Diamante Farms trainer Devon Kane proved she is a force to be reckoned with in the dressage arena as a gold medal-winning Young Rider, and when she claimed the 2014 US Dressage Finals Championship at the Grand Prix level aboard her own Destiny, a 2003 Danish Warmblood gelding (Diamond Hit x Midt-West Regina).
Now she’s proving herself as a world-class trainer and coach. Kane leased Destiny to Micah Deligdish in the spring of 2019 and the rider’s dream of representing Israel in competition will come true this weekend as she and Destiny travel down centerline as members of Team Israel in the Nations Cup at the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF)10 CDIO3*.
Photo by Susan J. Stickle
“It’s really exciting,” Kane said. “I’m coaching her now. It adds to the excitement because I’ve had the horse since he was 4 and I trained him myself. I’m the only one who’s ever competed on him and now she’s doing a great job. I get to be the trainer of the horse and the trainer of the horse-and-rider combination. It’s a new chapter for me and it’s rewarding. I had tears in my eyes the first time they went down centerline.”
She was approached to lease Destiny to Deligdish because both riders are slim and petite and it seemed like a horse trained to Kane’s aids could be a possible match for Deligdish.
Photo by Susan J. Stickle
Deligdish quickly learned the aids and spent the summer polishing them, Then, this fall the rider and her trainer disassembled everything and worked on the fine-tuning.
“I feel like the first step was she just got on and I taught her to use this rein to do this and then go, go, go,” Kane said. “Now she has the confidence and now we work on really getting expression and quality into all of the lateral work and in the collected movements. So it’s about really riding the horse and the gaits.
Photo by Susan J. Stickle
“That’s been the amazing thing for me is watching the horse and I’m proud to be able to say, ‘Hey, I really did train him for someone else to get on and it works.’ It works perfectly. And for the most part, when she executes her position and her timing, he’s absolutely 110% there with her. It’s actually been interesting too, because he was always my dragon, and he was always a little fiery and a little sassy with me. Now he takes care of her but he’s a little sassy with her too.”
To learn more about the year-round training and boarding opportunities at Diamante Farms, go to diamantefarms.com or call us at 561.307.2831. Diamante Farms also specializes in personalized, boutique horse sales opportunities.
Photo by Susan J. Stickle.
