Internal Discipline:
This is the discipline that sets your alarm at 6am and actually gets you up at 6 am and off to the gym and then you do the 3 sets of 12 reps of those strengthening exercises.
External Discipline:
This is the discipline that the gym’s trainer exerts when he or she counts out all 12 reps and then starts you on the second and then the third set.
Lou Denizard’s Discipline
Lou does not count out reps or shout above the booming gym music “ten more” or “come on, step it up now” Nope. Dressage discipline is much more subtle than that. He puts poles on the arena floor and various exercises have to be completed within the confines of those ground poles. The most recent of these was poles for the Intermediare 1 Zig Zag movement. If you are not familiar with it here is how it goes. You have picked up the right lead canter and …
- 1) Turn down centerline at A
- 2) half pass right 5 meters
- 3) straighten and flying change to left lead.
- 4) half pass left 10 meters
- 5) straighten and flying change to right lead.
- 6) half pass right five meters
- 7) straighten and flying change to left lead
- 8) At C track left.
Lou knows I struggle with this movement so he devised some pole visuals to help me. Here are the poles laid out for me.
The poles are the external discipline. I half pass right and then at the pole that is parallel to the long side of the arena I straighten and flying change to the left lead. Then following the next set of poles I half pass left. I cannot make the half pass less steep, I cannot make my flying change anything but straight because there is a pole there! I have to immediately start my half pass left or Biasini will have to hop over the poles.
Here is a video of me working through the exercise with the discipline of the poles. This is by no means perfect and there are many elements I can improve but this discipline of the poles give me a visual and it helps me to hit my marks in time to complete the exercise with time to straighten, organize and carry on to the next movement.
Although I find the pole discipline difficult I like it because it give a clear visual and just like the gym’s trainer it forces me to Do It Now!
HorseAddict 
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