Ami Shinitzky
1994 Galbreath Award

(Transcript of Lecture)

     The Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville consists of a unique curriculum designed to train students in the business techniques, which will be necessary for the horse industry of the 21^st Century. As a business program, we wanted to provide our students with concrete examples of people who have demonstrated business skills in horse operations. This goal coincided with an award, named for the late John W. Galbreath, established in 1990 to recognize those in the horse world that have demonstrated entrepreneurial success, vision, and leadership.
     The award winners have each agreed to meet with students at the University of Louisville to discuss and answer questions about the state of the industry. The recognition of business acumen is useful, but the opportunity for future industry executives to learn from these business leaders is the most important aspect of the Galbreath Award.
     The 1994 winner, Ami Shinitzky, addressed the students and faculty on October 14, 1994 and answered their questions about a variety of issues challenging the industry. Mr. Shinitzky has achieved tremendous success in the creation and marketing of several equine publications, including Polo and Equus. He has taken issues confronting horse owners, dissected those issues and presented them in terms that were easy to comprehend through the publications he created. Our students gained many valuable insights from Mr. Shinitzky’s presentation. In turn, the Equine Industry Program believes these comments should be shared with a larger audience.
     We appreciate the time and contributions of Ami Shinitzky has made to the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville. We would also like to thank the following people who were involved in the selection of the 1994 award winner:

• Jim Ahern
• Carol Alm
• Kent Hollinsworth
• Buddy LaForge
• Rich Wilcke

Copyright 1994, Equine Industry Program

Equine Industry Program
College of Business and Public Administration
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
Dr. Robert G. Lawrence, Director
Office: 502.852.7617

Robert G. Lawrence

     Welcome to the 1994 Galbreath Lecture. As most of you know, the Award is given to an individual who has demonstrated entrepreneurship in the horse industry. The winner receives two things, this trophy and the opportunity to speak to the Equine Industry Program. There have been four previous illustrious winners: John Bell, Ted Bassett, Cot Campbell, and John Gaines.
     One problem we have had with this award is that many of the nominees are named because of their service to the horse world. This award is not for service, it is for people who have demonstrated real entrepreneurial skills, who have taken an idea and pulled together resources and taken the risks and who have had the management skills to make something happen.
     We have a perfect representative of those qualities today in Ami Shinitzky. He has shown creativity with the concept of the publication, EQUUS. He conceived the idea in 1976, and within a year he pulled together the money and resources for EQUUS which has set the standard for horse industry publications. It is a great pleasure to introduce Ami.

Ami Shinitzky

      I wish I had won it five years ago, because then I would not have needed these glasses on which I am now dependent. Thank you Bob for those very kind words. The Galbreath award is a very special honor. I am more likely to receive editorial awards, and so I am delighted to be here with you today. While I don't know your personal aspirations as you pursue careers in the horse industry, my guess is that the perspective that I bring to you on this occasion is outside the normal scope of discussions in this institution, and for that matter outside the main eques­trian focus of this state. Still, whatever destiny has in store for us, our fascination with horses binds us together, giving us a common language that I trust will make our time today productive.
     "So what did he really do to deserve the Galbreath Award" you may wonder. "In what way has he touched the equine industry beyond his immediate constituency?" I'll try to elucidate on that and if only for the purpose imparting a few lesson and observation to you. Let us start with my story, both for its equine dimension and as an entrepreneurial case study.
     I came to the United States, a veteran of the Israeli Armed Forces, as a student intending to study business administration. What I didn't count on was the very heady fanfare of the sixties. For a wide-eyed fellow from a country still without television broadcasts, this was more excitement that I could sensibly handle. Before long, my major was philosophy, my politics revolutionary, (I was even in the local leadership of Students for Democratic Society), and my tastes very much anti-establishment. Unlike some one else's professed experience, I did inhale. . . .
     While pursuing my graduate work in philosophy, I taught at Adelphi University in New York as well as held the position of a University Counselor. Only at the close of the sixties would so much be offered for such modest accomplishments -- merely the promise to pay my academic dues sufficed; I wasn't made to wait until I produced a marked "paid," Ph.D. receipt. It also helped that my alma mater desired to capitalize on my access to the halls of student power.
     And so I settled to the comfortable and rewarding life of a young, single professor. Horses were as important in my life as hiking -- something to do on a weekend two or three times a year. But the great novelist in the sky, evidently had a different idea on how this plot would evolve. On a benign trail ride with one of my students, the stable owner inquired casually whether we knew anyone who would want to adopt a horse whose board bills were not being paid. As I am sure you can guess, I was the sucker who was born that minute, and a week later I claimed yet another distinction to my incongruent life, that of a horse owner.
     Fast forward. Horses became everything -- this was no less than a full-blown addiction. Two years later I abandoned my academic career, moved to Middleburg Virginia to train with an Olympic rider, (didn't make the grade), discovered the thrill of polo, ran through my savings, apprenticed at a racetrack in Charles Town, West Virginia and became a traveling horse dentist. I did make the grade there, attending to the likes of the US Equestrian Team's horses, and expounding on the philosophy of teeth in my saliva stained apron.
     My first foray into publishing was Polo magazine. The entrepreneurial lessons I learned there were the value of chutzpah, single-minded determination, and ingenuity. Learning theses served me well later when I sought the bigger prey in the form of EQUUS magazine. When I approached the United States Polo Association in the fall of 1974 arguing for a bona fide magazine to serve the sport, and presenting myself as its hopeful editor, they were intrigued by the idea but not enough to commit any funds to pursue it. Now here is were the chutzpah and ingenuity parts come: with no experience in publishing -- I didn't know a halftone from a duo tone or a point from a pica -- I went again before the USPA board of governors and persuaded them that they had everything to gain and nothing to lose by entering into a contractual agreement with me. I would publish a magazine that would be the official publication of the association, replacing its newsletter, and the association would purchase subscriptions from me for its membership at a total cost that would be less than its expenditure on the newsletter. Finally and most seductively, the new publication would make the sport proud. Although the communications committee had recommended against the venture, I won the board over and my wish was granted. And at that point, my friends, the entrepreneurial game began in earnest. When you have the faith and money of others in your hands, if you have but one ethical bone in your body, you are committed to give the venture your everything, even walk on a bed of glowing coals if that is what it takes to succeed. Like a hunter stalking a lion, your entire being must be focused on your aim and your survival. Everything else comes second.
     Time does not permit me to elaborate on the making of Polo magazine, except to say that I quickly recognized, smart as I am, that publishing held a greater financial promise then equine dentistry, and that the pen is definitely mightier than the dental float. I was soon ready for the big time.
     A systematic search for a new magazine idea with a bigger market potential than Polo, yielded nothing convincing. Then one evening, when I least expected it, while negotiating the moving hazards on the Washington beltway, my quest was answered. Like a bolt of lighting in a clear sky, the idea flashed through my mind, and in an instant I knew that it was THE WINNING ONE! I immediately applied the four criteria by which I had tested all the preceding ideas, and indeed, I confirmed, I had an exquisite idea. The next morning without the slightest reservation I went to work on my new concept the working title of which was "The Horseman's Veterinary Journal."
      My problem was, that although Polo magazine had taught me something about publishing, the scale of the this new project was far larger then my experience. Polo was fundamentally an association magazine, and I had no knowledge of circulation economics and marketing. Worse still, I needed a good chunk of investment money to get started, and yet I didn't even know the meaning of a "cash flow projection," let alone how to prepare a business plan. But remember the lessons of my first venture: Chutzpah, ingenuity and single-minded determination? I was like a bulldog that got his teeth in his prey's flesh, and I was not going to let go.
     I formed a limited partnership and went out to squeeze the proverbial turnip. Nothing was harder and more humbling, even humiliating at times, than raising the requisite investment. I believed to my very core that I was offering a sound business opportunity, and at the end it was probably my faith and enthusiasm more than any other factor that help me carry the day. It took 23 limited partners to raise the bare minimum of $300,000 and it was a long day indeed. Two features of my partnership agreement are worth recalling should any of you find yourselves one day holding on to an irresistible dream.
     While it is customary to first raise seed money in order to develop and test a new idea -- this, of course, is not limited to publishing -- and than raise the balance for investment and working capital, I took a different route. I was afraid of loosing momentum between the preliminary and the implementation steps, so I raised the entire amount at once. The novelty was that most of the money went into escrow until we completed the seed work. That completion constituted a go/no go point -- if I met certain pre-established criteria, the balance of the funds would be immediately released. If I failed to do so, the money would be returned to the partners.
     The other feature was a graduated schedule for my equity share. On day one, I owned a mere 1 percent of the magazine and my partners 99 percent. Then, with each cash payment to them my share grew first by 9 percent and then by 10 percent until I reached 50 percent. Thus I demonstrated that I thought of my partners first, and that my rewards would follow theirs. Such an approach served to provide potential investors with valuable reassurance.
     I can keep you here for the rest of the day with fascinating war stories on how a team of highly motivated rookies pulled off this stunt, daringly making the relatively modest investment go three times the distance, and making history. Suffice it to say, though, that when EQUUS debuted eleven month from that epiphany on the Washington Beltway, (what a befitting gestation period), the magazine was nearly four times larger then the business plan had forecasted; the horse world's reaction left us breathless; and equine journalism and the quality and scope of the available horse-care information were being thoroughly redefined.
     Why did EQUUS create the stir that it did? How was it that in a market saturated with horse publications (over 200 at the time) one could rise to the top three literally overnight? How has EQUUS become as influential as it has, serving as a leader in the industry? Why has EQUUS been credited for doing as much to raise the level of horse-care knowledge both directly as well as by example? Why has it won the most editorial and graphic awards including 13 Excellence Awards? While the nuances of the answer are many, the fundamentals are three: one, the horse as the unwavering focus of the enterprise; two, innovation; and three, steadfast pursuit of quality. My message to you here today is that these three beacons will guide you to the Promised Land in whatever equine venture you find yourselves pursuing. More over, these values could transform the horse industry if they were but more widely practiced.
     Innovation and quality as foundations of business, or for that matter of art, sports or any other human pursuit, hardly need arguing -- only constant reminding. Redefining the place of the horse in our business equations, on the other hand, merits further discussion, for here lies the hidden piece of the success puzzle.
     I can do no better in arguing this notion than to quote words first spoken by Dr. Jim Coffman then president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and recently repeated in the same forum by its outgoing president Dr. Peter Haynes.
     "Whenever a question is answered based on the welfare of the horse, the humane principles involved are also served in the long run. We are here for the horse. To the extant that we are responsible to that concept, we will prosper both as individuals as an organization."
     Ponder these words of a moment in their broadest context, and feel how true they are. As an owner making a decision on the quality of care you provide your horse/s, why be a penny wise and a pound-foolish? Why rush his training for the gratification of this season’s shows rather than be more patient and enjoy longer years of service? Is violating the horse's biological integrity an acceptable path to the blue ribbon, which is paradoxically given to the horse?
     There would be no insurance scandals, nor damming images of fallen horses in Olympic competition if such a guiding principle prevailed. And there must be no doubt in the mind of any serious observer of horse racing, that such a simple and enlightened approach would not only reduce the number of injuries on the track and the sad spectacle they create, but, in fact, will help the besieged sport. The various organizations which aim it is to see to the well being of horse racing, are finding out the hard way that if they position horses as mere galloping commodities for the pleasure of the gambling public, then it's a game that has lost a good bit of luster. If, on the other hand, the powers that be would work to change the collective attitude in line with the humane and respectful principle, a whole new audience of animal lovers would emerge to sustain this age-old sport.
     In just the same way any commercial enterprise serving horse owners would benefit if the welfare of the horse were to be its motto -- what is good for the horse is also, in the long run, good business. EQUUS, for one, has been guided from its inception by concern for the horse's welfare, and it has indeed prospered. I speak to you, therefore, of which I know. The temptation is to exploit, but the payoff would come from recognizing greater values as well as acknowledging the changing attitudes in an increasingly ecologically minded society. We will ultimately rise and fall with the public image of our industry, and that image is surely tarnished now.
     The bruising we have suffered as an industry has, of course, gone beyond the problems of image. The 1986 Tax Reform Act, a bad economy, the liability insurance crises, loss of trails and open land, restrictive zoning and an assortment of other regulations, and internal disharmony, all have contributed to the decline which has only recently began to reveres. It is safe to say, however, that the new order will not be a carbon copy of the old one. But what diminishes the rate of recovery, or for that matter the realization of the industry's full potential, is that as a traditionally fragmented cottage industry, divided by breed, sport and region, not only have we never learned to work together, we are even known to trip each other for some short term gains. We are a leaderless as the world is challenging our turf. We squander the power that can be ours if we only spoke in one large voice as our numbers clearly say we can, and if we universally embraced the horse's rightful place.
     The strength of the industry, by the way, is emerging in the growing ranks of owner/riders as the base of both the numeric and economic pyramid. From the United State Dressage Federation to the National Reining Horse Association, membership numbers are up. American Horse Show Association's sanctioned shows are up, and in response to rising costs the number of non‑sanctioned shows has risen even faster. Adult amateur divisions have proliferated. Youth programs such as Pony Club and 4‑H Horse Programs also report an increase after years of decline. And while breed registrations of the major breeds such as American Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, and Arabians had plummeted to less than half the foal registration of the peak years, the first two are already reporting gains, and the Jockey Club projects an increase in next year's crop. Transfers, however, have remained vigorous pointing to a redistribution of horses amongst new owners who are likely to be in their 30s or 40s and female.
     To see the horse industry blossom; to capitalize on the latent fascination with horses of multitude of people; to become a coherent industry, we must find common values that speak to all of us regardless of the breed or sport we have chosen. The one thing that unites us all is, of course, the horse himself. If we only recast him with the respect due to a living being, and the noble animal that he is, we will surely see ourselves prosper.
     Now by way of a postscript, here is what else has transpired since EQUUS debuted. In one more reckless move I borrowed much too much money back in 1979, two years after my launch, and bought my partners out. The recession of the early 80s, the prime rate at 21 percent, and my over-burdened balance sheet, brought me to the very edge of ruin, but my being here today is a pretty sure sign that, indeed, I recovered nicely. While I stand by every one of the six magazines I started over the years as embodying my three cardinals principles, they did not all deliver financially. My latest one, though, Dressage Today, is right in every way, and after a few quiet years it is nice, again, to feel that entrepreneurial charge.  

     Thank for your patience, and don't pull any punches with your questions.

Questions 

Luis dePrat, Equine Club President 

Question: The first time I heard about EQUUS magazine I was doing a horse husbandry course at the horse park in Lexington. Whenever we needed a topic such as a disease, something that most laymen wouldn't understand, we turned to EQUUS.

Shinitzky But Luis, did you buy your own subscription?

Question: Before I came to the Kentucky Equine Institute, I had never heard of it. At the end of the course they passed out this sheet asking everybody how they had found out about this husbandry course and I was the only one in the whole class who said it was recommended. Everyone else said EQUUS magazine. So it was obviously a very popular magazine with people interested in horses and it's amazing now to have the editor-in-chief here. I am really pleased to have you here to speak to us. We had some questions, which were submitted by students. The first one asks about your job as a manager, whether you maintain very tight control, or have you developed a management team allocating significant responsibilities in their respective areas. In other words, what is your management style?

Shinitzky: Is no style considered a style?
     As you start a new business, I believe that management is not about lengthy deliberations. It is not about precedent. It is about following that intuitive drive within. It is about getting input from coworkers and it is about making a decision fast because nearly every decision at the beginning of such an enterprise is a decision that forces you to go on a limb. Yes you can look at what other industry conventions might be in this matter but nobody has ever done quite the same thing that you are doing and, therefore, the measure now required is one of personal authority, of personal gathering and holding of power, the kind of style that might be utilized by a commander on a battlefield. You lead by example. Whether you know it or not, you strive to create the impression that you know exactly what you are doing, because you don't want anyone doubting you. As we began to mature, there was an important reason to change management style and that was because it made no sense to maintain the same kind of pace as one did before or surely one would burn out.
     Secondly, one has to anticipate that if an organization is held in the hands of just one manager, it is necessarily a vulnerable organization. The organization becomes more important than the manager, and it needs to be able to sustain itself even if, for example, I, the manager, should be taken ill or something prevents me from maintaining the same workload. At which point I found that it is necessary to hand more authority to editors, department managers and to see that what has worked for us in the past will guide us in day to day decisions, and that what should come from the top is problem solving and also an endless quest for innovation which I addressed in my talk. Innovation is one of the three important cardinal rules-- it is less likely to come from people who basically do the day-to-day affairs, it will come from somebody who still stands in the top and who is willing to go and take those risks necessary.To wrap up this question, it is still an ongoing process of maturity. As an organization reaches greater levels of maturity it needs to rely more and more on professional managers, people who have more than enthusiasm but rather outright skills because the other side of it is that when you have built something you also have more to lose. Protecting the equity that you build is as important as developing it further. 

Question: How has magazine production changed over the past fifteen years? 

Shinitzky: As a modern man I would like to say there is nothing more wonderful than computers. In effect, I confess to you that in my briefcase in Bob's office I have my cellular phone with an extra battery, I have my laptop computer with its built in modem so I can call my office and interchange folders. Sometimes, though, I do long for the days of Exacto knives, and boards, and paste up artists because no matter how slow and imperfect it might seem, it was always there in front of you. If a knife broke, you went to the cabinet and got another one and you can cut again. If you misplaced it, it would be in this pile or in that pile, you leaf through them and you find out where you stand. Today, you should see when a storm comes around the office. The switchboard operator gets on the PA system and tells everybody to quickly log out of his or her computers. God forbid there will be a brownout or blackout and everything is wiped out. Try and find something in the electronic abyss buried within those computers, or experience going all the way to film or going to plate and realizing that the version you pulled out of the computer is not the final edited version but the one just before with still a few typos.
     The other side of it is that before we took two days to design a beautiful story, so you allow two days. Today it takes three hours on the computer to design it. So what do we do? We don't design it longer and allow more time to do it at leisure to improve the quality because we have better and more powerful tools. We leave it to the very last minute allowing three hours to get it done. If you were to have come to our offices when we first started and then today, you would not recognize the place. The IBM typewriters are gone, typists inputting manuscripts are gone, red pencils are gone, Exacto knives are practically gone, the pre-press, which we do in our own offices, is a whole different animal. Everybody is at a computer and everything is computerized and when everything works fine it is okay. When it's not, it is truly a problem.
     Has it done much to improve quality? I seriously question that. Is EQUUS magazine or any other magazine for that matter of higher quality graphically speaking than it was ten or fifteen years ago? I seriously doubt it. It allows us to do things a little more efficiently, to access all files. It is easier to do line correction, for example, right on the screen. Things wrap themselves so very neatly and the spell checker...what an invention especially for a foreign born fellow like myself. So things have changed greatly and I suppose there is really no turning back. From my point of view, the cost of producing magazines is gone up in a disproportionate way because of this new technology, but there we are. Once you make the first step you cannot turn back, you have just to go on with it. The whole system is like a chain. You improve this link, and this link, and now there is another one that is weaker, and you are trying to improve this one to the next generation and create a new weak link. And so it goes.
     If computers are going to be in your business future, be sure the line item for upgrades is always there. And if you are going to do an upgrade, be sure it's never during a deadline period. Because no matter what they assure you of how simple it will be, that it will really make the work go better, it's never worked this way ever. 

Question: What do you anticipate as the future of the recreational horse industry? Will it increase or decrease in size and why?

Shinitzky: I'm very bullish on the recreational industry, as we have been observing. This is really where the most action or most activity is taking place. The dollars are not as concentrated and individual horse owners are not nearly as well organized -- if at all -- as more professional segments such as the thoroughbred racing industry. But it represents a return to the horse. If you just watch simple statistics, such as the number of readers of equestrian magazines, you see it growing very rapidly in the last few years because more and more people are returning to horses, and many of them are adults. People who had the dream in their youth and then went to college, had to give up a horse, maybe had different interests at the time then they start a family and return to horses later on. We find, as was mentioned in my talk, that most are female, and the number of adult division classes has been growing in leaps and bounds. There is also an interesting thing to observe in the growth of local organizations, regional organizations, state horse councils, and other entities that have been doing considerable work in organizing the recreational riders. The Dressage Federation is enjoying immense success because they capture the typical newcomer to the horse industry. So when we speak of "industry" we speak more of phenomena such as racing, but the bottom of the pyramid is indeed the recreational riders. Each horse still requires a saddle, and deworming medicine, and feed, and shoeing, and veterinary care, trailers to ship and all of the other ancillaries that are part of this equation. And that in total is an enormous amount.

Question: The next question concentrates on racing, and the need for marketing. From your perspective, can marketing help and, if so, what type of marketing and at what annual cost?

Shinitzky: I cannot speak to cost, but I want to say something about marketing. You know the saying that if a man invented a better mousetrap the world would beat a path to his door. Well this needs to be amended. The world would beat a path to his door only if he marketed the hell out of it. Good ideas are galore, but we have to bring them out to the public. I can write today the most wonderful novel, potentially a best seller, but if my publisher will not do what it takes to bring this book out to the world, it might just be a lost work, never to receive the appreciation that it deserves. So marketing is not just something we ought to do to move things along. Marketing is really at the root of it all if we are to succeed in any kind of a business enterprise. There is so much competition for resources, for our time, for energy and for attention that we need to be able to get that attention and that requires marketing. The wonderful thing is that I couldn't think of anything easier to market than horses.
     Babies and puppies and horses seem to elicit the same response from people. Some people may dislike horses because they are big and intimidating, but they are never indifferent to them. Horses touch something within us that is so unique and special, and a part of our genetic makeup. All we have to do is just pluck that cord and there will be a response. It is so inviting. You see many cultures around the world in which this is a fact. It is there for us as an industry to take advantage of--I don't mean exploit--I mean take advantage of. But we are fragmented, as I said, we are a cottage industry; we don't speak in one voice. We don't embrace the same values; we don't cherish the horse as we should. The challenge is to make that into a unifying marketing theme in which we put the horse on this pedestal and touch that place in men's hearts that would respond to it.
     My answer to the question is that we aren't doing nearly enough to market the horse as a companion animal, as a recreational animal, as entertainment in terms of horse racing, as therapeutic riding. There are so many contexts in which the horse shines and it's there for us to reach for, but we just hang a shingle, make some modest efforts, and hope success is going to fall our way all on its own. Marketing is an essential part and if we are to mature as an industry we have to find a collective way to promote the horse no matter where we come from, no matter what breed or sport we speak, as long as the horse is our common interest. 

Question: To what extent are you involved with the editorial content of EQUUS?

Shinitzky: Well I'm in some ways permanently involved because I have coached the editors who do the work so, talking about management style, I have done my bit. For the first dozen years or so, I was very much involved in reviewing every manuscript and coming up with many of the ideas. Then I stepped back so that EQUUS is not too dependent on me.
     Last year I spent the entire summer again working very closely with the editorial staff. So I would say I am still involved in the direction, the policy. For example, when we did a piece on the HYPP (Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis), the “Impressive syndrome,” it was a topic that I naturally involved myself in very closely. I try to make sure that at all times my values for the magazine are shared by the staff that prepares it. 

Question: When you had your epiphany on the Washington Beltway you mentioned you ran this idea through four criteria. What were they? 

Shinitzky: I was hoping you wouldn't ask that. I know there were four back in 1977. Cut me some slack, two out of four? I found that publishing suited me. It had to do with business, with words, with graphics, with horses. I could bring all of my interests and strengths together. So then I began a systematic search and the next six months I spent looking for ideas. The first criterion was "In what way is it different from any other magazine that already exists in the marketplace." The second, "Is there truly a need for such a publication," because it could be something that would be very different such as Miniature Horse Journal, but I don't know if there is truly a need--if the constituency is large enough to do that. The third one, "Is there a sufficient advertiser's base in order to proceed with such an idea?" Lastly, "Is it broad enough in appeal to bring the size of audience I was looking for?"
     Obviously what EQUUS is about sounds so simple today and it is simple. But the magazine, unlike others, was not going to be about racing or polo; it was not going to be about Thoroughbreds or Appaloosas. It wasn't going to be about East or West. It was going to be about the horse because it did not matter whether you chose one breed or another. A colic is a colic and a bowed tendon is a bowed tendon. The mind and the heart of the horse are the same whatever color skin he's got; no matter how many vertebrae he might have in his back, and no matter what use we put him to. The bond that we have with horses is the same whatever route we choose and if I focus on that, I knew -- the only common denominator to all of us in this horse world -- the market is sure to be there. Was there anything else like this before? No, there was not. Was there a need for knowledge about horses? From my years in equine dentistry, I could see how little owners knew and what they needed. Bingo, there it was. So simple, isn't it? 

Question: What do you do next? When you started EQUUS you were light years ahead. Now everybody is catching up. 

Shinitzky: This is the unfair part of reality. I wish not to lament though, we've done very well, but I think if the Creator were to reset the rules of the game, once you reach a place where you can rest on your laurels, you would be entitled to rest there forever nobody should be able to come close. This is not how it works though, because once you create that better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door, and the guy next door will imitate it in a minute. So you might be the genius who created it and now it is no big deal. "This is a better mousetrap! I'll make one just like it. Patent infringement? No problem, mine will be painted red." And when you have proven what can be done, then the imitators can be right there doing either exactly what you did or come pretty close. It was yours, your franchise, uniquely yours for a while, then you look back and suddenly they are right there at your heels. What do you do? The competition sees that quality works; that original graphics work; that more four-color works; that health related material works. People will read. So they just add it to their own mix, and the less discriminating reader just goes through the magazines and feel they really are not that much different. It will require reading the magazine. It will require being a discerning and sensitive horse person to see that there indeed are differences. Our editorial department is twice the size of any of our monthly competition, because we put that much more effort into our editorial.
     With all that, you have lost some of your advantage. They take some of your market share in advertisers and readers. You want to be the leader because you were the leader once before. You want to sustain that position and therefore the imperative--one of those cardinal rules--is to keep innovating because if you don't innovate you will surely be imitated and then you are exactly like the others. You have to keep innovating. And that again is an entrepreneurial undertaking. Because when you innovate you are taking risks. You are doing something that is untested. You are doing something that you don't know if it is going to work or not. You are putting yourself on the line. Because if it doesn't work you might loose money, might loose good will, you might set yourself back in one way or another. But if you want to maintain the position of leadership, that is absolutely essential. Not just in magazines, but in any kind of an enterprise. So innovation, therefore, is not something I could possibly overstress. Our Horse Trends reports, for example have been an innovation. The good folks at the American Horse Council (AHC) were not always fans of EQUUS magazine. But when AHC would tell people who want to find out more about the industry to read EQUUS' Horse Trends report, no finer compliment could be paid because we did something that is not really the place of the magazine to do, but the role for an organization such as AHC or one of the largest breed associations would do.  

Question: Last year's Horse Trends issue dealt with animal welfare issues. Does the horse industry generally do a good job in its stewardship of the horse and, if we are failing, how can we do better? 

Shinitzky: We are failing and I implied that in my talk. Last year the subtitle of the Horse Trends report was "Awakening To New Realities." Somebody might say that if horses fall at the fences in the Olympics that it has nothing to do with the welfare of the horse. But that is not true! We design the course then ask the horse to do more than is reasonable or sensible. There are other ways to have one horse compete with another without necessarily bringing the risk element in a way that we have. If we see within three weeks two horses in the major racing events crash and burn in front of millions of viewers this is not just an accident. We can have a policy in place that would do more towards reducing such happenings. There are technologies to see that something is brewing, such as a potential injury.
     We have lots of laws and regulations in place, but I don't believe that our heart is yet behind them. The first thing we do if there is a regulation in place, is to try and find a way around it. We play lip service to the fact that we have noble intentions, but then we get around it because of economic pressures, which are enormous. I don't dismiss them. People are trying to make a living or good investment. Also, egos are pretty compelling powers and for some people it isn't economics, but the winning is everything. But winning at the expense of the horse is foolhardy because they are not a disposable commodity. We should not for a moment think this way.
     Paradoxically our nemesis, the animals right people, who are truly a threat to our way of life have has a positive affect. If some of those organizations would have their way, we would not put a saddle on a horse. We certainly would not have any spurs on, and forget a whip no matter how gently you might use it. Their threats and action, however, were enough to get just about every horse association to realize that they are vulnerable, that something must be done to protect the welfare of the horse. It would take a shift in our cultural perspective on horses, and that can only come from the leaders we have. It is difficult to expect it to come from the grass roots. 

Question: What is the ratio of revenue from subscriptions as compared to advertising revenue? 

Shinitzky: Are you all sworn to secrecy here?
     EQUUS magazine is 95 percent subscribers and 5 percent newsstand or single copies. Some through newsstands and some through tack shops. Our revenue ratio is higher on advertising than it is circulation--probably about 60 percent in advertising and 40 percent in circulation. When I started EQUUS it was exactly the other way around. I felt that as a new magazine I would have a lot easier time persuading an individual reader to part with $12.00 to try this magazine, while I knew it would be a lot harder to persuade advertisers to part with $1500 or $2000 at the time in order to buy an advertisement. Since I did not want to put my financial faith in advertisers initially, I structured the magazine in such a way that it first relied on subscribers, because for them the risk was much smaller, and they had a lot more to gain.

Question: EQUUS is a official sponsor of the Kentucky Horse Park. Why? 

Shinitzky: Well, first, many of the young people who go through the Horse Park become horse people, and we'd like for them to know about EQUUS magazine. No matter what other magazine they read, EQUUS should be part of the package because it's got the best information about the horse. And for the Horse Park it is pretty self-evident. The more exposure they can have in the national media the better off they are. We can help each other further--the parks need funds and we may have some ways in which we can help such as with sponsorships. It would work to both our advantage if we could create educational programs and feature them there. So I would describe it to date as a good relationship, a promising relationship, though not fully actualized yet. 

Question: Are you considering sponsorships at other horse facilities or with other horse programs? 

Shinitzky: We haven't yet because we are not sure whether this would be considered bigamy. The truth of the matter is that producing a magazine is a truly taxing undertaking. Those deadlines come so fast. You turn your head for a moment and suddenly you are a week behind. Then, of course, we publish more than just one magazine. To my chagrin we are not capitalizing on nearly the many opportunities that are available to us in these ways. For me the vision of EQUUS is not just as a magazine but as an institution, that voice for the horse. There is a lot we can contribute to the industry and we feel that it is not only as a privilege, but our duty to do so. If only there were more hours in the day.... 

Question: Do you or have you considered publishing the magazine in other languages?

Shinitzky: We have looked in the past at Spanish because there are so many Spanish-speaking countries where horses are big. We looked into it but did not feel that the market would be as quite as receptive for the EQUUS message and style as it would in the United States. As much as I am complaining about poor horse welfare, we are miles ahead of most countries in the world in our treatment of horses. Did you see the wonderful documentary film “Baraka?” It is a wonderful documentary with no plot or dialogue shot in 24 different countries. It is a cinematographic meditation on life and in it there is an image in Egypt of a donkey pulling a cart up a hill. The cart looks 20 times the weight of this poor donkey, and the driver sitting on top whipping the poor donkey up the hill. It truly broke my heart to see that. Get that video. It is something exceptional and truly art.
     In Europe we have had recent interest, but we decided it would be spreading ourselves too thinly to go to there. We have been picked up in translation in several countries such as Italy, Israel, and England. There is a potential there. Also, in England the publishing industry uses considerably more newsstands. The horse magazines are not the same production quality as we have here. It would be difficult to sustain our quality with advertising revenue in England. It is not a simple course for us except if there were local publishers interested in doing so. 

Question: What effect do you think off-track betting has had on the perception of horse racing and horses as recreational and their value as a sport? 

Shinitzky: That is a loaded question. Could we just end with that last question over here? I really have given a great deal of thought to that. My first reaction which probably would not be what the racing folks want to hear is that it creates additional distance between the racing activity and the fans. They are not horses in the flesh anymore. It is not the same pomp and circumstance. It is the energetic contact that comes when you are at the racetrack and see those great creatures out there. Off-track betting is sanitized, detached, it is just about moving objects I am exaggerating slightly but it creates a distance.
     Also, in the most simplistic sense, if you can go to off-track betting parlor, you don't have to go to the track and the attendance issues become significant too. From my point of view of the purist sense of what horse racing could be, it probably has not been helpful.