Horse Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Horse Lake grades a B, with clarity at 11.5 ft and phosphorus readings still being added placing it above the Wisconsin median. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Horse Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At only 11 ft deep, Horse Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. The lake's 221 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Horse Lake sits at rank 47 of 77 in Polk County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Horse Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Curly-Leaf Pondweed), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.