Mādahòkì Farm - Indigenous Tourism Des

Home of Indigenous experiences and events, Indigenous Marketplace, Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival, a growing herd of endangered Ojibwe Spirit Horses and more!

“Sharing the Land”—that’s what Mādahòkì, pronounced Ma-dau-ki, means, and it’s exactly what the team behind this Indigenous-led farm is putting into practice every day.

The Ojibwe Spirit Horse is the only known Indigenous breed of horse to Canada. Our Elders say they have lived in harmony with our Indigenous communities since time immemorial.

The only known Indigenous breed of horse to Canada, they were hunted to the point of extinction, with their wild lands disappearing.

The Lac La Croix Indigenous pony, named after the Lac La Croix First Nation, now the Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation, primarily existed in northwestern Ontario and across the United States border into Minnesota.
This unique pony breed, considered to be developed by the Indigenous Peoples, was used for winter transportation, running trap lines, hauling logs and ice, and pulling sleighs. As forest dwellers, the breed boasts strong hooves to endure the rocky terrain of the Canadian Shield; fuzzy ears to protect them from insects; and often a dorsal stripe down its back and zebra stripes on its legs.

The breed was well on its way to extinction in 1977 before a “pony heist” changed its destiny. Now with no more than 200 horses in Canada, found in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, as well as Wisconsin and Minnesota in the US, the breed is considered critically endangered but making a comeback. The Ojibwe Horse Society maintains the breed registry of the horse, which is now officially registered as the Ojibwe Horse but commonly referred to as the Spirit Horse in honour of their connection to the spiritual past and ability to heal intergenerational trauma. Although small in size, the Ojibwe Horse’s history is full.

In the 1940s, a large herd of the Lac La Croix ponies on a reservation in Bois Forte in northern Minnesota was destroyed at the request of missionaries, who considered it inappropriate for the residential children in the area to witness horses breeding in nature. This resulted in the full extinction of the breed in the US, leaving only a small herd north of Lake Superior in the Lac La Croix First Nation region.

The remaining herd in Canada was used in the winter for trapping and pulling; their work was rewarded with food, shelter, and protection from wolves and other predators. Just before the ice melted, the ponies would be herded back to an island known as Pony Island to breed, foal out, and forage on their own.

In the 1970s these sacred horses almost went extinct as they were wild and eating farmer’s fields. Some brave men from Lac La Croix FN captured the last four wild mares and, like in a scene out of a movie, took them across the frozen ice to Minnesota, where they started to bring back the breed.

Ojibwe Spirit Horses are smaller and furrier than most horse breeds, with physical traits like thick manes and hard hooves that make them well-suited to snowy, rocky, and forested terrain.

These horses can also be identified by their zebra or tiger-like leg stripes, a dorsal dark stripe along their back, and an extra nose flap and furry ears to protect them from the cold Canadian winters.

Intelligent, sweet, and sturdy, Ojibwe Spirit Horses make ideal therapy animals and close companions.

According to the Ojibwe Horse Society, “DNA evidence shows they are different from European-introduced horse breeds in distinctive ways that made them an integral and harmonious part of the North American boreal forest.

The Ojibwe Horse has been known by several names, including the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony or Indian Horse. In Canadian government archives they were commonly referred to as Indian Ponies. They are noted as Critically Endangered on Canada’s Conservation List and are believed to be the only surviving horse breed developed by Indigenous peoples in Canada.Læs mere