Diamante Farms has big plans for 18.9 acres purchased in the Little Ranches area of Wellington, Florida. Home base for USDF Gold Medalist and Grand Prix trainer Devon Kane and German gold medalist and master bereiter Kevin Kohmann, Diamante Farms is owned by Terri Kane and her daughter Devon.
The dressage facility will go from its current setup of a 21-stall barn set on 10 acres to a 38-stall barn on more than double the acreage, and will include an updated and enlarged barn, a covered riding arena, an outdoor dressage arena, a riding field, a large, tall round pen and a covered eight-horse walker with a center lunging area.
“It’s a useable layout and we don’t have any wasted space,” Devon said.
IDA Development of Wellington has been contracted for the job headed by architect Tasos Kokoris.
“We’re going Devon style,” Devon said of the plans, equipment and finishes. “We’ve really done our homework between looking around here and what we’ve seen in Europe with the barn plans, arenas and viewing decks. We kind of took the existing Helgstrand Dressage arena [also located in Wellington] and amplified it. We’ll have a two-story viewing deck. There will be lockers and a shower upstairs and an open entertaining area with a kitchen downstairs. I think it will be the only two-story viewing deck in Wellington.”
The structure will be constructed of pre-fabricated steel with a “skin” over the pillars. Arches and an airy feeling will complement the aesthetics. The arena footing will include the same underground watering system that Diamante has in their current covered arena. “About five or six years ago, we put in an underground bladder system and it waters from the bottom up,” Devon said. “It’s always even, we never have sprinkler heads breaking and it never messes up the spray.”
The existing barn will have the ceiling raised two feet on the sides and go up from there with skylights for added light, and some of the stalls are being removed to allow for increased air-flow. The horses will be able to safely see and interact with their neighbors to increase their feeling of well-being.
“The other thing that I think is really going to work well is we’ve taken the grooming areas and wash racks out of the barn,” Devon said. “You’ll have the two barn wings on either side and the middle barn areas where the work is being done. So, when the horses are in their sides and in their stalls, there is not so much hustle and bustle. I like having the business away from them and letting them have their own private areas. We saw that in a couple different places and it just makes sense to me.”
She added that the barn is designed with easy maintenance in mind so that surfaces are easy to clean, disinfect and power-wash. “Happy horses, quiet horses, easy maintenance. We are keeping the warmness of it and the stalls are beautiful, but it is going to be very easy to keep clean.”
Another feature will be an air-conditioned veterinarian treatment room that can also be converted into a stall. The area will be padded and have a floor drain. “If you have a sick horse or a horse with summer sores and you are about to go to a show, healing can happen if you put the horse in air-conditioning for a few days,” she said, noting that the climate control can help banish the effects of the South Florida humidity.
“The girls are going a little nuts and quality-wise they are doing everything the best,” Kevin said with a smile. “We learned a lot from the old barn functionality-wise. The beauty is in the simplicity. The style has changed in a good way.”
The facility’s covered walker will be outfitted with rubber mats as the footing. “An arm comes down from the ceiling so in the middle you have a 60-meter lunging area and on the outside the horses can walk,” he said.
“The indoor is going to be quite spectacular too,” he said, adding that there are even plans a small gym in the adjacent deck area. He also laughingly hinted there might be a margarita machine in the entertainment area.
More apartments will be added in addition to a three-bedroom house for Diamante staff. As the 2022 winter show season winds down, Devon and Kevin plan to sell their existing home and build a new one on the grounds near Terri. “It’s going to be a whole compound,” Kevin said.
Along with the added amenities for the trainers and their clients, the hope is that the increased barn capacity will allow some up-and-coming horses Diamante Farms has in training in Europe to also become Florida residents.
“We are looking forward to moving into our new home before the 2024 show season begins,” Terri Kane said. “We can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
