers and he assigns compatible teams. A horse's personality determines how Mr. Wellington handles the animal.

The job isn't without risks.

Last summer, Mr. Wellington was kicked in the knee by one of the horses. The accident kept him off work for a "rare few days," said Dr. Bill.

George Wellington with Big John (left) and Red. Mr. Wellington takes care of Mackinac Island Carriage Tours horses and drives a taxi.

Once the horses are harnessed, drivers and teams head off to complete assignments. For drays, work includes collecting garbage and recycling materials and delivering them to the Island's waste facility. The drays also transport materials dropped off at the boat docks, pick up mail six days a week and other supplies flown in from St. Ignace to the Mackinac Island Airport, and make freight deliveries.

"It isn't a difficult job for these horses. There's a lot of downtime. A lot of standing around," said Dr. Bill.

With horses and drivers off on runs, Mr. Wellington prepares the horses that will pull the Island's only winter taxi. Mr. Wellington also happens to be the only taxi driver in the winter, a job he works seven days a week. Through the winter, the taxi runs from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and even after 5 p.m. if needed.

Dr. Bill said Mr. Wellington can go a year without taking a day off.

"I like to keep it up," said Mr. Wellington. "I like to keep the horses fed. I like to keep it perfect."

Dr. Bill agreed. "George knows how the collar fits each horse, how much feed to give them, when they need new shoes. He knows the best driver for them."

In between taxi runs, Mr. Wellington cleans the stables several times a day and again feeds the horses at midday. Before bedding the horses down each night at approximately 6 p.m., he gives them fresh hay and feeds them grain.

"That's quite a day, especially when it's cold and blowing, " said Dr. Bill.

The grain fed to the horses is a special formula developed by Carriage Tours, said Dr. Bill. The process of coming up with the right mixture took approximately 10 to 15 years to develop and the summer grain is a different mixture than that used in the winter, he said.

Summer grain has more fiber. The feed also includes protein, vitamins, minerals, and is high in vegetable fat and oil. Winter grain pellets have less fiber, the same protein, and increased fat for energy. Good quality oats also are included in the mixture, said Dr. Bill.

Hay used to feed the Island horses during the winter is brought over in the fall and stored in the barn, said Dr. Bill. Approximately 20 horses will each eat four tons of hay in addition to the grain mixture. All of the winter feed is in the barn by December 1, he said.

Whether it is summer or winter, care is taken with the working horses of Mackinac Island during storms. Storms tend not to bother the horses, who naturally build a coat of heavy, dense hair in the winter, although freezing rain is the worst for the horses, he said. If there is freezing rain, sleet, a "real blizzard," or high winds, the horses don't come out.

In winter, when the wind is blowing hard sometimes the drivers will blanket them, said Mr. Wellington. The blanket serves as a wind break.

"I don't like to do it, they get too hot," he added.

In the summer, the men say the ferry boat captains will call ahead to warn of incoming thunderstorms. Dr. Bill said the warning gives them approximately 20 minutes to get the horses off the streets. The lightning is dangerous and the thunder could startle a horse, he said.

Horses have always been a part of Dr. Bill's life.

He was born on the corner of Market Street and Cadotte Avenue in the house his greatgrandfather built. His grandfather and father were born in the same house.

Horse-drawn carriages began providing visitors a tour of the Island in 1869. Those carriage men began Mackinac Island Carriage Tours in 1948. The company boasts being the "world's largest, oldest, and continually operated horse and buggy livery."

The chosen draft geldings and mares that remain on Mackinac in the winter are stout and sturdy Belgium and finerboned Percheron horses. They have had their summer shoes removed and replaced with a special plain steel shoe, which is needed to traverse the Island's hilly, ice and snow covered streets. A toe clip is added for gripping and a special material is welded to the surface of the shoe to provide wearing ability and increased traction. The shoes offer greater stability for the horse, reduce excessive wear of the hoof, and do not slip on icy pavement or snow-covered roads, said Dr. Bill.

In the summer, the horses are shod with a polyurethane shoe that has a metal core, which is good for gripping on a hard surface like the Island thoroughfares, although they are not good for ice or snow conditions, he explained.

The blacksmiths begin changing shoes in October.

"This is a job," said Dr. Bill.

Two blacksmith work full time to change all of the shoes. First the old shoes are pulled off, hoofs are prepared by trimming and paring the surface, and then the new shoe is secured to the hoof.

Dr. Bill remembers that when he was a youngster every shoe had to be welded by a blacksmith, with cork welded into it and the heel had a threequarter inch turn that was sharp to the touch. The process has changed, said Dr. Bill.

Horse shoes last approximately six weeks in the winter and four weeks in the summer "if we're lucky" he said.

Three blacksmiths work full time for Carriage Tours in the summer and one blacksmith works through the winter.

In the summer, 370 horses pull taxis, shuttles, and drays, providing around-the-clock service for the community. In preparation for winter, reducing the number of horses that remain on the Island is achieved in shifts.

The carriages, which take passengers on tours around the Island stop operating in October, the same weekend Grand Hotel closes, said Dr. Bill.

Horses start coming back when the boat begins in spring with all horses returning by June 30, said Dr. Bill. Carriage Tours working horses range in age from four years to 19 years old. They can live to approximately 36 years old, said Dr. Bill.

The horses that are shipped off the Island for the winter are sent to three farms in Chippewa County, less than 20 miles south of Sault Ste. Marie and east of I- 75. They graze in the Munoscong Valley Grassland, which is considered the largest grasslands east of the Mississippi, explained Dr. Bill. Most of the farm land used by the horses over the winter is owned by Dr. Bill's brother, Jim Chambers.

The farms have more than 1,000 acres each and have housing for the horses.

The horses of Mackinac Island require a special temperament. They must be able to handle the bike and pedestrian traffic, and loud noises including the city's noon whistle and blasts from Fort Mackinac's cannon without being easily spooked. Last year, Mr. Jim Chambers considered and evaluated more than 2,000 horses, none of which had the temperament for Island life, said Dr. Bill.