Episode Show Notes
Welcome to the Pilates Diaries Podcast.
Our guest on this episode is Bridget Garlick. Bridget is a professional horse rider, horse trainer and riding coach based in Lismore NSW. Being the daughter of long-term Pilates teacher Kimberley Garlick, Bridget has grown up with Pilates as much as she has with riding horses, so brings unique insights and application of the Pilates Method into the equestrian arena. Kimberley Garlick, owner of the Northern Rivers Pilates Studio is the co-host of this episode.
The mission of this podcast is to share the stories of the impact of Pilates to help you live and move with more joy, physical vitality, and renewed vigor.
Pilates was a somewhat unknown word until it started creeping into conversation somewhere around the 2000s- maybe even before then depending on who you asked and amongst which circles, and has largely remained and enigma for many reasons- one of which perhaps is that Pilates really has to be experienced to be understood.
There are now a wide range of Pilates styles available when you attend a Pilates class, perhaps borne from the variation of interpretations of how Pilates was originally taught by its founder, Joseph Pilates.
With The Pilates Diaries Podcast we’re inviting Pilates enthusiasts around the globe to share with us what they’ve noted down in their Pilates Diary. Our hope is that the Pilates Diaries Podcast goes some way to answering the question ” What is it that makes Pilates so special?”
We’ll take a privileged peek into the Pilates Diaries of our guests to gain a greater insight into the impact Pilates can have in all of our lives and contribute to the health and wellbeing of the community at large.
I welcome you along for the journey and welcome your comments and discussions through the links found on your favorite podcast platform. Enjoy.
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Episode Transcript
Bruce Hildebrand: In the spirit of respect, The Pilates Diaries Podcast acknowledges the people and elders of the Bunurong people, members of the Kulin Nation, who have traditional connections and responsibilities for the land on which this podcast is produced.
Hi, I’m Bruce Hildebrand and this is The Pilates Diaries Podcast.
The mission of this podcast is to share the stories of the impact of Pilates. We’re inviting Pilates enthusiasts to share with us the notes they’ve taken down in their Pilates journey as we seek out the answers to the intrigue Pilates has been able to ignite inside millions all over the world. Our hope is that The Pilates Diaries Podcast goes some way to answering the question ” What is it that makes Pilates so special?” Join me for privileged peek into this episodes Pilates Diary.
The cohost on this episode is Kimberley Garlick- Kimberley runs the Northern Rivers Pilates Studio in Lismore. Kimberley will take us through this conversation with her daughter Bridget- a keen enthusiast in equestrian. Bridget, welcome to the show.
Bridget Garlick: Hi, thanks for having me.
Kimberley Garlick: Hi Bruce, and welcome to the show, Bridget. I’m excited to be able to discuss the benefits of Pilates and how it’s assisted with your riding and your view on where you’re seeing Pilates evolve with the equestrian world. Do you want to start by telling us a little bit about your background and what you do as a profession?
Bridget Garlick: Sure, so I’m a professional horse rider, I compete in eventing, which is like the triathlon of the horse riding industry. We do dressage followed by cross country and then show jumping. I compete in eventing, I also train horses, coach riders and am working towards having a string of horses at the top level of competition to eventually take overseas. When I’m talking about a string of horses, I’m meaning a team of multiple horses. The idea is that when I’m competing at the top level, I’ll have more than one horse at that level. So you’ve got a backup and you’ve also got a horse for every competition because we don’t want to take that one horse to every weekend out competing, we want to save them a little bit. So it means that we’ve got multiple horses to choose where we take and where we aim them at. My day it’s pretty long, we do all the maintenance work for the horses, feeding them, caring for them, rugging, doing waters, all of that And then I coach riders. And then throughout the day I’m riding at the moment between eight and 10 horses a day, and I’m on each of them for anywhere between 20 minutes and up to an hour based on riding I’m doing, depending on where they’re at in their training schedule. And then in the afternoon, again, we’re doing all the maintenance stuff like feeding, caring for them, all of that- so it turns into a long day.
Kimberley Garlick: The reason I ask that is we talk about Pilates for athletes and obviously, people want to understand the athletic component of the rider for the horse, but it’s like you’re dealing with two athletes- you’ve got yourself, and then you’ve also got the horse. When we’re talking about Pilates, how does that fit into the regime? And why do you choose Pilates to keep you fit and healthy?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, it’s one of those things that I try and encourage all my students to understand- we often put the horse first as the athlete and the equestrian industry is really starting to understand that we have to be an athlete as well- so as much as we focus on the horses, nutrition and health and strength and fitness levels, we need to do that for ourselves as well. And riding is an interesting sport in that a lot of the muscles that we use and the things we have to do to our body are really hard to replicate in anything other than actually being in the saddle and Pilates is what I’ve found comes closest to training my body when I’m out of the saddle. We’re looking at training our core strength, our ability for hip dis-association, our spine flexibility, and just being able to isolate different body parts which you don’t really do in any other sport or exercise. I also do go to the gym and do other fitness as well, but Pilates is what I find helps develop my horse riding opposed to just riding horses.
Kimberley Garlick: And why do you think that would be- what is it different like when you’re talking about replicating what you do, do you think it’s because of the spring tension, do you think it’s because of the various exercises? And how often would you do Pilates every week?
Bridget Garlick: In an ideal world, I do Pilates three times a week. And Pilates is so versatile, you can go in with injuries or with a goal in mind for your fitness and you’re able to find specific exercises in the Pilates room that will help to cater for that.
Kimberley Garlick: So when you’re talking about exercises that you love to do what ones do you choose to always have in your sessions and why?
Bridget Garlick: It’s hard to pick just a couple that I really like- I love anything that’s working on my core strength and the strength of my obliques is really important. We’ve obviously go to hold ourselves up in the saddle so, we need really good balance. As much as I don’t like doing it, things that help with the flexibility of my spine is important because I get really tight through my upper back from riding horses. When you’re riding it, compacts your spine quite a bit, so anything that’s lengthening your spine. I don’t really like doing back bends though, but anything where you’re rolling forward? I do like horseback on the barrel. it’s not how we would typically ask to do a rising trot on a horse- that’s not really how we do it, but it is really important to have that strength of your abductors and to be able to close your knees on the horse’s side is really important because we talk about the knee controlling the horse’s shoulder and being able to close just one knee at a time as well is really important- so you’ve got to have that strength and being able to isolate different parts of your body. I like lots of what we do on the chair, strengthening your legs whilst getting that balance and anything with the Oov as well is great. We do one where I’m standing on the Oov in front of the chair and pushing the pedal up and down.
Kimberley Garlick: It’s just showing your imbalances between right and left- as a rider, you need to be able to communicate so subtly to the horse, don’t you? We talk about how the slightest shift through your seat bones, is how you get a change going forward into a canter and so forth. Can you explain how Pilates is affecting your, I guess, more intuitive responses?
Bridget Garlick: Well, What we have to remember is that horses can feel a fly land on them- they are so sensitive to any movement on them. So if you are sitting in the saddle and you are, bouncing around, that’s going to affect their balance- so we’ve got to be able to sit still in the saddle and be able to move our hips on a wave with the horse with our upper body staying still to allow the horse that freedom through their back and through their movement, but not impacting them with the movement of our upper body. So it’s being able to stay still in your upper body, relax hips. And then if we were asking to go to canter you then need to be able to move your leg within the hip socket and take your leg back to ask for the canter- that’s the same when you’re asking for a half pass or for a leg yield, you’ve got to be able to move that leg where you need it without the rest of your body moving around. As soon as we shift our weight, the horse has to counterbalance by shifting their weight as well. Particularly in say a sitting trot, if I’m not relaxed through my hips, my upper body’s going to bounce and I’m not going to be able to hug with my leg enough so it’s keeping your balance and being able to shift your weight in little ways that actually ask the horse to do what you’re needing to do without impacting their balance.
Kimberley Garlick: So when you’re talking about your core, it’s interesting because you are also talking about lot of hip dissociation there, spinal mobility, and it’s like a continual play of Pilates whilst you’re on the horse because you’re having to relate to how you impact through the saddle, right through to how you moving the leg without the pelvis so I can really relate to all of those benefits that you are talking about. But you also mentioned about coming into Pilates when you’re injured- do you want to explain some of the injuries that you’ve gone through and especially one of the big ones that you’ve gone through?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah. So unfortunately as a rider we do occur a lot of injuries- there’s been a few, everything from tailbone issues to broken arms, surgery on one of my legs- and then the big one was a head injury where I was kicked in the head by a horse and had to relearn to walk, talk and use my arms and my hands again to even brush my hair or my teeth I had to learn how to do all of that again.
Once I regained those initial movements back in my hands, Pilates was then really helpful to connect to my body again. I can remember the first time I got on the Reformer after the head injury and I couldn’t work out how to make my legs push the carriage away so I had to close my eyes and visualize and Mum you talked me through pushing the carriage away and what muscles I would be using and feeling that in my body. And then when I went and did it again, I was able to move the carriage. So it was helpful in learning to connect to my body and then also regaining that balance and strength once I worked out how to actually move everything. With the broken arm and the surgery on my leg it helped to regain strength in a way that wasn’t putting too much pressure on it straight away. It’s a very, low impact that’s not going to affect my body, but helps to gently get everything working again. The big one though, was after the head injury, getting my balance back.
Kimberley Garlick: So Bridget, when you first came back in, I remember that whole process you couldn’t speak your name, you had to learn to put your right foot back in front of your left. You weren’t able to put your own clothes on- you literally were learning how to walk, talk and the extent of it was very extreme. What was amazing was watching how we talk about that cerebellum component of the brain reconnecting with Pilates, and it was an interesting process to be a part of, as well as obviously an emotional process, but to watch you be able to reconnect your body because of the spring tension and out of all of the rehab that you were undergoing, I felt like Pilates was giving you the quickest response within your body. And today you are following so many different phenomenal equestrian riders, and they’re your mentors and your trainers, and so many people at that level are doing Pilates now as well!
Bridget Garlick: Yeah. the equestrian, industry is really starting to understand that we have to treat ourselves as athletes as well, so a lot of the best riders, like Kevin McNab, who just represented Australia at the World Championships, Pilates is a regular part of his training program. It not only helps with the fine movements of the dressage, but it’s so important for the stickability when we’re riding cross country to be able to hang on and stay the saddle when we have those moments where we might be going out the side door if a horse leaves a leg or something, so it’s really important and it’s great to see a lot of the top athletes now using that in their training program. I know that Edwina Alexander also does a bit in her program, and there’s so many riders doing that. I was listening to a workshop with Lucinda Green and she was talking about the difference between Pilates strength and brute strength- as in not just being so grunt and strong, but actually having this Pilates strength that you’re able to hold yourself in a balance lightly on the horse. So we’re not forcing them to do anything, we’ve just got strength to keep ourselves there and influence them with the different parts of our body, not just full force.
Kimberley Garlick: It’s all those little intuitive components that you’re learning along the way. You’ve mentioned to me in the past about when you go to Pilates, some things that you really don’t like to do when you’ve had various instructors across the globe and within Australia- you have mentioned a couple of things, and I think it’s really nice for practitioners to relate to this.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah anything that’s too much like a ballerina I really don’t want to have to point my toes I don’t like, you know, flowy kind of stuff- I just want to pinpoint all the little things I have to use when I’m on the horse and train those! Whether my arm floats nicely above my head doesn’t really affect me so anything where you have to coordinate that gentle, graceful movement, I’m just terrible at and prefer not to do it.
Kimberley Garlick: I think that’s really important to mention because so often people think that they have to be a graceful mover to come into Pilates and Pilates isn’t about creating ballet dancers- Pilates is about creating better function within the body and that’s why I really wanted Bruce and I to chat to you because this is so much more depth to Pilates than creating the pretty pictures- this is actually creating tools within your body to then be able to communicate to this over 500 kilogram mammal. And we were talking about how things like the fact that the horse has a sacroiliac joint dysfunction and then that can be exacerbated by us riding incorrectly.
Bridget Garlick: Or sometimes even caused by us- if we’re sitting incorrectly, we can cause problems in the horse as well. If we sit in a bad position, that then causes them to move their body and counterbalance that, which then becomes a habit and they start travelling in a way that’s not how the mechanics of the horse should naturally work. So it is important- not only for ourselves and how our horses go, but for their health as well, that we ride properly and have control of our body when we’re on them.
Bruce Hildebrand: Can we take you back to the start Bridget- when was it that it came to awareness for you that it was really critical that you explore this part of your training further? Your time on the horse, began at a young age and then somewhere along the pathway it became evident to you that you needed to incorporate these principles, otherwise there was going to be a bit of a dead end in your progress, or you were going to find you were performing suboptimally that you knew that you could do better. Can you take us through that phase of your progress and your learning?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, obviously I was lucky having mom, Kimberley as my mom, so I grew up with Pilates and I guess I didn’t realize how important it was until I actually moved out of home and was living up on a farm up in Queensland and wasn’t doing Pilates up there and found that I became quite weak as a rider- really lost that strength, I was moving around quite a bit and not having that control with my legs and my upper body and so when I then came back home, I was like I really need to make the Pilates a consistent, non-negotiable part of my training. When I get back into it, I’m like “Wow, I can really feel the difference!” and then after the brain injury to regain all of that back- that was from Pilates being able to hold myself up on the horse was because of Pilates. And even my coaches noticed it as well- like they would say, we can tell you’re getting a lot stronger and the only difference was that I was doing Pilates.
Bruce Hildebrand: That for me is a classic case of If you don’t know, you don’t know!”
Bridget Garlick: Yeah-
Bruce Hildebrand: And this is one of the intentions of The Pilates Diaries Podcast is to really have an attempt at least of articulating how that connection happens and we talk about the significance of your brain injury, of course I’m super interested exploring that further with you- but in the first instance as a young girl, being fortunate to be around your mum’s high level of expertise and exposed to that- and what I’m going to assume is it was essentially taken for granted that was available to you and around you, and you probably didn’t make the connection that it was so impactful on perhaps how you progressed in your early stages of your equestrian training and coaching and competing. Can you tell us more about when it really landed for you around what exactly you saw yourself doing or felt yourself doing on the horse that others around you weren’t doing, and what you also started to see in your coaching skills, in other riders that they were or they weren’t doing on the horse in regard to their own personal athletic ability, their own body awareness on the horse. Can you tell us more about that?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, it’s something I really noticed with my riders- I encourage all of them to do Pilates and there’s one that started doing Pilates and the progress that she made just in, being able to keep her heel down and her leg still and being able to relax through her hips on the horse was so incredible- the way her horses were going was just 10 times better! And then during the floods obviously the studio shut down and so she wasn’t doing Pilates and her riding was nowhere near as capable of keeping that leg still and having that strength on the horse. And it was, definitely the same for me- it was just part of what I did, I didn’t even realize that Pilates was helping me that much until I stopped doing it and then felt, after about maybe three months of not doing it, saw that I had become weak in my riding- mainly with my upper body moving quite a bit, which I think is lack of core strength, so definitely noticed that.
Bruce Hildebrand: And so for someone who has never tried Pilates, perhaps a keen equestrian rider, what would you recommend that they look out for in the way that they’re riding, common roadblocks that they’re going to come up against, that they’re not going to progress beyond with their riding skill unless they begin incorporating some of these ideas that Pilates is able to bring.
Bridget Garlick: I would say if you are someone that finds they duck their shoulder over a fence or throws their body forward when jumping a fence then you’re probably quite weak through your core and the same when you go to canter- a lot of people throw their inside shoulder, which can be just from engaging your obliques as you ask for canter- which a lot of people don’t know how to do unless you do Pilates really. And if you struggle to get your heels down, that flexibility of the ankle joint I think too, if you are finding that you are really sore from riding- riding isn’t the most natural thing for our bodies to do- it’s a lot of impact on our spine and so I know for me, I get off the horse and I’m quite tight and sore through my upper back and so if you’re finding that you’re struggling with that, that’s going to make your riding hard and so you need to be doing something out of the saddle that’s going to help to prevent that and take care of all of that.
Bruce Hildebrand: Along those lines, Bridget, where do you feel like you’d be at with your horse riding progress these days if you didn’t know these important distinctions in the way that you train yourself on the horse?
Bridget Garlick: Oh, I’d prefer not to think about it, but I would be really struggling I think, I’m quite a tall person and so it’s harder on the horse to engage all of my body sometimes I’m quite uncoordinated with it as well. And so I just think I wouldn’t have that awareness of being able to switch on different parts of my body- alot of the time I’ll say to students, Okay, now close your outside knee. And they go “Oh, how do I do that?” They can’t actually make that switch on. And for me, I’m just like, ” Oh, it’s easy, it’s just what you do.” But I think it’s because I train that out of the saddle when I go to Pilates. And even being able to switch on my tummy muscles as I go over a jump so that I don’t throw my body forward. All of that sort of thing is just really being aware of it with Pilates. So I think I would be really weak as a rider and probably wouldn’t be safe competing at the level I am competing at, because I wouldn’t have that strength to hold myself in the saddle if something went wrong, which things do go wrong.
Kimberley Garlick: I was also going to mention the sitting trot, which a lot of people who do dressage, for example, as well as eventing and so forth- that is really tricky to get the hang of. Is it because you’ve got to be able to have the pelvis sort of roll around the top of the femoral head and have a softness through that entire lower spine but because horse riding impacts it so much, there’s a rigidity in the spine of the equestrian riders?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, in the sitting trot, I think of it like your hips are going on a wave with the horse and if we tighten through our hips, which a lot of people do to try and hold themselves up because the sitting trot bounces you around quite a bit- a lot of people will tense up, but when they tense up, it makes them bounce more and that can cause a lot of pain on the horse’s back. So it’s about relaxing your hips, allowing your hips to go with the horse in that wave motion, and then really being able to switch on through your abductor muscles and your calf muscles to keep your lower legs still and having your core on so that your upper body doesn’t move. So your hips are moving and the rest of you staying still as possible. Obviously we’ll move a little bit because we’re, moving with a big horse, but if you are someone that fills your bounce around a lot in the saddle doing the sitting trot- Pilates is probably what you need to do because it’s just about understanding how to switch on all those muscles whilst keeping your hips relaxed.
Bruce Hildebrand: So Kimberley, in the pursuit of awareness of Pilates and the different styles of Pilates can be taught what do you feel like is good advice for someone who’s considering participating in Pilates in the context of equestrian participation what format would be the best for someone looking down those channels- because there’s many different ways that people can participate, correct?
Kimberley Garlick: Yeah, so true! Bridget does privates and semi-private- she doesn’t actually do the group reformer classes unless she’s looking for that third workout- but most of it is very designed because if you’ve done a weekend of competing, your body then has to actually deal with whatever’s happened on that weekend of competing. And pretty much every weekend she’s out competing. And then we have a lot of equestrian riders that come into the studio of all levels- we’ll have Western riders, we’ll have dressage riders, we’ve got the eventers that come through, and then we have riders that just do it for pleasure- but all of them are working on specific things for their body. So if you have a little rotation through your pelvis or your spine, then that, as Bridget was explaining so beautifully, then that actually transfers into your horse. So it’s about then creating your symmetry so that then your body is communicating in the best fashion for your horse. I would always suggest start off with private, then move into semi-private, and then if you’re looking for that extra workout as a fitness component, then doing a Reformer or Mat class is also great. It’s about creating a homework scenario as well- Bridget is always doing her own stretches, either before or off the horse- so you want someone that can guide you into specifics that says, Okay, for your body, you need to do this daily. And then that may change four weeks down the track as well.
Bridget Garlick: I think too if you are looking at using Pilates to help with your riding I would suggest talking to your riding coach about what aspects of your riding needs improvement and then telling your Pilates instructor about that so that can make it specific for what you’re struggling with as a rider..
Bruce Hildebrand: What I’m hearing Kimberley is that the likelihood to be able to learn the specifics and the detail of what’s going to be required on the horse isn’t really available in the more common group format where there might be 10 or 15 or 20 Reformers in the room, and it, there’s more of a fitness focus. There is a lot more detail, a lot more specifics, and requires a certain degree of understanding of equestrian requirements by the Pilates teacher?
Kimberley Garlick: Absolutely! They’re definitely not going to get what they need specifically in a large group class. There’s absolutely no way that’s a generic workout
Bruce Hildebrand: And that’s fine- there’s zero judgment around that, just highlighting the importance of identifying the differences and what different formats of classes can offer for different requirements.
Kimberley Garlick: Yeah, that’s right- and as I said like Bridget would do a Reformer class for fitness, but then the other’s more specific for what she wants to achieve in her own body. I was going to ask Bridge as well- you’re a life coach and have also done all your neurolinguistics training- as a life coach, you are working out how to incorporate different levels of outside environment to make it the best- you only work with equestrian riders and you do the life coaching along the way with all of your training- so how do you suggest that they put this into their goals and move forward to help them become better riders?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, so the iceberg theory is basically that all we can see is our conscious mind. So that’s the iceberg that’s above the water and then there’s a whole heap of ice below the water that we can’t see- that’s your subconscious. So what happens in our subconscious is then made to happen in our conscious. So the little subconscious thoughts, our brain works to actually make that a conscious action. I talk of it like a garden- so if you’re planting flowers in your garden, which are positive thoughts, then they are going to grow and your brain will work to make those positive actions. Whereas if you plant weeds as in negative thoughts, your brain will then work to make those negative actions happen. And with the way that your body is working and having awareness of your body helps to use it in a positive way and just being able to react quickly and situations and know which muscles to switch on quickly. And I think the other thing that Pilates really helped with in a mindfulness setting is being able to use your breath and having an awareness of your breath and using that in a competition setting to calm your nerves and to bring your heartbreak back down so that you can think clearly and properly and ride in a correct way as well. And as for the goal setting and trying to make Pilates an important aspect of our rider’s training. I do a few workshops and that sort of thing that try to help riders understand the importance of their mindset and then also the importance of treating themselves like an athlete with nutrition and with training out of the saddle. I think that comes down to knowing what you need to work on to improve as a rider and setting those goals and working towards improving it, not just in the saddle, but out of the saddle as well.
Bruce Hildebrand: I’m curious to ask for a Bridget what percentage of riders do you feel take advantage of Pilates the way that they could- when it comes to riding horses?
Bridget Garlick: I would say, being generous, less than 10%- it’s nowhere near enough people. In my view, for me, it would be almost dangerous, not including Pilates, because it’s a dangerous sport. especially when we ride around cross country, there’s a lot that can go wrong and you’ve got really have that strength, like what Lucinda Green was talking about- that Pilates strength- not brute strength, Pilates strength to actually hold yourself in the saddle when things don’t really go to plan. Nowhere near enough people in the equestrian community utilize Pilates and I would really love to see that change, especially for my students. I would love them all to really get into Pilates and see the benefits of it. But then just for the equestrian community as a whole, I think it would make the sport safer if people actually had that control in their bodies, when they ride out on cross country.
I would like to one day- mum and I have spoken about eventually- running workshops and clinics where we bring riders together and utilize Pilates in that setting and show them how much it can impact their riding in a positive way.
Kimberley Garlick: I’ve worked in the past with a gentleman who you know well Bridget- Jeff Morrison- he’s a phenomenal human osteo and horse chiropractor. And there was a period of time when I was in Sydney where we would go and film horse and rider and my job was to analyze the film and take the rider back into a Pilates studio, designing the appropriate workout for them. And then they would go back with their coach- he’s worked on the horse, I’ve worked on the rider- and then they bring it back together with their coach and that is what Bridget and I have spoken about in doing in the future- because Bridget where are your plans going with where you want to direct your life with horses? I feel that you’re going to have such an amazing impact on the individuals that come across you both practically and verbally.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, it would be really cool to, be a voice for Pilates in the equestrian world and to make it far more known to people and to riders and see the benefit that it can have for them.
Bruce Hildebrand: Bridget, I’m curious to ask there was a point in time I’d imagine, where the little rebel inside of all of us didn’t want to do what your mother wanted you to do, and probably knew ahead of time how much that would help you on the horse. Can you talk us through the phase when you didn’t want to participate in Pilates and you just wanted to keep doing things on the horse that you knew were going to be more tailored and more specific to actually riding as compared to time off the horse?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, even now it’s still hard to hear things from your mum sometimes- mum does a lot of watching me ride and seeing what my body does on the horse. And depending on my mood, I’m sometimes like “Oh mom!” but when I was younger I think my sisters went through a similar phase where we would just go ” Oh, do we really have to go into the Pilates studio and sit on the Reformer when it almost felt a bit boring to do! But afterwards you always felt good for doing it. And I think the good thing with mom’s studio, she always had other instructors as well- we sometimes would get taught by different people, which was always fun. But yeah, definitely- it’s hard to hear it from your mum sometimes,
Kimberley Garlick: Bridget, August 2020- you were down at the yards and you’ve come up and said, I’ve been kicked in the head. And you said, I feel a bit funny. I think I might just have a sandwich and then I’ll go back down and ride. And I was like, Okay, I think I should come with you just in case. And then you were like a drunk and you completely lost your ability to speak, and before we knew it, we were in an ambulance and they were trying to figure out where and what hospital you were going to go through. And it was a moment where it literally changed our lives and was very scary whether we would ever get you back. They had predicted a minimum of a year, but possibly two year recovery, and a girl that couldn’t even say her name or walk or hold a utensil, turned that around very quickly! And I remember we got you into the Pilate studio, I think it was within three weeks.
Bridget Garlick: It was when I came back from hospital- so that would’ve been about four weeks after I got kicked, because I was in hospital for about a month- but as soon as I was out of hospital, I was going into the studio and doing, even 10 minutes because at that stage I would find just 10 minutes of work really tiring- so we just started really small. On the Reformer, just learning to push the carriage out and bring it back in- that’s all we were doing to start with. And then we did a little bit with therabands being able to open one hand and bring it back in and open the other hand and bring it back in. We started really small but pretty much straight away and I think it was about six months later, I got back on the horse for the first time- so that was way quicker than what they predicted, which was amazing. Yeah.
Kimberley Garlick: You had residual migraines after for a while- but even the Pilates was assistive with that wasn’t it?
Bridget Garlick: Definitely- the migraines they’ve really just gone away this year, so they lasted about two years. But the Pilates helped to keep relieving tension through my skull and up through my neck and get my body to relax a little bit. It was almost like I was holding a lot of tension through my body for quite a while after getting kicked in the head and needed to learn to relax everything through the head and neck again. To start with in the Pilates studio I couldn’t even let my head go backwards at all. I had to have it up on a pillow because any sort of movement through the head was really irritating and would cause headaches. So we just gently allowing it to do that and relieving that tension, I think is what has helped to get rid of those.
Bruce Hildebrand: Bridget, I’m curious to ask the detail of the diagnosis- you touched on it briefly about a certain recovery time but I’m curious about the progress the experience for you? Your mum described it as a drunkenness and obviously that impact with your brain injury. I think it’s quite a curious and interesting experience when it comes to the return from such a traumatic experience.
Bridget Garlick: The first thing that I felt the first symptom it was like I was looking through a fly screen, I lost my vision I still went and got on the horse which is nuts, but went down to ride the horse and sounds weird, but I felt like I was fat, it was like my whole body had swollen up and I couldn’t control any of it. I was trying to explain it to mom, and I was like, Mum my arms just feel funny- I can’t close my hands properly and it wasn’t like all of a sudden I couldn’t see or talk or anything. It was this slow period of time well within an hour where I just was losing all these different functions. And then mum got me off the horse and rung the ambulance and the lady on the phone asked to speak to me and she put me on the phone. I was speaking to her and then started slurring my words and then she started asking me questions that I just, couldn’t answer. I had no control over making words come out of my mouth. She was saying to me, put mum back on the phone, put mum back on. And it took me maybe 30 seconds before I actually registered to hand the phone back- it was just this not being able to control anything- and then from there deteriorated quite quickly. I couldn’t speak and then I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move my arms. and then we got into the hospital and did the scans of my head and luckily I had no brain bleeds. so I didn’t need any surgery, but I was kicked right at the frontal lobe and what they think happened is that made all the wires in my brain get mish mashed.
Then it was about relearning to do all of that- you know, from little things like learn to talk again, I had to watch people move their mouth. It was quite hard because it was during the time of covid and so everyone had masks on I was still trying to learn, even when I got out of the hospital my speech wasn’t great- trying to learn when people were covering their mouths was really hard. I just mimicked what people did with their mouths and eventually got that back and it was just slow progressive learning to tap my thumb to my fingers and then move my hand to my face and that sort of thing. For me it wasn’t scary, it was just frustrating- I remember feeling so frustrated all the time because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do- I couldn’t move, I felt really stuck where I was- so that’s what was hard and especially when we first got into the hospital because I couldn’t explain to anyone what had happened so a lot of them thought I was just having some sort of anxiety attack, I’m not an anxious person so it was a really frustrating time for me because I was trying to communicate, but couldn’t use my body and my brain was functioning fine inside, but I couldn’t get any of that across which was really annoying!
They thought I was probably going to be in rehab for three months and I was out of there in, two weeks because everything they told me to do I’d go back to my room and practice it for, the whole time I was there, I was just practicing. It was tiny things like learning to stand up out of a chair or clicking a pen. I was doing that sort of stuff all the time to try and get it back because for me not moving was there was no way I wasn’t going to be riding horses again- that was never going to happen. So I had to work out how to make that happen quickly.
Kimberley Garlick: Remember they said you probably won’t ride a horse again, and you said “Yes I will!” in very slow motion- but you made it very clear that you will be riding horses again, and they were asking you to say different sounds-
Bridget Garlick: The main thing they tried to get me to say was British Constitution there was no way I was saying that!
Kimberley Garlick: And can you remember I said, Bridget? What’s the name of the medication that your horse is on? And you said it straight away. It was just very interesting how you could relate to horses right from then. Talking the correct language is so important through rehab because whenever we spoke about horses, your communication was so much clearer than talking about something that was so not relative to you. That comes back into how we teach is talk the language that is relative to the person, rather than talking a language that doesn’t have any relationship with that person. When you started riding again, you still were losing control of your right hand and remember we had to work a lot more through the right hand than the left?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, I’m a right handed person, but the main side was the right side that was affected and that was a struggle when I first got back on the horses even being able to hold the reign properly. I remember the first time I got on feeling really unco on the horse- I’ve got videos of it on my phone still and I’m like “Wow!” I don’t know how the horse is put up with that! I was very off balance and not feeling like my normal self on the horse. But with time it all came back. I got kicked in the head in August and did my first competition back in March- so it was a quick turnaround which was good.
Bruce Hildebrand: That’s a phenomenal recovery- I think it’s important to acknowledge! In terms of full recovery, do you feel like there’s any ongoing effects of the trauma, Bridget?
Bridget Garlick: I’m feeling really good now. I struggled with migraines for quite a while, but I don’t think I’ve had one for about three months now. That’s a long time for me to not have a migraine- that’s been really cool. I was lucky actually I had a pretty bad full cross country about a month ago where I hit my head really hard, I broke my nose and everything and we were worried that some of those old struggles after the brain injury might reoccur, but didn’t have any of that come back up- so I feel like my brain is feeling very healed, which is good.
Bruce Hildebrand: Can you share with us the attributes that you feel were contributing most to your rehab, Bridget- you mentioned that you’d previously studied Neurolinguistic Programming and Life Coaching and your Pilates of course, and then your extensive physical participation in horse riding. What was the sequence of skills that you brought and the mindset that you brought to your rehab recovery process?
Bridget Garlick: The first thing is probably that I’m really stubborn and very determined, so when I set my mind to doing something, I just have to make it happen. So that’s probably what helped me work through it. And then I’m really lucky that my mum is my mum because she helped me so much that when I was out of rehab we were straight back in the Pilates studio and because I was determined to work towards getting fixed and feeling better anything that anyone told me to do, I was just working really hard do that and I’m just, lucky that mum was there to help reconnect the body side of it.
Bruce Hildebrand: I can share a story of an unfortunate incident where I am here in Victoria- one of my clients is a keen rider as well and she unfortunately took a fall, now, probably three years ago her family, who I also teach, tell the story of visiting her in the rehab hospital within a month of her coming out of her coma and the nursing staff were saying “What on earth are you doing out of bed?- get straight back into bed!” and her response was I’m not going to get better at just laying in bed- I need to get up! She was doing things like standing on one leg doing her best to recover her balance, and staying as proactive as possible in the rehab process. I’m sure it’s unique for every individual situation- however the proactive approach seems to have worked in both yours and her situation.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, I think the thing with horse riders is we love our horses so much we can’t imagine a world not riding and we’re quite a stubborn bunch and not very good patients so tend to ride in all manner of situations where we probably shouldn’t, but yeah it’s a good thing in those cases.
Bruce Hildebrand: Bridget can you take us through a timeline of your riding participation and where that intersected with your Pilates participation even periods where you chopped and changed maybe with your riding focuses and pursuits, including this time when you said you were away from your folks and not accessing Pilates studios. Could you take us through some sort of timeline along those lines?
Bridget Garlick: There’s photos of me on a horse when I don’t think I could even walk- so been on a horse forever and learned to ride before learning to walk. it’s been my whole life basically and got my own horse when I was six. From there started competing I did my first ODE which is eventing when I was eight and have been hooked on eventing ever since then. We moved up from Sydney when I was 10 years old, and when we got up here, we found some new coaches and I had, a really amazing coach up here called Holly and she helped me find different people to go and base with. From there when I was 16 I decided to distance education and moved up to Kalbar about an hour inland from Brisbane to work on a farm called Rangeview Equestrian for Ross Smith and Matt Gaske- they’re riders up there I took a couple of horses up there with me and worked for them as a groom and a rider for three years. That’s when I was away from the Pilates and really did feel the effects of that. When I was about to turn 19, moved back home and set up my own business at home and I’ve been here doing that for four years and I’ve gotten back into the Pilates, obviously trying to do that quite a bit and I still get coached by Ross and Matt up at Rangeview and they can definitely see the effects that Pilates has the way it has helped my riding
Bruce Hildebrand: And tell us more about the pathway that those guys took you on in terms of your riding progress and you’re riding success- what distinctions did they bring to your riding training and what was the relationship to Pilates that you could see the two coming together as to that becoming a more integrated approach that you’re taking to your riding coaching.
Bridget Garlick: Ross and Matt were amazing- they’re like my other family they really taught me a lot about horse management, learning how to keep horses sound fit, how to keep horses as the athletes. That was very much the focus up there- the horse as the athlete- they come first- I learned so much about looking after them and all the really little intricate stuff of managing a farm and a business. When I came home I wanted to include that and incorporate that into my own style of doing things where I make myself an athlete as well- where I have a focus in my coaching of trying to develop not just the horse rider, but the horse person and that’s something that they taught me to do. They’re not just training you as a rider, they’re training you to manage and look after your horses as well. But yeah I wanted to incorporate myself as an athlete a little bit more so that I feel like I can do my horses justice when I’m on them.
Bruce Hildebrand: So Bridget, with those things coming together, the time up in Southern Queensland where you alluded to a lot of focus on the horse being the athlete and then your self-awareness and your involvement long term with Pilates, making yourself the athlete, can you share with us where you are setting yourself aspirations of integrating those two moving forward?
Bridget Garlick: My goal as a rider is to eventually move overseas and base overseas and compete at the five stars around the world, which are the highest level in eventing. Over in Europe eventing is a lot bigger than what it is here and so I’d like to go base over there and make a name for myself and then hopefully represent Australia at the World Championships and the Olympics.
A big thing for me that I’ve had as a goal for a really long time is to win the Grand Slam of eventing which is very hard to do- only two people have ever done it, but I would love to be the third . That’s where you win Badminton, Burley, and Kentucky, all in the same year- they’re three different, amazing locations. Kentucky’s in America, and Badminton and Burley are at these beautiful houses in England and even though they’re called a three day, they usually run over five days and they’re very big. We do dressage, cross country and show jumping as well as having trot ups in between those where they check the soundness of our horse. They’re at five star level, which is the highest level of the sport so the jumps get up to a meter 25 cross country and they can be two meters wide. they’re huge jumps and they’re solid jumps and in the show jumping phase they get up to a meter 30 and the cross country course is around that 11 to 12 minutes we’re traveling at an average of 570 meters per minute. So we’re going quick, we’re jumping big fences and we really need to be fit to do that. And I guess where it’s so important for me to be an athlete and to incorporate Pilates in that is that with Badminton and Kentucky, they’re only a week apart- that’s a really quick recovery time between events. Kentucky is first, it’s over in America and then we fly to Badminton in England- so you’ve got to be in such a healthy state to recover that quickly and to get your body right to then compete again- and not only compete- but to win again! That’s where for me, making myself a as much as an athlete, as the horse is going to play a big part.
Bruce Hildebrand: Am I hearing that you need to get your horse from the US to the UK in the space of a week and have three different events in the space of a couple of weeks and you have to be fit and strong to be able to match that as well- that sounds pretty high level elite performance?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, this is where it’s really important to have that string of horses that I was talking about- we won’t just have one horse- we’ll have one horse compete at Kentucky and while I’m competing that horse, my groom will be taking the other horse to Badminton. I will finish the event in Kentucky and then fly myself to Badminton to compete the next horse. My groom in Kentucky will fly that horse wherever my home is. So you need more than one horse- hopefully a good string of horses, but it is really important that you are fit enough because you as a rider have to back up Your horse might not have to, but you definitely do.
Bruce Hildebrand: I would assume that this comes at no mean price either- one of my clients his daughter competed for Australia at the level that you’re talking about- and it came with the price tag.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, it is a very expensive sport- this is where it’s really important for me to find myself owners and investors who help me get to these events because it’s hard to fund that all yourself. I have a few good owners at the moment, which I’m really lucky to have and the goal is to get more and to have them help me get to these big events, which is really cool- but you do win a pretty good check if you win, which is nice as well so will make it all worth it, ,
Bruce Hildebrand: And that’s where the guys at Rangeview really helped to build that acumen around running it as a business as much as everything else needed to come together.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, and I’m so lucky they still help me- I’ll still ring them up and ask them questions about how to speak to a potential investor and how I should work the financials of an agreement and all of that sort of stuff that is just so hard to know on your own so yeah, that’s where they really taught me how to run the business side of it, which is so important because when it costs this much to do it, has to become a business.
Kimberley Garlick: Bridget, let’s go forward a few years you are overseas and you’re getting to that level of competition, how are you going to incorporate your Pilates over there?
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, that’s where it’s so important to have a good team and have a good foundation with my Pilates before I get over there and having a good plan of exercises that are easy for me to do at an event. exercises I can do in the truck, as well. And making a plan of what I do in the lead up, what I do as a warmup before I get on the horse, and then how I help myself recover afterwards.
Kimberley Garlick: You nailed it then by saying having the foundations- so if you have your initial Pilates coach create the foundations, you already have this amazing base. Joseph Pilates wanted everyone to be able to do their Pilates no matter where they are- so even though, yes, the equipment is number one and you get so much more out of it- if you can have that knowledge inside your body, you can do it anywhere- as you said, you do it in your truck, you do it no matter where you are able to then pull out your spikey ball, you get your therabands- you’ve got all those things on hand and the great thing is the knowledge of Pilates it’s everywhere around, and you’ll be able to find amazing studios over there.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, in my truck at the moment, I keep a roller I keep some bulls and a thorough band, I have a pre-ride workout and a post ride workout that I do to warm myself up and then to help recover afterwards. Having a really good plan and having an instructor that knows the little specific things that you struggle with so they can create the plan for you specifically. I think that’s where it’s good going into a studio and knowing your instructor as much as online courses are good- it really helps to have your instructor know you and know exactly the little things that you need to be doing- which is where it’s really helpful for me to have that plan with you mum, that I then am able to do at events specific for what I need.
Kimberley Garlick: Bridge, what are your personal struggles within your own body? I know you ride lots of different horses, and every horse has a different response. How has Pilates helped you to adapt to all the different horses underneath you?
Bridget Garlick: Pilates has helped me to switch on and off different muscles when I need it most. The thing I struggle with in my body on the horse is my posture- I’m quite a forward rider naturally because I am quite tall, that I sit forward and so I’ve had to train myself to get my body tall and straight and still. It used to- especially when I jumped- used to fall forward quite a bit and then as I progressed with my training with my dressage I’m slightly too far forward when I ride, so getting my body back and good posture through my body has been something that Pilates has helped with. I think a lot of that comes with the core strength. When I am changing between different horses, all the basics are pretty much the same, the way I sit on the horse is the same- it’s more the way that I ask for different things that changes. So changing between horses, Pilates has helped that I can isolate different body parts and find different ways of asking for things easily because I have control of my body. But the foundation is the same for all the horses with my posture and position.
Kimberley Garlick: So if you come balanced and have the best possible symmetry within your body, you can then adapt to any horse underneath you where if you come and you already have your asymmetries and the imbalances occurring, then that’s going to exacerbate what’s already going on in that horse.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, you’ve got to sit really centered on your seat bones and as still as possible- we have to make it easy for the horse to carry us and that comes from being a strong rider that isn’t relying on the horse for balance- you are balancing yourself and the horse just moves underneath you and you allow yourself to go with them.
Kimberley Garlick: Bridget, you’ve mentioned before about pubic symphysis pain and the kind of impact that happens down through that whole pubic area and how for someone so young, Pilates has been helping you work with the pelvic floor and all that pubic symphysis pain.
Bridget Garlick: Yeah, I do struggle with pubic symphysis pain- it’s really painful and it’s just because I’m in the saddle and in that position so much. It hurts in the saddle and even doing regular things out of the saddle causes pain there too, so we’ve been training that a lot in Pilates lately trying to help switch on the pelvic floor and finding ways that I can use my muscles to help prevent that pain. Say when I’m having to use my abductor muscles, if I have to close my knees on the horse’s side, that would usually cause quite a bit of pubic symphysis pain- so we’ve worked on being able to switch my core on as I do that and put my leg in a certain way, which reduces that pain as I do it. It’s that information to take with me when I’m on the horse to use my muscles in a certain way that will prevent the pain as well as doing things to help recover afterwards.
Bruce Hildebrand: Bridget. Those are incredibly inspiring aspirations you have with your international competitions at the elite level taking out that coveted prize that you so dearly would love to hold one day. I’ve been fortunate enough as no doubt you have as well Kimberley to work with a handful of elite athletes and I know for a fact that the determination on the podcast today is the grounds to proceed with that advancement in your training. It’s also been fascinating for me as a Pilates teacher, fortunate to work with those sort of athletes to see that the insight and the diligence and the attention to detail that such people have in their general makeup to achieve the high level that they do- so it’s exciting foundations for you to continue building on and continue competing at the top level- so well done!
Bridget Garlick: Thank you. Yeah, it’s all those little things that no one sees that probably have the greatest impact so it’s what you do out of the saddle as much as in the saddle that will really make you a great rider.
Bruce Hildebrand: Bridget’s been absolutely wonderful having you on the podcast today- thanks for your insights and your application of the Pilates method into your chosen field. Kimberley, fascinating to hear your perspective- as a mother of a high performing athlete- to be able to share your passion and love of Pilates to foster Bridget’s progress through her competitions and up through the top level. Interested to hear your takeaway as we wrap up for today’s call.
Kimberley Garlick: Yeah, it’s always a privilege to work with elite athletes but when it’s your own flesh and blood, that adds another dimension and this young lady works superiorly harder than I’ve ever met in any person and I believe one hundred percent that we will see her on that podium one day and I’ll be claiming Pilates got her there!
Bruce Hildebrand: Spoken like a true Pilates devote and shall I say geek!
Thank you so much for those insights and we’ll look forward to chatting to you next time on the podcast.
Kimberley Garlick: Bye!
Bridget Garlick: Thanks- bye!
Bruce Hildebrand: We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Pilates Diaries Podcast. Drop us a comment online at the links in the show notes, and be sure to subscribe and rate the podcast to keep updated with episode releases and hear more stories from our guests’ Pilates Diaries. This podcast is made possible by the following sponsors- keep an ear out for exclusive Pilates Diaries Podcast listener discount codes. Thanks for listening. The Pilates Diaries Podcast is a proud partner with TRIMIO. TRIMIO is a much needed space and time utilization booking system for the Pilates industry. With TRIMIO you can return your focus to delivering the highest value to your customers. No longer be lost to the encumbrances of inefficient interactions and experience a new level of working freedom with the power of technology automation doing what it should. Maximize your profitability by optimizing the utilization of your time and physical space with TRIMIO. Find out more at www.TRIMIO.app.
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