Raising Kanes’ Horses

Terri and Devon Kane engage in some friendly mother/daughter rivalry when it comes to choosing dressage horses for Diamante Farms, located in Wellington, Florida.

The first year they bought foals in Europe, they purchased two at the Oldenburg auction. Of the two, one was sold and one was kept as a possible FEI-level horse for Devon to ride.

“I picked one and Devon picked one,” Terri said. “Mine won.”

That winner, Jazz Diamante (Jazz-Royal Romantic, Rohdiamant), ridden by Devon recently placed first in the Developing Prix St. Georges at the Tryon Spring CDI3* and National Show in North Carolina. The 7-year-old Oldenburg gelding known as Jelly Bean and his rider earned a 70.588 percent.

“He’s just coming 7 this year, so he’s very young and he’s big,” she said of the 18-hand plus gelding. “He gets into those goofy, lanky growing stages. My plan was to get into the Prix St. Georges and start training him into the I-1 this year. If he’s growing too much and a little awkward and loses his balance in his body, then I’m going to back off. I’ll mix it up a little bit and do a little cross training with him. He loves his ground poles and cavalettis. We try to do that with him just so he can learn where his legs are. He’s really talented and a sweet boy. Next year, I think he’ll be ready for small tour. Everything is there, but when they are so talented, I don’t want to push too hard, too fast.”

The Kanes will return to Europe later this month to check out the horses they have in training there and to purchase some more, all while keeping Devon’s goals of bringing the best of them to the U.S.

“I have a few horses at Hubertus Schmidt’s [in Germany] and I might go over and train some on those guys, but it’s mostly a fun trip,” Devon said. “We are going to go see some of the babies and some of the recent purchases. Then, I have some 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds I have there that I need to go ride and evaluate to see which ones we are going to keep and bring home,  which ones are going to stay for a little while, and which ones will be sold. The ones I decide to bring over have to be what I think have FEI-quality potential. We bring over the really nice ones and I pick and choose as they grow.”

She loves working with the young horses. “For me, it’s so rewarding,” she said. “They learn how to go from walk to canter and you’re excited and the horses get excited about it too. They get so into it.”

Devon said that her mother is doing a good job choosing the foals.

“My mom is really into the breeding and foals,” she said. “I get to look at the videos and say, ‘Yeah, it’s nice,’ or ‘I don’t like that one,’ but she really does a lot of the picking and choosing and purchasing herself.”

Terri enjoys the challenge and works to learn what to watch for.

“It’s fun,” she said. “I’ve only bought one so far this year. The 7-year-olds were the first ones. Four years ago, we bought five. So, now we have three 4-year-olds, seven 2-year-olds and two 1-year-olds.”

Another winning Diamante Farms horse at the Tryon Spring Show was ridden by their assistant trainer, Keven Kohmann. Kevin and Winchester, a 9-year-old Hanoverian gelding (World of Dreams-Lady Fine, Furst Heinrich), captured the win in the Grand Prix Special with a 69.314 percent.

“We bought him as a 2-year-old coming 3,” Devon said of the gelding. “So that’s another success story.”