In Germany, living in the heartland of the Hanoverian horse, Holger and Melanie had been breeding Warmblood horses with much success, resulting in exports to several European countries and the United States.

Melanie’s declining health made it necessary to move to a warmer climate.

With much ado the big move with seven horses was made via England to Australia.

Among many successful performance horses they produced the Performance Class 1 stallion ‘Daktylus’ (Diskus/Absatz/)and the performance mare ‘Averara’ (Absatz/Wohlan), top-priced horse at the Verden Elite Spring Auction in 1978.

Breeding world class sport horses defines Kinnordy Stud’s aims.

“This can only be achieved by combining the most successful German and other European Warmblood lines and infusing ‘outside’ genes, such as Thoroughbred”, says Holger, Kinnordy’s principal.

To lay the foundation for their breeding operation in Australia, the Schmorls brought with them:


The genetically solid mares:

* State Premium Mare ‘Wolfsangel’ (Wolfsburg/Absatz).
* ‘Gold Song’ (Goldstern - Gotthard/Lateran), going back to Amateur (Gotthard’s               maternal sire) in the third generation and the dam side.
* the legendary ‘Gina’ (Goldstein – Gotthard – Goldfisch II/Pik Koenig – Abhang III – Goldfisch II – Gotthard).

And the stallions:

* ‘Winterkoenig’ (Woermann, grandsire of Weltmeyer/Pik Koenig), with the three-fold cross of the famous F and W lines.
* ‘Daktylus’ (Diskus/Absatz), so obviously influenced by the charm from the blood on his dam side, Absatz, Monitor xx and Zephyr ox.

A number of well conformed and genetically interesting thoroughbred mares were integrated in the broodmare herd. In order to broaden the program the following stallions were added:

* the noble ‘Silky Baby’ ( USA) xx (What A Pleasure/Bold Ruler), a superb representative of the Nearco xx line, in 1987.
* ‘Graf Landau’ (Genever – Gotthard/Wendekreis), imported in 1992, representing again the powerful Gotthard – Goldfisch line, and Wendekreis, Goetz, Futurist on the dam side, blending in perfectly with the foundation laid earlier.
* ‘Gymnastik Star’ (Glueckspilz/Calypso II – Cor de la Bryere), with Gotthard on both the dam and sire side, imported 1998.
* ‘River Dance’ (Rubinstein/Atatuerk), imported in 2002.
* ‘Grand Ouverte’ (Graf Landau/Winterkoenig), the first non-imported stallion, licensed by the Hanoverian Commission in Sydney 1999 and standing at stud since 2003.
* ‘Danzante’ (De Niro/Weltmeyer), imported in 2004, again linking valuable genes to those of our foundation sires.
* 'Rivaldo' (River Dance/Winterkoenig), first season at stud 2007, a young stallion with spectacular presence.


( Right: Holger Schmorl & Friedrich Jahncke, former president of the Hanoverian Verband, during an Inspection Tour in 1995. Holger was president of the Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia from its foundation in 1993 until 2003.)

In a move to pool highly talented and well-conformed Warmblood horses for all equestrian sports, the stud’s breeding is combining the most successful W, D, R. and G lines which led to much success.

The stallion ‘D’Artagnan' (Daktylus/Goldstein) was exported to the US to become the only Australian-bred horse, licensed and performance tested for the inclusion into the Hanoverian Studbook (top right).

At the age of eight the stallion started a showjumping career back in Australia, winning at Grand Prix level and reaching World Cup level within two years.

‘Wiking’ (Winterkoenig/Field Officer xx) was the first and still is the only Australian-bred Warmblood horse to win at FEI level dressage in Europe. Ridden by Nancy French, he also represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games in Rome, 1998. (Bottom right)

For other successful horses see Competition Results

Mares by ‘Winterkoenig’, ‘Daktylus’, ‘Silky Baby xx’ and ‘Graf Landau’ are now extremely valuable broodmares and produce successful progeny in competition on the highest national and international levels in dressage, eventing and show jumping.

‘Gymnastik Star’ has made his mark already with his progeny in the competition circle and is one of the most talked-about stallion in Australasia.

‘River Dance’ progeny started their competition careers only in 2005 but have shown their fantastic temperament & trainability at the early stages of their education, and “Danzante’ took everyone’s breath at his first presentation at Kinnordy. His first foals were born in 2005 and are of superior quality.

As breeders, Holger and Melanie are thinking in generations, following the principles of careful selection and bloodline breeding and are proud to see the constant ‘Zuchtfortschritt’ (breeding progression) in their horses.

As a result, Kinnordy horses combine boldness and athleticism with ride-ability and softness, boasting correct conformation, extravagant movement and good temperament.

Fom 1999 Kinnordy Stud held annual Auctions of Elite Horses until 2006.

In order to provide prospective clients with a higher level of personalised service, Kinnordy Stud is advertising the sale of horses in various horse publications and displays with videoclips on this website.