I don’t have much else to add except for one thing. I have a student who will get on - and stay on - anything. She learned how to stay on way before she learned the finer points of hunters. Because of this, she can jump around a 3 ft. course with out stirrups, but will still make basic mistakes at times. The past few lessons we have really been working on her Equitation, and her release, but I could tell she was starting to get pretty frustrated. I kept pointing out that if she kept her heels down, the rest of her position would come, but still, the heels would come up. It was discouraging to her, since she also rides and shows Western, and her Western trainer is always telling her to NOT put her heels down.
Finally I remembered that I had a pair of those 4-Way stretch stirrups, and with in one lesson her position improved 100%. She stopped getting left behind, her seat in the canter became nice and soft, and her release improved. All from just dropping the weight in her heels. Now, obviously she needs to get to the point where she can do this in regular stirrups, but I love how the 4-Way stretch stirrups help to stretch and train those muscles and tendons needed to put your heels down.
May be worth a try for your student!
