In sport, all my fellow riders and trainers and the people I meet and deal with have just accepted the fact that I'm here forever.

It's about discipline. It's about following instructions. It's about the execution of the plan. That's what sport is.

It looks like the riders stuck.

My first Olympics was Munich in 1972. I am better now than I was then, in knowledge and experience. The age of top riders generally tends to be older than in other sports because it takes a lot of time to be consistent.

I've been lucky to ride 10 different horses at the Olympics. I'd like to think that of all of them, Big Ben - who was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame - would still be competitive in the contemporary sport.

I would never want to be selected to a team just because I am going to set a record. It's critical to me to earn my way.