Diamont temperaments

[Kalila]

I ride a Hanoverian gelding by Diamont, and I’m just wondering if perhaps his temperament is common among other Diamont offspring.

Dartanyun is a real hoot, probably the most playful horse I ever encountered. Which is funny, because he’s a massive guy. He loves to play with hair when you are leading him, or just when you happen to pass underneath his nose. He loves to pick things up too. The other day I was leading him inside and he picked up a shovel outside the door to the barn, and started to wave it around. He’s also done this to brooms, lunge whips, and manure forks. He’s even learned how to chase his paddock-mate, an unraced TB gelding, with a lunge whip. They both also fight over a jolly ball in their paddock and have learned to fling it around.

This guy will do almost anything for a treat! His owner has trained him to bow now by putting a treat between his front hooves. She also taught him how to self-stretch in the crossties a la Zenyatta. He broke his cannon and his shoulder as a young horse with his one of his previous owners, and then the last owner let him sit in paddock all winter afterwards, and he got really stiff in his shoulder. So the now current owner, she would always stretch him in crossties when she first got him to get him supple, and afterwards give him a treat. Now he just does it himself, expecting a treat afterwards. It’s pretty cute to see him self-stretch.

The only time he gets pissy with someone is if he isn’t worked consistently, or if he doesn’t have full water buckets. He’ll pin his ears like crazy if his water bucket isn’t full. And who’s to blame him? :lol: He a joy to ride, and even though he isn’t the best jumper in the world, he’ll never say no to a fence.

Anyone else have experiences with Diamont offspring?

[Sonesta]

I’ve had three Diamont mares and all three have been wonderful, wonderful horses.

[arabiansrock]

My barn owner has a diamont son (gelding). He too is very playful. At a show once we were doing show set up and were going to take a break. My son opened up a folding chair, set it down (in front of said geldings stall), then turned around and went to sit. Ooops, gelding had grabbed chair and pulled it right out from under my son! Who promptly hit the ground with a WTF look on his face. And I swear the horse was laughing!!!

[genevieveg17]

I have a Diamont daughter, Delimain (aka Delephant). She is an amazing mare that is definitely the boss mare in a herd.
She is smart, gorgeous, massive and she has a sense of humor. Incredibly loyal and bonded to her human, thankfully that is me!
I cherish her and can not imagine not having her in my life and on my farm.

[Perfect_Pony]

I have known many, many Diamont offspring. Every single one was very sweet and had a wonderful temperament and personality. Every last one was massive and not sound a day I knew them. All were retired before or around the age of 10.

I understand he ultimately made a nice broodmare sire.

[goodpony]

When I met my husband he had a aged Diamont gelding that did everything (HJ, Eventing, Dressage, Fox Hunting). The horse won every event he was ever entered in and was regularly ridden into his twenties. He was the ideal husband horse. We also had a Diamont grand daughter who was an AHS Elite Mare–she was the kindest broodmare anyone could ever want. She adopted all of my ponies as her own little herd and watched over and protected all of them like they were her own foals. She was a hop on and go anywhere perfect Sunday horse.

[CrowneDragon]

My experience with them has differed from the above, and I have heard from others that they have a reputation for a difficult temperament (balky, resistant). I’m glad there are some better stories out there!
To be fair, the only ones I got to ride were expressly because they had temperament issues that needed to be rectified, so I may not be the most unbiased.

[clint]

I had a Diamont mare who was successful in just about everything, hunters, eventing, and dressage. She is now a husband horse, well into her 20s, and has always been solid as a rock on the trail. I have a mare out of a Diamont mare, always sound, no shoes, and now 19. Both of them were easy to be around, although being mares, they were a little more serious and weren’t as playful as OP’s horse.

[Beentheredonethat]

I knew a LOT of Diamont horses back in the day. Generally they were known for being lazy and balky as Crowne described. You could always tell them in the ring because they were being kicked along and barely moving their asses. They were known for not being able to get beyond a certain level because they didn’t want to work.

That said, we bought one at the Glenwood auction that was the funniest horse I’ve ever known. He was 18.1, short-legged, and looked like a cow with his hip bones sticking out. He was hysterically funny.

He was into EVERYTHING. I would always find a foot in a bucket or stepping on something. You’d tie him up and come back, and he had a foot in a bucket, or lifted on top of a hay bale or something. I finally watched him one time, and he would just back up, lifting his foot up until he could get it on or into something–always. He would play with all locks and let himself out of the stall many times, and then started letting friends out. I had him in a paddock once, and kept hearing this “twaaaang!” He had grabbed a manure fork, put it on the ground, was standing on the handling, and twanging it with his lips. He used to love to sniff the cats and let the hairs tickle his nose. One time the cat turned and clawed him in the nose, so he delicately grabbed the cat by the scruff and dropped her down.

He was the biggest woose ever, and everybody pushed him around. We’d put his ears back as a joke because it was such an unnatural position. He knew all of his “peeps” and the sound of their cars. If you came to the barn and didn’t immediately come to him, he’s start throwing a ruckus. I can’t tell you how many ball toys he popped by standing on them.

He was VERY funny. He was the heaviest horse I’ve ever ridden when we got him–he was a training level “champion.” I couldn’t even turn his neck. By the time his owner went off to college, he was working 4th level and you could ride him on a pinky. He was actually very talented and moved beautifully.

[MysticOakRanch]

[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;6823926]
I knew a LOT of Diamont horses back in the day. Generally they were known for being lazy and balky as Crowne described. .[/QUOTE]

Yeah, as another Nor-Cal person, same here. Back in the Glenwood days, we saw a lot of the Diamont horses, and they tended to be BIG and with a stubborn streak or a fighting streak. Of course, there were many exceptions to that - I even know of a tiny, hot mare that was the polar opposite of the “stereotypical” Diamont - great work ethic, but very fearful. They tended toward nice necks, but a bit lacking behind. Some were lovely movers. The stubborn streak seemed to breed out after another generation, as the Diamont mares (notorious for their difficult personalities, hahaha) were valued as broodmares. But there were so many exceptions to that rule - just as there were so many different mares bred to him.

[Spectrum]

I have a lovely Diamont mare. Her previous owner got her for a song because as a youngster she was overridden by her owner and soured. The gal I bought her from got her mostly worked through her issues, then leased her to a JR/YR who made all the problems come back. I had her for a year and initially found her difficult to get forward. I discovered over time that with her “less is more.” If you ask lightly she leaps off the leg and has a terrifically awesome work ethic. However if you nag with the leg she will be a total cow and will literally get slower and slower until she stops. She is extremely sensitive to sounds, which if you do some research on the D-line is a common trait. So she works best in environments with lots going on (such as horse shows) or if the radio is on in the ring at home, as the constant noise prevents her from being startled. She’s very intelligent, an extremely hard worker now that I have her “figured out” and is also quite the treat hound. If there were still young Diamont mares available I’d snap one up if I could find one. My only regret about this mare is that I didn’t get a filly out of her!

Our first time showing recognized at 2nd level the judge wrote on our test, “This mare has the collection to go all the way!”

[Perfect_Pony]

[QUOTE=MysticOakRanch;6824647]
they tended to be BIG and with a stubborn streak or a fighting streak. [/QUOTE]

All the ones I knew could have been described as that, they were certainly kicked and beaten around and thought to be “stubborn”, but in the end they were just lame.

[Spectrum]

[QUOTE=Perfect Pony;6832106]
All the ones I knew could have been described as that, they were certainly kicked and beaten around and thought to be “stubborn”, but in the end they were just lame.[/QUOTE]

Hmm… Mine was totally sound and is now still working at age 20.

She does have a very decided sense of “fairness.” She is fine being disciplined, but if she feels she’s being unfairly treated I could see her being described as “stubborn” if she was misunderstood. Put another way, if she won’t do something she generally has a really good reason for it, which eventually becomes obvious. Perhaps when she was younger this is what led to her being soured by her first owner (who btw dumped both her and her TB mother at the previous owner’s farm and said, “You take them, I hate them, and we’ll work out a price later.”).

Once I developed an understanding with my mare, she’s been amazing to work with. A couple summers ago she stepped on a 4" long nail that went into her foot about 2", at an angle, just missing the coffin bone. She quietly allowed me to remove the nail and thoroughly clean it, soak it, bandage it for weeks while on stall rest (and she HATES being inside) all without complaint the entire time. I’ve dealt with the PITA of soaking feet many times, and she was far and above the best-behaved about it.

So while she has certainly had her moments during her lifetime, I would take another 5 of her if I could get them, knowing how she turned out at the end.

BTW, I put my husband on her on the longe and when he bounced all over the place all she did was stop, turn her head around to look at him as if to say, “What on EARTH are you doing up there?!” Truly an awesome husband horse at this point. My dear (non-horsey) husband said, “She’ll be great for our daughter in a couple of years.” My response was, “Yes, if our daughter wasn’t 3 and she wasn’t 16.3.” LOLOL.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=Perfect Pony;6832106]
All the ones I knew could have been described as that, they were certainly kicked and beaten around and thought to be “stubborn”, but in the end they were just lame.[/QUOTE]

Neither of the geldings that I worked with the most had any soundness problems. One was 4 or 5 years old and was sound as a bell, and had never gotten past the greenie stage because he bucked (HARD and a lot) if he was pushed even the teensiest bit. He would throw the same fits on the longe. He did not want to work. He came across as dim and easily confused. His owner was terrified to ride him and the vet couldn’t find one single thing wrong with him. I finally got him going and I think his owner gave him away.

The other was a little older and had shown through at least 3rd-4th level and was completely shut down. He didn’t want to go forward for love nor money, and would rear if you pressed the issue. I was riding him when I was an assistant trainer and I think he was sold on to someone unsuspecting once I had him going.

They were both what I think of as classic Diamont get; big blocky head, bay with hardly a speck of white, and built like a brick house.

[prudence]

Thank you for reminding me of my Diamont gelding, gone but not forgotten. There is a video making its was around of a “Houdini” horse. Duncan was just like that, right down to letting all the other horses out of their stalls and opening the big barn doors for a playtime. Sound too and he completed 13 50 mile endurance rides after the age of 19. Diamont himself was something to behold when all fluffed up and showing off. He was bred to a ton of mares of all qualities so predictably some offspring might not be so terrific. I am a big fan and know that the goofy behavior well but also the great heart.

[out_west]

I had an awesome Diamont mare years ago. Bought her as a small 2 yo (15.1), and ended with a 16.3 powerhouse. Born on the bit, very forward, never sucked back. Not difficult except that while young her favorite dressage move was the bolt across the diagonal. I don’t remember a single off step ever. Her life was cut short by the third severe colic.