I was invited to speak at the National Equine Industry Forum yesterday. It was a first-ever forum, organised by the Department of Veterinary Services, Totalisator Board and the Malaysian Equine Council, and held at The Everly Hotel in Putrajaya.
The title of the forum was Roadmap to the Future of the Malaysian Equine Industry.
The topic I had been asked to speak about was the Sustainability of Equestrian Sport and the Evolution of Polo in Malaysia.
I added an R to it, making it my own little Revolution.
The forum was well attended, despite being in Putrajaya. I have no doubt there could have been a much bigger attendance if it had been held in Kuala Lumpur, and if it had been advertised to the industry.
HRH Tengku Syarif Temenggong, Syed Amir Jamalullail (pic right) was the guest-of-honour. He started the proceedings with a welcome speech and sat through the day.
Through the rest of the morning’s presentations, HRH Tengku Syarif Temenggong was flanked by STC Chairman Tan Sri Richard Cham and Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr M Mahadevan.
There were three main speakers who had as long as they liked. The main speakers gave presentations on how the South African Equine Industry’s Education & Development Programmes are set up and run, Arabian Horse Racing around the world and how they would like it to be also in Malaysia, and Equine Nutrition in the tropics, by KER’s Dr Peter Huntington,
Then there were six local speakers, of which I was the the first. We were each given exactly 10 minutes. Like polo, there were two bells. I had to wrap up the best parts in last two minutes and was belled out exactly on 10 minutes.
I had been asked to submit my presentation for translation a couple of weeks ago. I did in fact submit my PowerPoint, though it was not translated, as far as I know. I guess they wanted to know I wasn’t going to embarrass anyone.
I’d love to share it with you all, but being a PowerPoint, my comments were perhaps more important than the slides. In other words, it is not much point sharing my PowerPoint with you if my comments are not delivered as well. Here are some photos instead.
The forum was interesting in that despite the title, it was a broad ranging forum. My thought is that it was perhaps too unfocused as we has presentations ranging from feeding and nutrition, to a lecture on the special place that the horse has in the Holy Quran, and to a pitch to start a Malaysian Amateur Arabian Horse Racing circuit.
The afternoon Question and Answer session was divorced from the morning presentations, which was a pity, especially as I couldn’t stay the whole day, and missed the Q&A.
There was generally a good turnout of MEM friends. It was good to see most everyone there. Notable exceptions was the presence of the EAM committee and staff.
It would be a good forum to repeat, if it was a little more focused
