Mega horse sports show
“This event deserves not to die”
Europe's largest indoor horse event, the "Amadeus Horse", begins on Thursday. It takes place in Salzburg, but has been saved by Wenzel Schmidt in 2023. The entrepreneur from Ried talks about the loss-making 2.4 million-euro event, therapeutic riding and his relationship with horses.
Krone: Mr. Schmidt, do you actually know how horses breathe?
Wenzel Schmidt: Just like humans - right?
No. They only breathe through their nose, as their epiglottis separates the oral and nasal cavities, so they can't breathe through their mouth. The question was actually meant to allude to the fact that you breathed new life into the Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg - Europe's largest indoor equestrian event. How did this come about?
After the former organizer died suddenly in 2022 and left behind legacy issues, his son asked me to restructure the family's equestrian business. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out as I had hoped. As a result, I was left with a riding facility in Lamprechtshausen, which I had registered as security for my investment, and nobody knew what would happen to the event in Salzburg, which had been running since 2005. However, as I am a horse lover and the event deserved not to die, I stepped in as the new organizer at short notice last year. Although this is still associated with insane problems.
Well, we need a budget of 2.4 million euros for the Amadeus Horse Indoors. We have no problems with spectators, no problems with VIPs, no problems with the totally sold-out horse and equestrian sports fair, but we do have problems with classic sports sponsorship. We have to think more supra-regionally in the future. At the moment, Amadeus-Horse-Indoor-GmbH is still a going concern, which also has to do with the hall and operating costs.
In what way?
How high are they?
Almost 400,000 euros!
That's almost as much as you pay out in prize money!
We are the only five-star tournament in Austria. It has such international appeal that Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, the Olympic dressage champion from Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020, is only coming to see her gold horse "Dalera" off.
How many visitors are you expecting over the four days?
20,000 paying visitors.
What do horses mean to you? You also have your own stud farm, the Bartlgut in Neuhofen near Ried.
As a native of Ampflwang, horses have been with me my whole life. I grew up with them, but later lost sight of them a little because I had to work a lot when I started my own business. My soccer involvement with SV Ried also got in the way.
You are still honorary president of this club today.
Nevertheless, I always had horses, even during my time as president. Now they are a hobby for the whole family. My wife is also well involved, which was not the case with soccer.
You and your family also finance a therapy horse for the school for the disabled in St. Isidor near Linz.
We have been supporting the Peter-Petersen-Landesschule for over ten years so that therapeutic riding is possible there.
Have there also been successes in this area?
Yes, it's interesting! Once a year, we used to invite the pupils - who we are inviting to Salzburg this year, by the way - to a St. Nicholas party at the Bartlgut. The director once told me that a child who hadn't spoken at all before started to speak as a result of therapeutic riding. This shows that this type of therapy is not only successful in terms of motor skills.
When was the last time you sat on a horse yourself?
20 or 25 years ago.
Could you still ride a horse?
I don't think you can forget. But at my age I'm a bit afraid of falling off.
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