I'm assuming you are talking about jumping riding, no? you have to make that clear, as we have all kinds of riders and kinds of riding.

 

The phrase “dig my heel down enough” is very telling. The very act a digging down gives me a picture of someone digging a hole in the dirt with their heel, and obviously to do that the foot comes forward.

Try standing on the bottom step of the stairs, have your toes and the ball of your feet on the stair, your heels in mid air. Now think of sinking your weight into your heels, just let them fall, now bend softly at hips and knees into riding position, and feel the stretch.

This will allow the leg to practice lengthening, without forcing. Lots of small reps, just let the body get accustomed to the feel. You never want to jam, force or dig your heel down, think more of your body melting and dripping out of the heel as the lowest point.

 

When I got back to riding after 15 years off, I had a super stiff, too-forward leg with toes that turned out almost entirely sideways, and very poor flexibility in my ankles.

Ride lots. It'll start to get better on its own.

Don't worry about getting your heel down. If you used to ride and didn't have problems keeping your heels down then, you won't have problems now, once you get more riding-fit. Trying to jam them down will just stiffen your legs and push them further forward, as Golden Horse said.

Do lots of no-stirrups work with a RELAXED leg -- not trying to "hold" it where you think it should go. Try to keep your thighs long and push your knee down and back, and front of your pelvis up and forward.

Think of using the inside of your calf to put your leg on. I found that when my legs were stiff and too far forward, I wanted to use the backs of my legs too much. This worsened the chair-seat toes-out thing. Using the inside of your calves will help keep your leg under you.

Also, walk around in your house like an exaggerated Steve Urkel, or whatever awkward hips-thrust-forward nerd speaks to your generation. Really exaggerating and stretching the front of your hips will encourage your leg to want to go back to the right place. Opening your hips is one of the best things you can do to get that leg long, back, relaxed, and engaged.

 

As Golden Horse mentioned, trying to force heels down can cause problems with proper use of the legs when posting. Other forms of muscular tension may also be contributing to your problem.

For example, are you trying to stand as your leg goes from a more bent position to a more straighter position when posting?

You should not be putting forth effort to rise when posting. You should be “allowing” the horse to do the work of propelling your body upward. If the horse is not creating enough energy to do this, there is no reason to post.

The only muscular effort you should need to produce when posting is a little “pulling” of your hips towards your hands to keep your center of gravity moving forward with your horse’s center of gravity as well as controlling your decent back into the saddle so you don’t fall back down.

Also, realize that you need not create a lot of clearance between your seat and the saddle. Rising 1/8 of an inch from the saddle is as effective as rising 4 or 5 inches from the saddle. You can probably even relieve any bone pressure without showing any clearance.

 

Most likely, if you are trying to FORCE your heels down, you are going to push your feet out in front of you, as a result.



Drop your stirrups. Then you can't push against them. Re-teach yourself how to balance without pushing your feet into the stirrups.

 

I think deep down we all dream of having a good leg. Someone I know recently asked me what type of stirrups I used, because I have a good heal. She assumed that because of the stirrups it was a magical cure to having a good heal. I had to take the time to explain to her that regardless of the stirrups she got, without working on putting weight in your lower leg and sinking in your heel, a different type of stirrup(expensive at that), would fix her issues.

There are no shortcuts to this. Something I am myself constantly trying to improve and get better on. Following this post.

 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:
I had the great pleasure of watching Fergies trainer having a lesson from my coach last night...it was funny, especially when he ended up cantering laps in half seat, with no stirrups, his leg DID lengthen though, through his heels.