diff --git a/django/db/migrations/state.py b/django/db/migrations/state.py
index 9150705ffc..0be5ed41a2 100644
--- a/django/db/migrations/state.py
+++ b/django/db/migrations/state.py
@@ -312,12 +312,23 @@ class ModelState(object):
         # Sanity-check that fields is NOT a dict. It must be ordered.
         if isinstance(self.fields, dict):
             raise ValueError("ModelState.fields cannot be a dict - it must be a list of 2-tuples.")
-        # Sanity-check that fields are NOT already bound to a model.
         for name, field in fields:
+            # Sanity-check that fields are NOT already bound to a model.
             if hasattr(field, 'model'):
                 raise ValueError(
                     'ModelState.fields cannot be bound to a model - "%s" is.' % name
                 )
+            # Sanity-check that relation fields are NOT referring to a model class.
+            if field.is_relation and hasattr(field.related_model, '_meta'):
+                raise ValueError(
+                    'ModelState.fields cannot refer to a model class - "%s.to" does. '
+                    'Use a string reference instead.' % name
+                )
+            if field.many_to_many and hasattr(field.remote_field.through, '_meta'):
+                raise ValueError(
+                    'ModelState.fields cannot refer to a model class - "%s.through" does. '
+                    'Use a string reference instead.' % name
+                )
 
     @cached_property
     def name_lower(self):
@@ -502,10 +513,10 @@ class ModelState(object):
         return self.__class__(
             app_label=self.app_label,
             name=self.name,
-            fields=list(self.construct_fields()),
+            fields=list(self.fields),
             options=dict(self.options),
             bases=self.bases,
-            managers=list(self.construct_managers()),
+            managers=list(self.managers),
         )
 
     def render(self, apps):
diff --git a/docs/ref/migration-operations.txt b/docs/ref/migration-operations.txt
index a1d5d5c454..991cc6f33b 100644
--- a/docs/ref/migration-operations.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/migration-operations.txt
@@ -402,7 +402,8 @@ You can take this template and work from it, though we suggest looking at the
 built-in Django operations in ``django.db.migrations.operations`` - they're
 easy to read and cover a lot of the example usage of semi-internal aspects
 of the migration framework like ``ProjectState`` and the patterns used to get
-historical models.
+historical models, as well as ``ModelState`` and the patterns used to mutate
+historical models in ``state_forwards()``.
 
 Some things to note:
 
@@ -421,6 +422,16 @@ Some things to note:
   operations; this is part of the autodetection code and does not matter for
   custom operations.
 
+.. warning::
+
+    For performance reasons, the :class:`~django.db.models.Field` instances in
+    ``ModelState.fields`` are reused across migrations. You must never change
+    the attributes on these instances. If you need to mutate a field in
+    ``state_forwards()``, you must remove the old instance from
+    ``ModelState.fields`` and add a new instance in its place. The same is true
+    for the :class:`~django.db.models.Manager` instances in
+    ``ModelState.managers``.
+
 As a simple example, let's make an operation that loads PostgreSQL extensions
 (which contain some of PostgreSQL's more exciting features). It's simple enough;
 there's no model state changes, and all it does is run one command::
diff --git a/tests/migrations/test_state.py b/tests/migrations/test_state.py
index 551ca11459..6ff9ba003c 100644
--- a/tests/migrations/test_state.py
+++ b/tests/migrations/test_state.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from django.test import SimpleTestCase, TestCase, override_settings
 
 from .models import (
     FoodManager, FoodQuerySet, ModelWithCustomBase, NoMigrationFoodManager,
+    UnicodeModel,
 )
 
 
@@ -695,6 +696,21 @@ class ModelStateTests(TestCase):
                 'ModelState.fields cannot be bound to a model - "field" is.'):
             ModelState('app', 'Model', [('field', field)])
 
+    def test_sanity_check_to(self):
+        field = models.ForeignKey(UnicodeModel)
+        with self.assertRaisesMessage(ValueError,
+                'ModelState.fields cannot refer to a model class - "field.to" does. '
+                'Use a string reference instead.'):
+            ModelState('app', 'Model', [('field', field)])
+
+    def test_sanity_check_through(self):
+        field = models.ManyToManyField('UnicodeModel')
+        field.remote_field.through = UnicodeModel
+        with self.assertRaisesMessage(ValueError,
+                'ModelState.fields cannot refer to a model class - "field.through" does. '
+                'Use a string reference instead.'):
+            ModelState('app', 'Model', [('field', field)])
+
     def test_fields_immutability(self):
         """
         Tests that rendering a model state doesn't alter its internal fields.