Steph Kallstrom

In this episode I speak with Steph Kallstrom. Steph was born in Peru and adopted by her mother and raised in Canada. As for most of us equestrians she fell in love with horses the first time she saw them and went into the world of Hunter/jumpers. Steph is a big part of the voice of Black Equestrians. And she has so much to teach us, if we can stop and listen. I have been waiting with great anticipation for this chat from the moment Steph said yes and booked in to have her interview. Steph is someone whose voice I listen to. Every time she posts on her socials or writes a new blog I read up and take note. I always learn something new. Steph is a minority in our equestrian world in many ways. She had a choice to stay in her lane and keep doing her thing and be happy enough. As you will hear in this interview, she is busy enough already, she didn’t need to take on another cause. But this is not just another cause for Steph, this is her life, she writes from experience and her perspective always teaches me something new. As a white woman I can only use my imagination for a lot of the racism that black equestrians encounter on a daily basis. And a lot of it is not a big event trauma, it’s the little things every day that are ever present and eat away at the most basic need we all have as humans, the need to belong. And it’s not just giving me perspective that I admire and learn from Steph. It’s how she writes and the feeling I get when I read her work. In Steph’s words I hear a strong and very intelligent Woman who is fierce and will not be bullied into submission by those trying to dull her words and make her sit down and wait her turn. She reminds me of the wild horses making trainers change their ways as they will not submit to the old traditional training methods. I love reading Steph’s work as I strive to be a voice in the way that she is. Her words are thoughtful, heartfelt and moving and always, every single time they are the truth. She calls out anyone who tries to shame or stifle her. That’s what I mean by fierce. I hope you enjoy our conversation and I hope you go and follow Steph on her socials and support the incredible change she is making in the horse world. You can connect with Steph on any of the following links IG: @stephkall https://instagram.com/stephkall?igshid=16xoc12pc3h6r  LinkTree- has all the links to my writing etc.  https://linktr.ee/stephkall