it's a bit hard to explain but i just started riding few weeks ago and instead of my toes staying facing into the horse they keep facing away after a few minutes!!
your toes should be pointing forwards, or slightly outwards, depending on what s comfortable, ou'll find that if you are gripping with your calf then your toes will point outwards. you need to relax the lower leg so it is in contact with the horses sides and ready to be used if need be, but not gripping so you have tension.
Relax your lower leg, and try to keep your calf (thats what your lower leg muscle is, right? and im supposed to be good at biology ) straight against his side, squeezing with your inner calf rather than the back of it. When you squeeze with the back of it, your toes turn out. Also, when i used to do this, it was becuase i had too much weight in my stirrups which was forcing my ankles into funny positions. Hope this helps!!!
It's probably partly that your hips are quite tight too or even just the way you're built. As they start to stretch (the Flexion SBS and Fhoenix saddles are good for this Bit expensive though) you'll find it easier.
Try to concentrate on letting your legs hang around the horse's side like wet dish cloths. You don't want to be gripping or forcing your heels down and whatever you do don't let anyone tell you to grab the 'muscle' at the back of your leg and pull it forward! The 'theory' is that it makes your thigh lay flat against the saddle and so helps to keep your toes in. What it does do is to close your hips up and make things worse in the long run.
Apart from stretching the hips and relaxing the legs what REALLY helped me was to buy a set of 'wide tread' stirrups which have the 'hole' where the leather goes at a 90 degree angle to normal stirrups. This means that they hang facing forwards. Although they don't force your toes in the don't, by twisting, pull your toes out. I love them, wouldn't be without them
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