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Signature Property - Dicavalli Stud

As seen in the October 2018 edition of Horse Deals Magazine


For some years now, our interest in Dicavalli has grown along with the increasing number of beautiful Dicavalli horses successful in the show ring. Then in 2015 when Dicavalli Diesel won the CCI 2 at the Adelaide International Horse Trials, we were really interested in the stud that produced not only beautiful horses but athletic jumpers as well. The boutique stud is a labor of love for its founders, Diane and Henry George and the stud name literally means, Di’s horses. After Brisbane Royal, Horse Deals took the opportunity to visit Dicavalli at Mt Samson about 35 minutes north of Brisbane.

Both Diane and Henry come from the UK and Di rode as a girl. “My grandfather was into racehorses and I rode a Clydesdale that lived next to my grandmother. I came out to Australia in 1969, started a secretarial company and got involved in the corporate world.” During that time, Di met Henry who came out to Australia from Yorkshire to set up the quantity surveying company, Rider Levett Bucknall (formerly Rider Hunt). In Brisbane, Henry was Managing Director of the company from 1962 to 2002. Mt Samson may well be the home of Di’s horses, but it is also the home to Henry’s budgies. Along with the horses, Henry’s passion is breeding budgerigars and he literally travels the country and the world judging them and has been awarded an OAM for his work with them, along with his general contribution to the community. Henry’s aviary is a sight to behold.

“I wanted a sea change and was keen to start riding again,” continues Di, “and someone put me in touch with Bev Edwards. I went out there to Bev most mornings before I went to work and she was very good for me. She was very strict and I was dead keen. We bought a couple of horses from Bev and John and I still have two mares here. I said to Henry at the time that if I was going to get back in to horses, I wanted to do it properly; buy a property and go to Germany to source horses. So in 1998 we went to Germany and the Vechta sales and bought four colt foals from proven bloodlines and seven mares.”

The stallions, now sadly deceased, Donautraum by Donnerhall, Royal Rubin and Royal Gregor by Royal Diamond and Aladdin by Alabaster. Royal Diamond is by Rubinstein, so principally Donnerhall and Rubinstein bloodlines with the mares adding the likes of Sandro Hit and De Niro to the heady mix of the best of German dressage horse breeding. That we have mostly, but not exclusively seen the Dicavalli horses in the show ring and not the dressage arena is the fault of their good looks and good temperaments.

“We bought the horses from the great horse breeder, Werner Schockemohle, the brother of showjumpers Alwin and Paul and he was a very nice man. We made a lot of good friends in Germany. The youngsters came out here in December 1998 and I was as green as grass. They were good foals and I learned very quickly what to do and not to do with them. It all went from there and at one stage here we had 40 horses on the property. I had helpers of course, a succession of university students, but basically I did all the work myself and I was passionate about them. You learn a lot about horses when you are constantly handling them. You learn that their behavior is a direct result of how they have been handled and trained.

“We have cut back now from 40 acres to 13 ½ acres, but we will breed a few a year for as long as we possibly can. I made the decision some time ago to look after them rather than ride them and I wish now that I had kept riding, but I could not see myself doing both. The horses are my passion and I would be lost without them.”

Story: Anna Sharpley.
Photos: Julie Wilson.

Photo Above: Firstly the stables were built, then the aviary and finally the house. Henry and Di built the house and incorporated ideas they had seen during their international travels, including this inviting Roman like pool.

Di and Henry with Dicavalli Darcy (Donatraum/Alabaster mare).

Di and Henry with Dicavalli Darcy (Donatraum/Alabaster mare).


This aerial photo shows Dicavalli then and now. The stud included the arena, dam and stable block adjacent to the arena and went further over to the left hand side. The drive to the far left belongs to the neighbours who bought the subdivided land who built a house near the arena. The small white building near the main house was the original stable block when Henry and Di bought the property. The aviary is at the bottom left hand side near the dam.

The view from the road looking across the paddock to the house.

The view from the road looking across the paddock to the house.


A view from the house down through the paddocks to the arena beyond. The arena has been subdivided off the original 40 acres of Dicavalli. Both Di and Henry regretted that our visit coincided with a bad drought. "It is usually very green here" they lamented.


The new barn and centre of operations. A horse wash on the left hand side and a mare crush on the right hand side. Di often entertains out here and the BBQ is at the ready when needed.

Storage space for tack and rugs etc. in the tack room.

Storage space for tack and rugs etc. in the tack room.


Just a few of Henry's trophies with birds below. Henry had won the National Budgerigar title 42 times.


The 15m diameter round yard with Di's new two box barn beyond. The original stables went with the subdivision. "We have nine horses on the property now, says Di and they are all very happy living out."

Henry with three lovely fillies. This photo gives a real indication of the happy life at Dicavalli.

Henry with three lovely fillies. This photo gives a real indication of the happy life at Dicavalli.


The horse paddocks come right up to the house garden. There is no sign of fence chewing.

Geometric pattern English Box hedges and carefully clipped topiary give form and elegance to the garden.

Geometric pattern English Box hedges and carefully clipped topiary give form and elegance to the garden.


As the dam went with the subdivision, Di is currently buying water every ten days. All the nine horses are monitored for water intake and the water buckets and troughs are cleaned and filled up every day. "I want to know how much water they are drinking" says Di.


The timber and sighter wire fencing is in very good order despite no electric fencing. There was no evidence of any fence chewing, for which Di and Henry had no answer, other than "well fed, happy horses." This lane way led to the arena beyond.

A beautiful foal.

A beautiful foal.

Royal Gregor and a Donatraum colt enjoying life at Dicavalli.

Royal Gregor and a Donatraum colt enjoying life at Dicavalli.

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