“I love seeing the new babies born each spring, that’s the best part. I love all of it! It’s a package deal - the breeding, raising, and racing,”

emphasizes Joanne Colville enthusiastically.

Colville is the owner-operator of High Stakes Farm in Moffat and along with Seelster Farms, St. Lads Farm and Twinbrook Farms, will open their gates and farms this Sunday, May 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. for a special FREE Mother’s Day Open House event that is open to the general public. Most importantly, they will all be sharing their love of the horse, their anecdotes about their farms, and promoting standardbred breeding and racing in a positive way despite the challenges the industry is currently facing.

Here’s a snapshot of two of the participating farms:

High Stakes Farm in Moffat - Joanne Colville

Despite the demanding hours and tough manual labour, Joanne Colville, owner and operator of High Stakes Farm, can’t get enough of harness racing. “If you are not ready and willing to work 7 days a week, 20 hour days sometimes, it’s not for you,” she explains. “I always say, it’s either in your blood, or it’s not.”

In addition to running High Stakes Farm, a 30 acre facility specializing in breeding, boarding, and rehabilitation and racing stock, Joanne is the Administrator and Events Coordinator for the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society, Chair of the SC Sales Committee, is a COSA Board Member and is also involved in training 12 of her own horses out of Mohawk Racetrack.

High Stakes farm currently accommodates 15 farm-owned mares with 18 boarders, 13 yearlings, and 10 foals with 7 set to arrive later this spring. Colville has had many youngsters go on to race on the competitive Ontario circuit, including veteran pacer Pink Kangaroo with lifetime earnings in excess of $561,000. “There are stories behind each horse,” explains Colville. “It’s nice to see some of them succeed on track in a big way.”

Seelster Farms in Lucan – Ann Straatman, Reproduction Manager

Seelster Farms, a commercial breeding operation is owned by Cathy Van Bussel and Tina Van Boxmeer. They currently stand eight stallions including Camluck, a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and own approximately 75 broodmares. The farm encompasses approximately 600 acres, spread over five properties.

Cathy’s daughter, Ann Straatman, the reproduction manager at Seelster, is a third generation horse woman. Seelster was started by her grandfather and it was continued on by four siblings in the family including Ann’s father, Chris, her aunt Tina and uncles Jim and Gerry. After her father passed away Ann assumed most of his responsibilities and the transition was so smooth because her father had involved her in all facets of the operation.

Joining Straatman on the Seelster team are Walter Parkinson, assistant farm manager, Karen Favacho, Farm Manager and Tina Marie Howard, a Registered Veterinary Technician. This group oversees the entire breeding and farming operation.

Ann, who also contributes a lot of her time to different industry associations, including Standardbred Canada, has worked on the farm since she was nine years old and was always going out to the barn to help. “For all of us it has been for the love of horses…it is a joy to work here and we love what we do.”

Ontario’s horse racing and breeding industry employs close to 60,000 people. The industry contributes $2 billion into Ontario’s economy annually with 80% of that amount being spent in rural communities. There are over 2,500 Standardbred breeders in Ontario, and last year, there were over 4,000 foals born.

The Open House will give the general public an opportunity to see the mares and foals up close, pet a foal, see breeding and farm equipment, and talk with the people involved about a day in the life of a Standardbred breeder.

“Our goal is to give visitors a snapshot of Standardbred breeding and demonstrate the importance of the standardbred industry to the rural community and Ontario’s economy”, said Anna Meyers, president of the SBOA.

“We’ve designed an event that’s both fun and educational,” said Meyers. “This is a great opportunity for people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to visit a horse farm to connect with the horses and the people in the industry.”

The event, coordinated by Standardbred Canada and the SBOA is free to the general public.

All guests who visit any of the participating farms will receive a complimentary I Love Canadian Harness Racing package, which will include a brochure on the Ontario Standardbred Breeding Industry, an I Love Canadian Harness Racing gift as well as coupons and discounts for local racetracks.

Here is a complete list of the farms, addresses and contact information:

Seelster Farms

33618 Roman Line
R.R. # 3 Lucan, ON N0M 2J0
(40 minutes from London)
Tel 519-227-4294

St. Lads Farm

1078 Countryview Lane
Ruscom, ON N0R 1R0
(40 km east of Windsor)
Tel 519-975-2067

Twinbrook Farms

R. R. # 4 Embro, ON N0J 1J0
25 miles east of London, 3 miles north of Hwy #2 (Dundas St.)
Tel 519-475-4276

High Stakes Farm

9685 FIRST LINE
Moffat, ON L0P 1J0
(5 minutes from downtown Milton)
Tel 905-854-5074

(with files from the SBOA)