*note, this entry is written on the assumption the reader has a correct understanding of the posting trot. If not, no worries, there will be an entry addressing that soon.
You've all heard it. Over and over and over....HEELS DOWN! You've been told why, "So your foot doesn't slide through the stirrup", "It helps you balance" and my favorite "Because I said so!"
I am a guilty as the next trainer of yelling this phrase at the top of my lungs across the arena. But HEELS DOWN isn't all I am asking of you. It is, in fact, short hand for you to fix MANY other issues going on so that your heels can drop.
And so today we are going to talk about what I am REALLY asking for when I fall back to the old standard of "HEELS DOWN!!"
Let's start with the WHY of having our heels down. Our stirrups are a tool to help support the left over body weight not supported by our seat and thigh. Obviously we should be strong enough to work all our gaits with out stirrups, but let's be honest, those handy buggers really help keep the fatigue at bay by offering support. So, the short answer is, the heel in down because it is bearing weight. But in reality, it isn't quite so simple.
From here on out, I am going to refer to it as "dropping the heel", you will understand why shortly. Dropping the heel really begins all the way up in the upper body. Dropping the heel, is in fact, a byproduct of riding balanced. When we ride balanced we are aligned down the body: Shoulder/hip/heel. Our weight is settled in to our hips keeping our upper body light and able to follow our horse's center of gravity. Our joints are all relaxed and opening and closing softly following our horse's motion. Our seat bones or thighs (pending the gait) bear the weight and any excess drains down our leg and out the soles of our foot.
NOW, imagine yourself in the saddle, close your eyes and visualize it until you can feel yourself riding. Now imagine I snap my fingers and your horse *POOF* disappears! You drop to the ground. How will you land?
Falling forward?
If you find yourself landing this way, you are likely pushing too much weight on to the ball of the foot, depending on your stirrup too much and using it too push yourself out of the saddle. You likely find yourself "ducking" or "chasing" your horse over fences if you jump.
On your rear?
If you end up on your bum, you are likely trying SO HARD to force those HEELS DOWN you are driving your lower leg forward and taking away your base of support. You probably find your ride with your upper body too far down and forward while posting, this is your body trying to counter balance and find the center of gravity.
Flat on your feet?
If you are balanced you will land flat on your feet. Heels and balls of the foot hitting the ground so you can stand. Because in reality, when your foot is in the stirrup there is no more or less weight on either the heel or the ball of the foot. In fact, just like when you are standing on the ground, they share in carrying the weight.
WHY then is the heel lower? Simple physics, there is nothing under the heel to support it and so it will drop lower than the ball of the foot which is supported by the stirrup iron.
Got that? Ok, so HOW do we drop the heel? After all, didn't I just say up there under "On your rear" that if you push your heel down your will drive your lower leg out of position? YUP, I sure did. But, now that we are balanced we can start letting our joints do their jobs, bending and flexing. So, to allow our heels to drop, we need to stretch and soften our tendons and ligaments starting at our lumbar all the way through the ankle. THEN we need to accept the fact that if we relax the ankle joint and allow it to flex we are not going to break. PROMISE! The most difficult part about this is getting used to the feel of the ankle MOVING while we ride, the weird feeling of just letting go. But once you have that, you will be much more effective.
That's all their is to it, REALLY. Carry the weight equally, relax the ankle and let the unsupported heel fall in to position.
REMEMBER, when we ride we are ALWAYS moving, every joint is constantly adjusting. We are never perfectly still. It is our soft joints following our horses' movements that makes it seem as if we are not moving our selves.
"A Quiet Rider is a rider who is never still"
Now, like my green arabs, I'm going to put you in your stall to marinate on this for a day, then I will write up 3 specific exercises to help you soften your joints (as well as understand how they move together) and get you to Drop those Heels.
Jessica.
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