When Scarborough Community Services’ summer riding program at Kane Kountry Farm wraps up this week, a couple dozen more children will be added to the multi-generational list of those who have learned to ride and have gained a love all of things equine at the farm.
“Working with the horses, getting to understand their nature and needs and what it takes to care of these beautiful animals, as well as the thrill of riding them, make for amazing lifelong memories,” said Nicole Hall from Community Services.
The Burnham Road farm’s owner, Diane Kane, has offered riding lessons through Community Services for at least 15 years, Hall said. Each year, about 20 to 25 children register for the summer program.
“As someone who participated in horseback riding lessons through Community Services in my youth, I can attest to how much fun this program can be,” Hall added.
“Kane Kountry Farm fits like a glove. The barn is just down the road from us. It’s easy to find, is well-kept and managed (and) it’s obvious Diane loves what she does,” she said.
Owned and operated by Diane Kane, the Burnham Road farm includes several riding rings and a dressage barn. It also boasts the only certified U.S. Pony Club in Maine. She owns eight horses, which her students and Pony Club members are allowed to ride, and also boards horses owned by others.
Kane grew up around horses, spending a lot of time learning to ride and to care for them on her grandmother’s 100-acre farm in Westbrook. She and her husband purchased the horse farm in 1976, but it wasn’t until she retired from working for a variety of phone companies in 1999 that Kane began working with the horses full time.
Julia House, 13, is a member of the Pony Club at the Kane Country Farm and has been riding with Kane for the past five years, starting out as a participant in the summer program. (The Pony Club does not refer to the horses, but the age of the rider; a pony in this context is any horse that a rider under the age of 24 rides in competition, according to Kane.),
House said what she enjoys most about riding at Kane Kountry Farm is the exposure to the various disciplines, from dressage to jumping to cross country.
“Horses are such amazing animals and I love that, when riding and taking care of them, there is always something new to learn,” she added.
House’s mother, Nancy, said she most likes that Kane “also teaches the care and keeping of horses. She allows Julia to come out to the barn to help out all day during the summer, and Julia has learned so much from those experiences. Diane has also really helped us bring along our own horse as well, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without her.”
During a recent Pony Club Show Jumping Rally at the Lupine Farm in Vassalboro, the team from the Kane Kountry Farm took second place both in the overall competition and in the horse management portion of the event.
For Kane, having her students win ribbons for riding is great, but what she’s most proud of is teaching them to take good care of the horses and learning the different areas of horsemanship.
The teens who participate in the Pony Club and volunteer their time at the horse farm each summer couldn’t agree more.
Gina Carbone, a sophomore at Scarborough High School, said what she most enjoys is “just being with the horses and learning their personalities. It’s just fun to get to know them all.”
Her favorite horse in the barn is Cosette, who’s barn name is Rosie Pony.
Grace Keenan, an eighth-grader at Scarborough Middle School, said what she likes most is jumping.
“When you’re jumping, it’s almost like flying. It’s so cool,” she said.
Like the other girls, though, Keenan, also enjoys the process of getting to know the horses and learning how to groom them and take care of them properly.
Because Kane keeps the summer program’s enrollment low, said Hall, of Community Services, she can provide “a much more personalized program.”
“Even though we get new participants each year, we also see students return year after year, (and) I think that speaks volumes to the quality of the program,” Hall said.
Hall said that when people think of the recreation programs offered through Community Services, many believe it only offers traditional sports, like basketball, soccer or football.
“They forget about all of the other unique, non-sports programs we offer, like theater and art camps, music camps, LEGO Robotics and of course, horseback riding lessons,” she said.
Kane thoroughly enjoys offering the riding lessons, but she gets the most fun out of riding when she participates as a member of the Wentworth Hunt Club in the late summer and fall. The members don’t actually hunt fox, but instead lay trails through fields and forests with fox scent that the hounds and horses can then follow.
At 64, Kane said that sooner or later she may have to give up running the horse farm because it’s such “a big physical job.” But even though she’s thought about hiring a barn manager, Kane hasn’t done it yet because she would miss the daily contact with the horses too much.
While Scarborough is becoming more and more developed, Kane said, people in town “are still very much interested in the horse arts. I fully believe in riding for fun. I also think riding is such a self-esteem boosting sport.”
Diane Kane, owner of the Kane Kountry Farm in Scarborough, riding one of her horses, Hannah, in a dressage event.
Amy Cutler, a former riding student at the Kane Country Farm in Scarborough, competing on the farm’s stallion, Our Jeff’s Ladd.
Diane Kane with one of her horses, Hannah, whose barn name is Comfy.
Diane Kane shows riding student Gina Carbone how to properly handle a piece of tackle.
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