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- A carriage drives down the main street of Mackinac Island.
Flies were always a problem on Mackinac, the lovely 19th century resort island in Lake Huron off the tip of Michigan. With 600 horses to haul thousands of tourists, flies were as historical as the place. It was a constant--spraying horses and buildings, putting out traps, calls from the drivers to spray their horses again and again. Nobody, man nor beast wanted to stand still anywhere.
Then we got wise to fly predators, and Spalding Labs came to the rescue. The first season we started late and were dealing with the usual pestilence. We were told it would take an intense deployment of fly predators to catch up with the fly population. After a month, the flies literally disappeared. There was an occasional one, but that was it.
People noticed. Cottagers were asking what happened--one even thought we had been nuked. Starting on time the second year, we needed fewer fly predators. Now flies aren't a problem anymore. We only have to spray a horse occasionally. Our tourists are happier and so are we who are here to take care of our two- and four-legged friends!
--Dr. Alan Sibinic, DVM
Mackinac Island, Mich.
For more information on horse-powered Mackinac Island go to www.mackinacisland.org and read "Horse Power" in the February 2005 issue of Horse & Rider magazine.
