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 Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:40 pm
so I started my official lessons yesterday, and the trainer teaches "toes in heels down" for foot position, and I want some tips on how to strengthen my ankles and help keep my heels down without too much force.
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:33 am
Are you riding dressage? All I know is dressage, and I've used these techniques for a long time-
If you're riding in paddock boots, what I've found is to find a length that would be comfortable for you in knee-high/riding boots (in paddock boots it should feel long enough that you can stand in it, but like your foot might fall out). Shorten both sides by one or two holes, and instead of putting just your toes into the stirrup, put it all the way to the arch of your foot.
If you have riding boots, however, I suggest slightly longer stirrups than with paddock boots, as you won't be able to bend your knees and ankles as well. Keep your feet in the stirrup, but only enough to have the balls of your feet resting on the bar.
Now, in the walk, focus on forcing your heels down for 10-15 minutes at a time, or just until the muscles on the back of your feet start to hurt. This is really the only way to do it, and the way I was told (I had a trainer for my riding, and for a month another trainer to help with my position), your ankles should HURT like HELL when you get off, because then you know that you're doing it right- the first time I had a lesson with this trainer, when I got off my horse, I was in so much pain. But after a few lessons, it'll be easier and less painful, and you'll soon not have any problems with it (unless you're me, and find yourself two-pointing in the canter on a trail ride because you're not used to cantering an uncollected horse. XD).
Note, that this is mostly just dressage, and if you aren't doing dressage, then I wouldn't suggest doing it because I honestly don't know s**t about the other equitations. xD
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:09 pm
You should beware of 'forcing' your heels down because it tends to push your leg forward, and creates stress in the rest of your body. Your heels do not need to be nearly vertical. It may be that your muscles and tendons in your leg need to be stretched. I would recommend using a stair, placing the balls of your feet on the edge of the stair and gently letting your weight sink in to your heels. When you feel a 'burn' in the backs of your legs, keep stretching. For a muscle to be built up, it must 'burn' for a bit. Do not push yourself too hard at first. If you are in terrible pain after stretching, you may have worked your muscles too hard. If you have gone a bit overboard, and find it hard to even walk, give your legs a day of rest. Muscles need about a day and a half to recover from a 'burn' session (that's when the muscle tissue heals itself - adding more muscle). wink
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:28 pm
Antlers You should beware of 'forcing' your heels down because it tends to push your leg forward, and creates stress in the rest of your body. Your heels do not need to be nearly vertical. It may be that your muscles and tendons in your leg need to be stretched. I would recommend using a stair, placing the balls of your feet on the edge of the stair and gently letting your weight sink in to your heels. When you feel a 'burn' in the backs of your legs, keep stretching. For a muscle to be built up, it must 'burn' for a bit. Do not push yourself too hard at first. If you are in terrible pain after stretching, you may have worked your muscles too hard. If you have gone a bit overboard, and find it hard to even walk, give your legs a day of rest. Muscles need about a day and a half to recover from a 'burn' session (that's when the muscle tissue heals itself - adding more muscle). wink If you do it on stairs, you'll more likely have to work harder later on to fix the position of your toes. Also, I've never had a problem with pushing my heels down and my legs moving forward from that, nor from stress. Neither have any of my friends, or anybody else I know who's done that, in fact. You just have to be in the right position torso-wise. It should only hurt alot if you were doing a LOT of posting, because that should be when you have the most movement in your legs, and you're working on muscles that are completely untouched in a day-to-day basis. Your heels should only be very painful if you're in knee-high boots and they were broken in before you started working on this, meaning you have to break in a different area of the boot.
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:00 pm
Well, you are fortunate then. With nearly all of my students that I have taught, and who are working on their EQ, when I would say 'heels down', the leg goes forward, and they almost never realize it until I actually come over and show them. Instead, I try to say 'toes up', so they put their heels down but don't push to the point where it moves their leg out of line.
So, Nicole, try to think about pointing your toes up if you find your leg slipping forward. If you want to keep your toes parallel to the horse instead of pointing out like a duck's, think about letting your leg get loooong around the horse, and sitting like you're bow-legged cowboy. The tendon at the back of your leg will stretch to get your heel down, but a different muscle is stretched to get them pointed forward. One trainer taught me to "post of your pinkie toe" to get the toes pointed inwards (you do not actually put all your weight onto your toe, but it's an image for you to visualize). This can be a lot harder to achieve, and if you are still struggling with your heels, work on heels first, then worry about your toes (it will be easier on your legs). When you do work on toes forward, you will feel a burn on the outsides of your calves, from your ankle to your knee.
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:13 pm
this is partially the reason I'm such a big advocate for the 'vienna style' of riding- no stirrups, no tension, great form. The first week I worked with my horse, I did everything without stirrups, and he did better without the stirrups to confuse everything than he did when I used them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:06 pm
Antlers Well, you are fortunate then. With nearly all of my students that I have taught, and who are working on their EQ, when I would say 'heels down', the leg goes forward, and they almost never realize it until I actually come over and show them. Instead, I try to say 'toes up', so they put their heels down but don't push to the point where it moves their leg out of line.
So, Nicole, try to think about pointing your toes up if you find your leg slipping forward. If you want to keep your toes parallel to the horse instead of pointing out like a duck's, think about letting your leg get loooong around the horse, and sitting like you're bow-legged cowboy. The tendon at the back of your leg will stretch to get your heel down, but a different muscle is stretched to get them pointed forward. One trainer taught me to "post of your pinkie toe" to get the toes pointed inwards (you do not actually put all your weight onto your toe, but it's an image for you to visualize). This can be a lot harder to achieve, and if you are still struggling with your heels, work on heels first, then worry about your toes (it will be easier on your legs). When you do work on toes forward, you will feel a burn on the outsides of your calves, from your ankle to your knee. hmmm, I havent had that problem yet.... really all I want is some tips so that my ankles dont hurt alot after my next lesson. so heres how I can explain it.... the trainer says toes in, and heels down. but instead of it looking like my toes are in, it makes my foot look straight parralell (sp?) to the horse instead of outward like most people..... cant really explain it....
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:03 pm
You can't really get out of the pain a good lesson will brings you ( smile ), but you can lessen it by trying the stair excersise I suggested. You may also ask your trainer for excersise you can do at home. She will know what's best as she can actually see you riding.
You don't really want your toes 'in', or, pointing towards the horse's barrel, as that will take your legs off the horse and you will be unable to give clear aids. When trainers say 'toes in' the usually mean that they want your toes pointing forward, with your legs against the horse, ready to give aids. Is that what you mean?
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:47 pm
Antlers
You don't really want your toes 'in', or, pointing towards the horse's barrel, as that will take your legs off the horse and you will be unable to give clear aids. When trainers say 'toes in' the usually mean that they want your toes pointing forward, with your legs against the horse, ready to give aids. Is that what you mean?yea like that, she said toes in so I did that. and it turned out that my feet where actually looking like their parralell(sp?) against the horses sides.
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:01 pm
nicole_isahottie13 Antlers Well, you are fortunate then. With nearly all of my students that I have taught, and who are working on their EQ, when I would say 'heels down', the leg goes forward, and they almost never realize it until I actually come over and show them. Instead, I try to say 'toes up', so they put their heels down but don't push to the point where it moves their leg out of line.
So, Nicole, try to think about pointing your toes up if you find your leg slipping forward. If you want to keep your toes parallel to the horse instead of pointing out like a duck's, think about letting your leg get loooong around the horse, and sitting like you're bow-legged cowboy. The tendon at the back of your leg will stretch to get your heel down, but a different muscle is stretched to get them pointed forward. One trainer taught me to "post of your pinkie toe" to get the toes pointed inwards (you do not actually put all your weight onto your toe, but it's an image for you to visualize). This can be a lot harder to achieve, and if you are still struggling with your heels, work on heels first, then worry about your toes (it will be easier on your legs). When you do work on toes forward, you will feel a burn on the outsides of your calves, from your ankle to your knee. hmmm, I havent had that problem yet.... really all I want is some tips so that my ankles dont hurt alot after my next lesson. so heres how I can explain it.... the trainer says toes in, and heels down. but instead of it looking like my toes are in, it makes my foot look straight parralell (sp?) to the horse instead of outward like most people..... cant really explain it.... I don't know who you've been looking at, but "most people," unless they ride Western, keep their feet parallel to the horse's sides, NOT pointing out... because having your feet parallel to the horse's sides is correct. o__0 Pointing your toes out like a duck is not. But you have to build those muscles to be able to keep your feet straight. I think there was once a time when ALL of us rode with our toes poking out because it was more comfortable at the time. Just consciously remind yourself to turn your toes in (even though it'll be hard for a while) and eventually it'll start to feel normal. It never caused any pain for me. *shrug*
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:01 pm
Yes, many, MANY people ride with their toes out - even some top riders. I hate to say it, but I can count the number of riders who keep their toes parallel at my barn with one hand. You want to keep your toes parallel. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:20 pm
Antlers Yes, many, MANY people ride with their toes out - even some top riders. I hate to say it, but I can count the number of riders who keep their toes parallel at my barn with one hand. You want to keep your toes parallel. 3nodding Yeah, and feet sticking out just looks ugly. gonk
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:41 am
This is when I'm glad to have my trainer- she'll have me be riding around and all of a sudden she'll yell 'HEELS DOWN! TOES IN! You know these things, Lyzz!' and I'll change it. XD
My trainer is so cool. XD
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:22 pm
Ugh. My old trainer was an idoit. Seriously.
She wanted you toes in. Not parrelle. IN
Like, when you squeese with your legs, your toes should be touching the horses side. Like you're pidgon toed on a horse.
...No wonder I have knee problems.
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:31 pm
Ewww - that's very odd. Did she tell you why she wanted them that way? o_O
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