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Kristen Hrdlicka

Three Stride Studios

My first word was horse.

This should have alerted my parents to my future endeavors, but I’m not sure. When I was a kid, I called every animal a horse in the hopes that mywords would cast a magical spell and make a horse appear. (Sadly, itdidn’t work.) I used to put my toy horse saddle (kindly lent by the cabbage patch kids) on my neighbour’s dog, hop on top, and urge him to run.
(Sadly, this also didn't work).

I finally convinced my parents to let me go to horse camp for a week. They thought being in a barn for 8 hours a day would get it out of my system. Nope. I was hooked.

My addiction exploded from a simple pastime into a crazed lifestyle of lessons, saddle leather, magazines, vet visits, hooves, shows and dreams. Of course, I had one distraction from my urge to run away and be a cowboy- photography.

When my father used to develop his film and find it full of my early attempts at photography, I think the dim light of future occupations shone wanly in his mind. “A budding photographer, eh?” he used to say. “You’ll have to take pictures of stuff other than horses, you know.” And so I did, attending every photography class I could.

When I wasn’t constructing beautiful foreground shots or experimenting with shutter speeds, I was at the barn. I’ve been thrown, kicked, bashed, nuzzled and licked (by horses, not cameras). Still, my passions never wane.

Even after bad falls, I would telephone my doctor almost daily (I’m sure he appreciated it) asking when I could get back to the barn. After one particularly nasty fall resulting in broken ribs and a dislocatedspine, I heeded medical advice and stayed away from riding. After realizing that I’ve never been more miserable, I got back in the saddle. And I’ve never looked back.

To me, horses provide the mental release and focus that many gain from yoga. Stress and worries wash away as soon as I enter the barn. This is the reason I will ride for the rest of my life. And if I can also take beautiful shots that capture the beauty and power inherent in horses, if I can provide a visual record of my passion, then all the more reason to create Three Stride Studios.

  Please visit Three Strides Studios at http://www.threestridestudios.ca