Diamante Farms tests marriage in the dressage arena

Running a business with your spouse can be a challenge in itself, but husband and wife team, Devon Kane and Kevin Kohmann, have recently added to that equation by competing against each other in the dressage ring at the top level of the sport.

“It’s definitely interesting because we both train out of here also,” Devon said from their base at Diamante Farms – now located at a stunning location in Little Ranches.  “We spend like 23 hours a day together. We’re also both very competitive and this will be the first year that we’re really competing against each other [at Global Dressage Festival] and so far, it’s been great.”

Recently there was a plot twist as Devon and Kevin both represented the USA at the Global Dressage Festival competing alongside teammates, Jennifer Wiliams and Erin Nichols, against four other visiting countries in the FEI CDIO3* Nations Cup. The Dutta Corp US Dressage team claimed Silver, behind Germany’s Gold medals. Kane and Vamos took fifth with Kevin and Guiletta landing sixth.

Dressage was not Devon’s first equestrian discipline. Growing up in Texas began with Western and pleasure riding with her mother Terri Kane. They shared the same interest in horses, although her father never rode – but loved to watch.  When Devon was 10, the pair started in the Jumpers. But some falls off some less-than-ideal straight off-the-track Thoroughbreds resulting in a broken jaw for Devon and a shattered elbow for her mom. These experiences almost prompted Devon to quit riding completely, until she found dressage.

“I decided that I wanted to be around the horses, but I wasn’t sure how,” she said. “So, we found a dressage barn. At that point I was scared. So, we figured this is a good place to start just basics, flat work. And then, as I got past being afraid, I really enjoyed the whole process and program of dressage.”

The original Diamante Farms was the name of their first horse barn in Texas. Devon’s father Richard earned the nickname Diamonds from his friends when he was growing up “because he was flashy and I guess you could say he had expensive taste,” Devon said of her dad who earned several truck dealerships in the state.  “He never rode, but he enjoyed the horses, and he definitely enjoyed seeing me and my mom with the horses.”

Once Devon discovered dressage, she did not look back. She trained with some top names in the sport, firstly with Olympic bronze medalist Michelle Gibson and also with the legendary Hubertus Schmidt, who has come to Wellington to give clinics at Diamante Farms. She has also trained with Swedish Dressage Team Chef d’Equipe Bo Jena. Currently Devon trains in Florida with the renowned Danish dressage rider and trainer Lars Peterson.

Diamante Farms is now based at a purpose-built, stunning facility that was completed about a year ago. Both Devon and Kevin Devon and Kevin – who met some 15 years ago, when he was recommended to help her with a horse and married six years later – used their years of experience to come up with a layout and equestrian facilities that look beautiful but also make sense.

“We really took a lot of ideas from everywhere we’ve been,” said Devon. “And tried to put it all together in one location. Our old barn [on Indian Mound Road] was beautiful. It was very glamorous and elegant, but it wasn’t always the most functional. Our design is for the horses and for us to be able to keep track of the horses and manage the horses as easily as possible.”

Having moved into their new home at the beginning of the year, progress for the couple did not stop there. Kevin began to make waves in the competition ring aboard Diamante Farms’ 2009 Hanoverian gelding (Dancier x Doublette) Dünensee. Kevin became a US citizen in 2022 and last year at the Global Dressage Festival they won the individual gold medal while representing his newly adopted country in his second Nations Cup.

“That was super. I’m speechless right now,” he said afterwards. “I’m really, really thrilled. It’s the second time I rode in a Nations Cup for the United States, and I have tears. It feels so good. It feels right.”

Devon – whose two Grand Prix horses, 13-year-old Westphalian gelding, Vamos, and 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare, Giulietta, both had the season off – was there to give support. “Kevin got to do his first five-star CDI last year at Global,” said Devon.  “And then he qualified for the World Cup. Then we went to the World Cup in April. It was a big year. We had a lot of firsts going on.”

In the summer Devon’s competition also ramped up. At one point the World Cup rankings in the North American League showed Kevin ranked first and Devon ranked second. The rankings shuffled around as the pair continued to compete, but they stayed hovering at the top of the leaderboard. “We thought this is really cool, let’s see how far we can get,” said Devon.

It was at Devon last Fall that the couple really became the talk of the showground. “When we showed at Devon, this fall, everyone was so excited,” Devon said. “Because we both placed and they were announcing, you know, that the other half of the husband wife team is now here. I don’t think you have a lot of couples in the industry and certainly not a lot of couples that are competing at that level, at the same time.”

Though they are in direct competition with each other in the ring, outside of the ring there is a mutual appreciation and exchange of encouragement. “We’re competitive and we push each other,” said Devon. “I want him to do his very best and if his very best is better than mine, then it should be, you know?”

They also have a special ritual that might leave onlookers guessing. “We have our own little routines,” she said. “He always gives me a kiss before I get on the horse. When he’s getting on the horse, his horse gets a kiss on the nose and then he gets a kiss.”

This winter in Wellington Devon and Kevin start a whole new chapter. “This will be the first season that we both have similar goals and we’re gonna be competing a lot against each other,” she said. “Now we have three horses that are showing in the CDI Grand Prix. He has one and my two.”

They may be rivals in the dressage arena, but they also benefit from each other’s input outside of competition. “It actually works well because both have different focuses,” Devon said. “He’s a six-foot tall man and I’m a five-foot two girl. We clearly ride a little bit differently. We have the same theories – the same school of thinking. But I can’t do everything that he can do, and he can’t do everything I can do. So, we have learned to kind of play off of each other like that.

“He’s very good at Pirouettes. He’s very good at packaging the horse well and presenting it in the show arena really well.  I think I’m better at changes and half passes than he is. He can sometimes get more of the extended gates than I can. Piaffe and passage, we’re both quite talented at, we just have a little different techniques again because of our size and what physical capabilities we have. It’s just interesting, because every now and then there’ll be a horse that we approach just a little bit differently, and it’s just a different set of eyes and hands on the horse, so it’s always helpful. Every time he sits on one of mine and I watch, and I learn something or he gives me some feedback, it’s really useful.”

The team spirit and camaraderie extend beyond just Devon and Kevin to the rest of the community at the barn. “Everyone’s really supportive of each other,” Devon said. “Our clients are very encouraging of our goals and our professionalism within the sport is well. We have a really good team between our employees and our owners and our clients. I think also we were lucky to add Katie Riley to our team five years ago. That’s been huge because now she’s comfortable in our system and our team is comfortable with her. So, when we both leave for a show, she can handle it and our clients are happy to work with her. “We’ve been in the sport for 20 years or something. You put in the groundwork, you did your homework, and you paid your dues, and now it feels like everything is starting to fall in place.”

As in any barn, dogs are a staple element, and Devon has three – named after the motor racing industry to reflect Kevin’s love of cars and Devon’s upbringing. “We’re a truck family,” she said. “And then my husband is very into cars and he’s also kind of like a motorhead. He’s from Germany, but he’s one of the most American ‘rednecky’ people I’ve ever met.”

So, there is Shelby, named after Mustang designer. Carroll Shelby, Enzo – from Enzo Ferrari, and then one named Isetta, after the tiniest BMW ever made. “It’s hilarious because she’s all four pounds of crazy. This dog is like this car – the tiniest craziest thing,” said Devon.

While a sense of humor clearly pervades the Diamante Farm ethos, there is also a degree of gravitas. “We take it very, very seriously. I mean very seriously,” said Devon. “We want to be the best at what we do. But at the same time, we’re not over serious with it either. We’re laughing while we’re riding, we’re making fun of each other, we have the music playing, we try not to take ourselves too seriously. And the horses reflect that, they do. They like it. They can tell the difference when you’re laughing or smiling, versus just sitting there with a frown on your face, so we are always trying to encourage that positive atmosphere for everyone.”