MUSTACHE MERLE, THE MOST FAMOUS HORSE AROUND TOWN

This story first appeared in the August 25, 2023, Mackinac Island Town Crier print edition

On Mackinac Island, the horse is king. The city made sure of that 125 years ago when it banned the horseless carriage because it frightened Islanders’ horses. But not all horses are created equal, and there is one residing in the Big Barn at the top of Grand Hill who may just rule them all. Well, he probably thinks he does. At the very least, he may be the Island’s most famous, sought-after horse, recognized by his iconic – and natural – blonde, curling mustache. His name is Merle.

Mustache Merle has been on the Island with Mackinac Island Carriage Tours for about 13 years, and Judy Bishop, a barn manager with the company, estimates him to be in his late teens. They don’t know much about his history before he came to the Island, but he was a “cool dude from the start,” Ms. Bishop said.

Merle is a white Percheron, a breed of draft horse, and probably weighs between 1,600 to 1,700 pounds. He’s considered a medium-sized horse for his breed, but he’s one of the strongest, “pound for pound,” Ms. Bishop said, and Jacob Valentini, who works at the barn with Ms. Bishop, agreed. Merle’s primary job at the Carriage Tours is to run the first half of the tour, the downtown portion that takes guests up to Surrey Hill.

Lady and Merle, working the downtown leg of the Mackinac Island Carriage Tour route. The horses work four to five hours and get 24 hours off, so when people can’t find Merle, it’s often because they are searching for him during his time off, barn manager Judy Bishop said. 

“He’s super reliable, a super good horse, and then he just so happens to have a fabulous mustache,” Ms. Bishop said.

Merle is a hard worker, and loves his job, Ms. Bishop said. He’s also a bit like a spoiled old man and seems to know how famous he is. He now expects people to bring him treats when they visit his stable. But he’s also very sweet. Merle’s partner is Lady, another Percheron, and “Merle’s better half,” Ms. Bishop said, who never has a bad day. Merle and Lady are one of the Carriage Tours’ most reliable teams, and they often break in new drivers. Everybody wants to drive them, Ms. Bishop said, and they frequently help train new carriage drivers before getting a more regular driver toward the middle of the summer. They’re also the go-to team for parades. Merle and Lady have marched in the Lilac Festival Grand Parade for years. Lady has been with Carriage Tours since before Ms. Bishop started working there, at least 18 years, working with another partner named Glen before he retired. Ms. Bishop is currently in her 16th season working at Mackinac Island Carriage Tours.

A close-up of Merle’s blonde mustache. Mustaches on Percherons and other draft horses are not uncommon, though Merle’s is particularly noticeable.

Merle has somewhat of a cult following. On the popular Facebook page “Addicted to Mackinac Island,” posts started circulating in 2018 asking about that one mustachioed horse on the Island. Fans soon began searching for him and posting their own Merle sightings, and he now has his own Facebook fan page, Mustache Merle from Mackinac, and a hashtag, #MustacheMerle. Guests of Mackinac Island Carriage Tours ask about Merle all the time, Ms. Bishop said, more than any other horse. They have about 350 horses on the Island in the summer, and about 40 teams for the downtown tour route. There are a few other well-known horses that they get questions about, Ms. Bishop said, but not as many as Merle.

But Merle doesn’t deserve all the credit. In fact, Ms. Bishop said, his partner Lady has a more unique feature than Merle does, but she doesn’t get recognized for it. Lady has long knee hair, trailing down to her hooves. But people tend to stare at a horse’s face more than their knees.

For Dale Peterson, a manager of the Mackinac Island Carriage Tours who has worked there for 39 years, Merle is just another horse. Horses come and go he said, and he doesn’t have favorites, but he’s also much more interested in Lady’s knee hair.

“But nobody says a thing about that,” he said.

Mustaches are not necessarily uncommon in draft horses, and Ms. Bishop estimates about a dozen of their horses have them, they’re just not as glorious as Merle’s. In the winter, his mustache begins to disappear, worn down by eating at a round bale and from snow and ice. But it grows back over the summer when Lady and Merle and the rest of the horses return to the Island from their winter vacation.

“She keeps Merle in check,” Ms. Bishop said of Lady. “They’re very much like an old married couple.”

The Carriage Tour horses are known for their longevity, and Ms. Bishop hopes that Merle will be around for a “good while longer,” as he did well at his last checkup. For the foreseeable future, Merle will keep at it, giving Island visitors tours of downtown, and doing it in style with that ever-recognizable, famous mustache of his. The Island is known for its horses, but Mustache Merle continues to hold a grip on Island visitors unlike any other.