Why I Quit Teaching Pilates

by Carol Robbins

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I am one of those people inexplicably afflicted with the horse bug. None of my relatives or ancestors rode, although my mother’s mother was Irish, so it could have been in the blood. From a very early age, I was passionate about (some would say obsessed with) horses. When I was 14 or 15, I was at a local hunter show and the lunch time entertainment was a demonstration of something called “Dressage.” In those days, our horses were retired race horses and were lean and fast, but this horse was a European Warmblood.  He had knees the size of dinner plates, and as I sat on the grass watching him, I had a sense that my life was to be forever changed.

Canada in 1974 was a Dressage hinterland, but there were a few people who had come here from Europe and brought their methods and knowledge with them. I started studying Dressage in earnest when I turned 16. For several decades thereafter, I read books from the Masters (known in my circle as the Old Dead Guys, or ODGs), went to workshops, traveled all over North America and Europe, leased great horses, and trained with great trainers. This was my introduction to the world of movement (albeit the movement of horses). It was to be a theme that would stay with me to this day.

My riding career slowed, but did not stop, when I got married and had children. One of my daughters had the ballet bug, and her ballet teacher had a Pilates studio in a room off the dance studio. I started taking Pilates with a view to improve my riding. It worked! My trainer had never heard of Pilates, but she thought I was riding better than ever. When my kids were established in school, I decided to become a Pilates teacher so I could make buckets of money and further my riding career. I went to STOTT Pilates here in Toronto, learned the exercise repertoire and started learning the names and actions of bones and muscles. A year later, I started teaching humans. And realized quickly I was in over my head. I knew the exercises and I knew the equipment, but as a natural mover and athlete, I couldn’t understand why the body in front of me could not always perform what I asked. It was frustrating! You can’t speak to horses, but you can still get them to move the way you want. But a person should be able to just follow directions! I needed to learn more.

So, for the next ten years, I read books from the (Pilates) Masters, I went to workshops, traveled all over North America, trained with great trainers, and eventually discovered a mentor. Eileen Birks was teaching anatomy at the National Ballet of Canada, and assisting Irene Dowd in NYC during her week-long anatomy seminars. Eventually, I had Eileen teach me the Dowd Anatomy syllabus. We worked together for years. I ended up teaching in her studio for a few years before her relocation in 2015 to British Columbia. Somewhere in these years, I found that teaching people had replaced teaching horses. Establishing a studio, raising kids, and studying started taking up more of my time. I finally stopped riding altogether in my late-40s. My focus had changed, but I was still passionate about movement.

In the horse world there is an expression (“ring sour”) that describes a horse who is bored of his work.  If a horse spends too much time drilling the work, he will not only get bored, he may start exhibiting behavioral symptoms and even serious physical illness. A horse’s feet, digestive tract, muscles and joints can all suffer from too much inside exercise.

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