Before I start, I have to offer two apologies. First, to the many thoughtful and experienced people in the audience who can truly say, "He didn't have anything very new to say; we've heard all this before." That's right. I never said I knew how to pull rabbits out of hats, or that I know any magical cures for what ails us; all I can do is to tell you what I think.

My second apology is to the organizers, the National Federations (NF) and the REI. There are a number of perfectly marvelous competitions in the world where the organizers do everything right, and there are some very effective National Federations; in addition, I believe the FEI has made great progress in recent years in addressing the challenges that face our sport, and think that the very existence of its Strategic Planning Committee is a very positive step.

In my remarks, however, I'm going to speak in generalities about our overall situation rather than our relatively small number of outstanding success stories: because the real problems in our sport will not be found in Aachen, Spruce Meadows or Monterrey.

Now for a little history of the development of our sport......