Spruce Lane Farm is over 100 years old and is an historical attraction at the beautiful Bronte Creek Provincial Park bordering Oakville and Burlington, ON. The yard is populated with pigs and chickens and the farmhouse is furnished and decorated in late Victorian style. Staff and volunteers dress in period costumes during its farm tours that run from May through September.
But there was something missing from the farmland surrounding Spruce Lane: horses.
“We run this farm as a period farm but to have the full historical effect, we needed horses,” said Andrew Cirtwill, the education leader at BCPP.
Cirtwill started with a couple of Haflinger ponies for the 2014 summer season, but when their owners moved away, Cirtwill was horseless and sought the help of the Ontario horse community. Enter Wild J J and Ice Bridge, two very cool former racehorses who had recently completed a summer season with Hooked on Horses, a camp in Markham, ON.
“I knew very little about racehorses and I had heard rumours of them being strong-willed and so much larger,” said Cirtwill. “But these two are a pleasure to be around.”
Wild J J was a speed-crazy 2-year-old in 2001 when he debuted. He won a maiden allowance race at Fort Erie by 5 ½ lengths for Vince Kerrio and Ralph Biamonte. The fast bay gelding won three more races over the next three years, including one off the claim by owner John Atto before he was unable to compete even for claiming. The gelding found his way to a foster farm owned by Mary Goncalves through LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society.
It was there that Wild J J became paddock buddies with Ice Bridge a few years later. A British-bred gelding, Ice Bridge was a $150,000 yearling purchase by Sam-Son Farms in 2003 and he raced four times before he had to be retired.
The two geldings arrived at Spruce Lane in May and have enjoyed their own summer vacation while entertaining kids and visitors to the popular park.
“They always come to the fence to greet the public,” said Cirtwill, who cares for the geldings with a small staff. “They are outside from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. after they are fed and groomed.”
Once or twice a week, the geldings are involved in a full-dress demonstration of what life was like for the Spruce Lane Farm’s original owner at the turn of the century.
“We dress in full period costumes and invite the public to join us in doing some of the chores on the farm. That includes looking after the horses, which were important to families for many things during that time.”
These “Hands-On Heritage” summer programs visitors get to participate in interactive heritage skills such as grooming and feeding and handling the horses.
“They didn’t really know what to make of the other animals,” said Cirtwill. “Meeting the cows was certainly interesting. Ice Bridge is the very curious one of the pair. When he hears a new noise he is always the one who is quickly at the fence to make sure everything is okay.”
Ice Bridge and Wild J J are only on loan to Spruce Lane so will return to their foster home once the summer season is over, but Cirtwill hopes that former racehorses will be a permanent fixture at Spruce Lane Farm in the future.
“It’s a nice summer retreat for them and they fit in well here at Spruce Lane.
