The organizers of the 2023 Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg, Austria, issued a press release yesterday in which they claim they are being hindered by the Austrian Equestrian Federation in relaunching and hosting their CDI/CSI.
New Team
After a one-year hiatus due to the sudden passing of show director Sepp Göllner, the Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg returned on the FEI calendar for 2023.
A new team of organizers has been established to enable to relaunch of the event. Gestüt Bartlgut's Wenzel Schmidt is taking on the commercial responsibility for Austria's largest horse festival. He has also been financially backing Göllner's other show in Lamprechtshausen.
Schmidt founded the AHI GmbH as an organiser company and, together with its managing director, the international eventing specialist and FEI judge Christian Steiner, as well as the tried and tested organisational team, took the reins into their own hands.
"OEPS Stamp Missing"
In the evening of 21 August 2023, a press release was issued with the title "OEPS stamp still missing: Is the Amadeus Horse Indoors threatened with extinction?"
The press release headlined, "now the Austrian Equestrian Federation (OEPS), of all people, is getting in the way by threatening not to meet the deadlines. This would mean the end of the event in the near future."
"The possible end is due to two components," says Christian Steiner. "Firstly, we are lacking confirmation from the OEPS that the newly founded sponsoring association (Verein der Freunde der Amadeus Horse Indoors) can virtually take over the event from the former registering association (PRC Lamprechtshausen). Without this confirmation it is not possible. The same applies to the organisation of the FEI Jumping Pony Trophy 2023, here we also lack the confirmation of the OEPS. Furthermore, we have applied with Salzburg to host a World Cup in dressage and show jumping in 2024. We have submitted everything on time, but the OEPS has to send the papers to the FEI. There are clear deadlines for all these actions on the part of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and these were already on 18 August. We were able to get an extension of the deadline, but the federation has neither confirmed the novation agreement (change of organiser) nor sent the applications. If this is not done, we will have to cancel the event!"
"The event will be cancelled if the documents are not signed by the OEPS and received by the FEI by tomorrow (22.08.2023)," Steiner added.
OEPS Responds: "We Are Not a Bank"
In a statement sent out by OEPS on 22 August, the Austrian Federation wrote "the Austrian Equestrian Federation (OEPS) is one hundred percent behind the Amadeus Horse Indoors 2023. Unfortunately, the necessary bank guarantees from the organizer are still missing. As soon as these are deposited, the national (OEPS) and international equestrian federation (FEI) give the go-ahead."
The federation further explained that, "OEPS is liable to the FEI to ensure that all fees are paid by the organizers of international competitions. Therefore, OEPS must also demand bank guarantees from the individual organizers for the amount of these FEI fees. This approach has proven itself for many years at events of all disciplines."
OEPS continued, "OEPS cannot misuse the money from its sports budget to bear the risk of private show organizers who, if everything goes well, make a profit, but in the event of a loss, they indemnify OEPS - i.e. its approx. 40,0000 members. If an organizer goes bankrupt, OEPS would have to compensate the FEI for the damage and burden its sports budget."
Dietrich Sifkovits, secretary-general of OEPS, added, “the assertions made that OEPS would oppose itself are of course complete nonsense. We are very happy that an organizer has been found us to carry out this important competition. Still, the same rules apply to everyone. The organizer is liable for his expenses and not the association. We are not a bank, but a sports association that is committed to its members.”
Related Link
CDI Salzburg Returns on the Calendar for 2023