# Heel position?!



## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Okay so I was taught by 2 very advanced show-jump riders and a classical dressage rider for over 8 years so I believe I am a pretty good rider. I was riding my friend's horse for her (at a different barn; in the double sized indoor arena) and the barn owner was giving a lady a lesson. I was trotting and walking patterns and stuff when she walked over to me and told me I was basically a bad rider! I 'hurt' the horse the way I ride, according to her. She is like ALL NATURAL and she teaches her students with bitless bridles and she does not like using sturrips. She says you heel should come up when you ride so you do not put weight hard on his back. I have always been taught to ride with your heels slightly down. 

Can anyone straighten this out for me? I am really confused about this but I do not really believe your heels should come up when you ride. (Her students ride a bit like monkeys, no offence. But they hold the reins with straight arms and their wrists straight down! Ouch!) Thanks for your help!


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## luvmyperch (Oct 5, 2009)

WHAT???? Umm, run, fast, and never look back...


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## LisaG719 (Nov 30, 2009)

I was always taught heels down for stability and a better balanced seat. The only time I have seen heals up is when someone is just relaxed riding bareback. I wouldn't agree at all with what she was telling you.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Ok thank you! Now I'm not so worried that I was the only one to think that! She is weird and quite dramatic. She out right says she does not like some people at her barn and people are afraid of her!


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## luvmyperch (Oct 5, 2009)

Sounds to me as though she is teaching her students to grip with their whole leg wrapped around a horse's barrel. Not to knock NH people, but its NH instructors like this that give the whole lot of them a bad name...


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

****.
I may be in a different situation because I think I'm slightly older, and I have what can be referred to as a "smart mouth", but I would just go along with it.
I probably would have responded to that with something like "YEAH I KNOW RIGHT LULZ STIRRUPZ R SO BAD FOR HORSES THEY CAUSE CANCER!" and go about my daily business. She can't say I was being rude because I agreed with her in a sincere tone, but I've still ****ed her off enough (hopefully) that she won't talk to me ever again.
It's a great strategy in situations when you're dealing with idiots that have no power, or other say about anything relative to you. Now, were she the BO I'd probably shut my mouth and leave and never come back.

OK MY BAD. I just re-read, she is the BO. Run away quickly before she tries to sue you, or send animal protection services after you.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

lol! Yeah I wish I said something like that but shes all "I've been riding for 40 years!" I ride at the barn literally next door and they do not like each other at all. I'm trying to get my friend to move her horse (She is new to horse ownership.). And she says that carrots and apples are horrible for horses. I was wondering where exactly she found all of this stuff lol!


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## luvmyperch (Oct 5, 2009)

{{shuddering}}

Look on the bright side... If your friend believes everything this woman says, and I'm sure the BO will tell her how you were "hurting" her horse, she'll probably NEVER ask you to ride her horse again and you won't have to go back there!


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

Apples are not so good, high sugar. But carrots are quite harmless. A cushings/IR horse I know only gets carrots for treats!!
You know what else is bad for horses. Bedding. We shouldn't bed their stalls because it isn't natural. They should just be stalled in dirt so they can live in their own urine and feces like they would in the wild were they in a 20x20 box.
*rolleyes*


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

I'm so glad other people see it the way I do! I have ridden her horse for a while at her other barn and I actually gave her lessons so she thinks I am a great rider  She hurt her back so I ride him for her a lot. Yeah, apples are not the greatest but its not like an apple once a week after a ride is going to hurt him!  She is just crazy, I'm glad others believe me


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

horsea said:


> Okay so I was taught by 2 very advanced show-jump riders and a classical dressage rider for over 8 years so I believe I am a pretty good rider. I was riding my friend's horse for her (at a different barn; in the double sized indoor arena) and the barn owner was giving a lady a lesson. I was trotting and walking patterns and stuff when she walked over to me and told me I was basically a bad rider! I 'hurt' the horse the way I ride, according to her. She is like ALL NATURAL and she teaches her students with bitless bridles and she does not like using sturrips. She says you heel should come up when you ride so you do not put weight hard on his back. I have always been taught to ride with your heels slightly down.
> Can anyone straighten this out for me? I am really confused about this but I do not really believe your heels should come up when you ride. (Her students ride a bit like monkeys, no offence. But they hold the reins with straight arms and their wrists straight down! Ouch!) Thanks for your help!


haha i wouldnt listen she sounds a little odd, she doesnt like using stirrups... for one that makes you bounce on the horses back which is why english riders rise to trot and why western riders have longer stirrups. Putting your heels up toes down puts your weight forward on the horse and you will ride off ballance and of course that will effect the horse too. She sound very weird and tbh i have never heard anything like it.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

thank you! I feel so much better! She made me feel like such a bad rider when its just to her that I am bad.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I bet you are a good rider! No offence to the NH people on here, but I find most NH people i see or hear about to be *really* odd/nonsensical.


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## aranyc123 (Nov 22, 2009)

i'm do nh and i ride with stirrups etc,my instructor doesnt use stirrups thats his choice.i like them make me feel like i'm not gunna fall off...lol.......
i just keep my feet straight in them with really no pressure in them,i just know theyre there if i need them,good luck. didnt sound like u were doing anything wrong...


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## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

I think not using sturrips ever actually can make you a bad rider. If you dont have a strong leg, you become off balance and start to just hang on the horse. I would never allow a lesson student to go without sturrips unless they were intermed/advanced, otherwise it can be dangerous. 

I probably would print out some pictures of olypmic riders with their heals down and leave if for her to see somewere.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

lol thanks! sillybunny11486: I asked her if its SOOOO much better for you and your horse, why do Olympians ride with their heels down? She said they do not care about their horses back and they all have to do some more training. (I wanted to say: Well if your ideas are so great why aren't you riding in the Olympics?)


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## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

tehehe. I'm sure _they would rather hurt their horses back, then protect that 1,ooo,ooo dollar investment LOL. _


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

that is EXACTLY what I said to her! She still doesn't believe me! I showed her George Morris, Beezie Madden, and Anky Van Grunsven videos and pictures and she says they are bad riders, too! And now my friend believes her, too. Talk about blind leading blind!


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Some people just shouldn't be able to teach!


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## reining girl (Jan 30, 2009)

i would tell her to f#ck off and mind her own dam business. then again im mean like that. Just ignore her and dont take lessons from her =)


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## luvmyperch (Oct 5, 2009)

George Morris is practically god-like. Anyone who calls him a "bad rider" is a first class moron. Not to offend the NH'ers, but this is not the first BO I've seen practing NH that doesn't have a CLUE and makes up all their own rules based on their own fantasies. Why doesn't she compete? How successful are her students?


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Hehehe I know! She has never competed and none of her students are very good riders. She has a schooling show every year and of course she is the judge. She makes all of her students come before us (her non-lesson boarders and area barns) even though other people are better than them. Oh well! (And some of her students have asked me to give them lessons! I, personaly, think that is sad!)


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## upnover (Jan 17, 2008)

Oh my gosh, this lady sounds like an absolute fruitcake. There is a REASON why people all these years have been riding with their heels down. We don't do it because it's pretty or because George Morris says to. It's because it's the most secure and effective way for your leg to be stable and support your body! I'm a firm believer in sticking to the basics (Something I have heard George Morris AND Beezie Madden preach on!) because that's what works! Without a heel you've lost your stability and your leg, which means you probably aren't being kind to your horse's back! A horse that has a bad back cannot jump!! Wow. Run far far away from this lady.


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

*Sigh* Stories like this are discouraging. Why does it seem people go to one extreme or the other? I would say I'm very concerned about horse welfare but really, it just seems like so many of these trainers pull their ideas out of their behinds.


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## VanillaBean (Oct 19, 2008)

wow this chick is a freak!!!! she sounds like she escaped the the insane assylum(SP?) lolz


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