Hello! I have a little problem here.
First off, I have a tendency to have more weight in my seat than my heels-making my heels flatter. I have been working on trying to push my heels down (even though honestly it’s not really that big of a deal outside the hunter world…), but while doing so I start to lose feeling in my feet and lower leg. Pins + Needles, numbness, pain, ect occur as I continue riding.
So basically I’m cutting off the circulation to my feet/lower leg by putting my heels down.
Would stretching my calves/heels help (on the edge of the stairs)? I have tried that before, but it doesn’t seem to help.
Thank you!
Instead of pushing, have you tried relaxing into your heels? Imagine your leg is just getting heavier and heavier and growing roots into the ground. The release has to come from your hip and cascade its way down.
Pushing is synonymous with bracing in my mind. Forcing it is causing the issue – if I get bracey, my feet go numb whereas if I relax my whole leg and think my foot weighs a metric ton, I have a fluid heel down.
I have achilles tendonitis so my heel/tendon is always swollen and me foot and calfs go numb. I do stretches for it (like you said it doesn’t really help) I ended up shorting my stirrups about 5 holes and it seemed to help.
If your feet are falling asleep, you are jamming your heels down. You’re probably pushing your legs forward and getting into a bit of a chair seat. This is something I’ve been struggling with for a long time so I know exactly how you feel.
Working in two-point without stirrups will help you to stretch down through your leg without jamming your foot forward. Try riding in wide track stirrups. When you feel part of your foot come off the foot bed, you are jamming your heel. They help me check myself when I am schooling without my trainer.
[QUOTE=HDuckie;7090133]
I have been working on trying to push my heels down (even though honestly it’s not really that big of a deal outside the hunter world…), [/QUOTE]
I’m confused by this statement. For ideal equitation your heel should be done, so it actually matters much more outside of the hunter world and in the equitation world.
And regardless of appearance and whether you are being judged, weight in your heel is important because it gives you more overall stability and security.
In regards to losing feeling, is it possible your tall-boots or paddock boots are too tight?
If you try the other suggestions above and it doesn’t help, I would talk to a doctor. It could be you have bad circulation in your feet or legs.
It sounds like you’re trying to jam your heels down and in doing that just pushing really hard on your stirrups. What works for me is getting my leg in the position I want it then thinking about pushing my heels forward, not down, while keeping my leg still.
Also make sure that you’re putting the weight into the inside of your foot, not the outside causing you to roll your foot in.
If you sit in a chair and just pull your toes up (while in your riding boots) do you loose the circulation in the same way?
If not, then my advice is this: think toes up, then stretch down into your knees, and down and back into your heel. Feel your weight even in the entire length of your boot, just as if you were standing on the ground.
A good way to work on this is to stand on ground in the arena before mounting, feet shoulder width apart, with knees bent. First try more weight in your toes and feel how your balance has to change to adapt, then try more weight in your heels and feel the same thing. Finally feel the weight even and see how much more balances you are.
This doesn’t mean that your feet will be flat once on the horse/in the stirrup, just that your ankles will be soft and not forced.
Having your heel forced down is counterproductive: your heels are your shock absorbers, and if maximally stretched, they can’t do much to absorb shock!
If however your feet go numb when you flex your ankles sitting in a chair, then a visit to your dr is in order.
Thank you all for the replies- I have been trying to imagine ‘sinking’ into my heel, sorta works- at least helps me understand mentally what I’m supposed to do haha
Also this is sorta based off of what I had to do in my lesson with a new trainer. She wanted my heels to be so far down I felt like I had to jam them down. She also set my stirrups a hole (or two? I can’t remember) higher than what I’m used to. Not to mention she insisted on putting the iron on more of my toe area than the ball of my foot (where I was used to).
I know I have little flexibility with my ankles, and I have been working on that…
Rel6- I was referring to the super-duper-jammed-down-how-do-your-ankles-even-function trend with hunters. Or at least, that seems to be the trend in my area. Also my paddock boots + half chaps are very flexible.
When attempting to ‘sink’ into my heels, both my new and old trainers have said that I am not sinking enough.
Also I have problems being too stiff with pretty much everything except my arms, so that could also contribute.
Out of the saddle, when flexing my heels down, the angle between my foot and leg is about 80 degrees.
I have worked in 2pt w/t/c without stirrups pretty much 2x a week for 6ish months (part of my lessons).
[QUOTE=HDuckie;7090219]
Not to mention she insisted on putting the iron on more of my toe area than the ball of my foot (where I was used to).[/QUOTE]
Geeze, no wonder your foot’s falling asleep… The toe punch across the top of a boot means squat if the anatomy within the boot doesn’t line up. I’ve been in the same situation of people wanting to back my foot out of the stirrup, but I reiterate that where I’ve put my foot is correct so my weight is across the balls of my feet (the “bubbling spring”) and they’re just going to have to put up with my weirdly long toes. Aesthetics aren’t always physiologically functional. 
Heels down via relaxed leg
Just a quick thought on this. It sounds like you may be doing as much to raise your toe up, as you are to put your heel down. You can check yourself on this by trying to notice if the muscles at the top outside of your shin are in contraction while you are riding. That will certainly cause a change in circulation. Also, feel what your toes are doing in your boots. Are they pushing up against the inside of the boot? If so, it is very likely you are raising your toes as much as jamming your heels down.
If the opposite is true, and you curl your toes down (monkey toes), you may be focusing too much on pushing on the stirrup.
Remember, the heel should go down because of the relaxation of your leg. The heel down position is in fact, a by-product of a leg that is neither pushing down on the stirrup with the toe (as you would walking up a stairs), nor pulling up an away from the stirrup. The stirrup is there to carry the weight of the leg when riding on the flat. When jumping, the ankle would be flex a little deeper as the weight in the stirrup increases. However, some have mistaken that moment, as the ideal position for the ankle all of the time.
Also, your problem may be higher than your heels. If you are closing your leg at the thigh, the weight of your leg doesn’t transfer down into your ankle. Finally, “heels down” is only one aspect of riding, so don’t let the idea of attaining a picture perfect position in that one area distract you from all of the other things that are important about riding a horse well.
I tell my students to imagine their legs as thick heavy paint that has been poured over the horse into their boots. Give so quiet time to walking with some sort of similar relaxation visualizations.
[QUOTE=HDuckie;7090133]
I have been working on trying to push my heels down (even though honestly it’s not really that big of a deal outside the hunter world…), [/QUOTE]
I agree with the poster that says weight in the heel is a good thing regardless… but to be a bit picky, it’s in the Equitation ring where it is more of a big deal. Hunters are judged on the horse and many Hunter riders don’t have their heels extremely down… but saying that they are down enough to get the job done.
I think this may be a part of your issue. You feel your heel needs to be down too far.
Have someone take a picture or video of you riding and then you can see where your heel actually is.
None of us here can give you clear direction without a photo or video.
I do think the stair stretches help. It’s like if you were a gymnast working to do the splits. You would need to prepare yourself over time.
Also, the numbness can come from the stirrups. I find with fillis irons I can get numbness (I do tend to put my heels down too far, especially on my fat horse) So I ride in the Royal Riders and it helps me.
[QUOTE=HDuckie;7090219]
Rel6- I was referring to the super-duper-jammed-down-how-do-your-ankles-even-function trend with hunters. Or at least, that seems to be the trend in my area. [/QUOTE]
This ^ is wrong in all ways… here are photos to show you what you need to be working towards:
Edited to add photos
Top Hunter rider - heels not Jammed down:
Eq rider Chase is a great rider… you can see heels are down but not JAMMED down:
http://equisearch-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/equitation_chase_boggio_800.jpg
I am on my horse here and where I strive to keep my heels -
I had a similar issue, where my outside toes would be totally numb and my knee aching by the end of my lesson, there were 3 things that helped fix it (hopefully one or more of them will help you).
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I switched to MDC stirrups, the ability to “offset” the eye of the stirrup so the leathers hang straight down took a lot of the torque out of my ankles/knees, and I think the flex joint thingy was a bit kinder to my ankles (I have broken both of them and they are stiff as a result).
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Lots of no stirrup work with toes lightly flexed upward. Strong legs that hold you in a good position naturally will do wonders for getting tension out of the rest of your body.
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Rather than thinking heels down, I think long stretch down the back of my calf. Stretching out the calf seems to relax my hips, but engage all of the appropriate leg muscles and gives me a deep, secure seat. Stretching out the calf muscle this way was a total ‘light bulb’ moment for me.
