Tricks for keeping your heels down.

Nickles1973

Nickles1973

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As title really, for some reason I'm really struggling with this at the moment. It's probably been going on for a while but it's been pointed out to me a couple of times now by my instructor and y.o. If anything i seem to be getting worse as the harder I try to correct myself the worse I seem to be. I even ended up with cramp in my right calf in my lesson on monday because my toe was pointing down! Any suggestions for how to get my toes up would be gratefully recieved.
 
Sounds daft but actually thinking toes up rather than heels down often works.

Also try to imagine your legs hanging really loosely from your hips, a bit like a rag doll. Let everything go other than balancing your foot in the stirrup with your toes up. It sounds like you are gripping with your legs so relaxing them will help with the problem.

Don't worry about it too much though, I've got a myriad of riding faults so if that is your only one you'll soon have it sorted out I reckon!
 
Work without stirrups. Even just in walk, can trot aswell if you wanted to, think about lengthening your leg and letting it relax. When you put your feet back in your stirrups you should find it easier to keep yours heals where they are ment to be.
 
This usually happens because a rider is gripping with their knees and thighs. This in turn happens for a variety of reasons: are you feeling nervous and using your legs to cling on? Are you having to use a lot of leg to keep the horse going?

don't try to force your heels down, this will create more of the tension and gripping that is causing the problem in the first place. Instead try lifting your knees a fraction away from the saddle and wrapping your legs around the horse.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I will give some of them a try. I'm not sure about hacking in a forward seat as with an ex racer I'm not sure if I'll stay in trot for long lol! I'm going to give standing on the edge of the bottom stair stretching my calf muscle a go too. As I think my mucles are a bit tight.
 
Steorra said:
This usually happens because a rider is gripping with their knees and thighs. This in turn happens for a variety of reasons: are you feeling nervous and using your legs to cling on? Are you having to use a lot of leg to keep the horse going?

don't try to force your heels down, this will create more of the tension and gripping that is causing the problem in the first place. Instead try lifting your knees a fraction away from the saddle and wrapping your legs around the horse.
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Your comments are interesting as I'm certainly not concious of gripping and I'm definately not nervous but I have in the past few weeks really been having to use a lot of leg to get my boy going forward. I'm starting to get to grips with his backward thinking by doing loads and loads of walk halt, walk trot, canter trot canter transitions so maybe the toe thing will just sort itself out. I can guarantee I'll have developed another fault by the time I have my next lesson though lol!
 
Once he will go forward from a light squeeze you'll probably stop doing it in that case! Make sure that you are giving the aid with the inside of your calf, rather than lifting your heel to give a nudge. It is soooo hard to have a good position on a horse who is a bit backward thinking though - like you say if you can get him more responsive then the toe thing will probably sort itself out.
 
I had this problem when I began riding, but read in a horsey magazine that putting your stirrups up does the trick. So I shortened mine a couple of notches and I've never had to think about keeping my heels down. Good luck anyway :) xx
 
A good trick is to ride in two point at walk, trot and canter - a very light, slightly forward seat with all your weight pushed into your heels. If you can train yourself to do a bit of this each time you ride, you'll almost certainly notice a difference over time.
 
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