It is commonly heard in almost every lesson or at every warm up ring at shows.

"Get those shoulders back...or point the toes up"

I find this particular articulation to be misleading to the rider.

When a rider "brings the shoulders back" they generally believe the coach wants them to bring the shouldes back by engaging the muscles along that run along the spine while wrapping the shoulder blades around an imaginary fist to bring the upper body back into alignment with the hip/heel.

All this causes tension in the riders back muscles into the neck by the effort the rider must put into holding this position.

This tension adds resistance/lack of movement in the riders' waist and closes the thigh/hip angle instead of opening the hip and relaxing the thigh.

It is one of the most common reason for the "posed" look so many Hunter riders have.

The shoulders are not the main controller of alignment for the upper body....it is the core muscles aided by the shoulder placement from the core...that controls the body.

The shoulders...like the leg/seat/hand...are used as aids/balancers/alignment guides for the rider position...but it is the strength of the core that keeps the back straight and shoulders back

upper core + lower core = upper body control and placement of the shoulder.

It is usually a collapse between the upper core and lower core that has a rider leaning forward.

Lack of core control will have a rider lay more on the horses neck than a rider who has the core strength to lift the shoulders up and hold them off the horse in the air and on landing after a fence.

To bring the shoulders into alignment with a relaxed back...I perfer to say.

Centre yourself by lifting the upper core....stretch the lower core...that way the back muscles are free to aid the seat/legs instead of being engaged incorrectly to hold the shoulders in place.

The same can be said for heels down and toes up...it is not the toes or heels that will dictate the position...but the ankle..

If the ankle is not strong/supple with a rotation that a rider can controll...the heel and toe will have no affect on what the rider wants without tension in the toes/an improperly placed foot on the iron/heels too far down/riding off the toe with a lifted heel/toes too far out/many other issues.

The ankle is more often than not...the cause of the collapsed hip where the rider has one toe forward (the knee of this leg is forward and the rider often has too much weight in the toe) and a "hang away" leg with a toe pointed out ( a more open knee angle and the lower leg off the horse more than the other)

The ankle is also the cause of a rider who is ahead of the horse....they often open the ankle angle putting the weight on the toe and lifting the heel while causing the calf to incorrectly contract too much.

The ankle aslo controls the hamstring...the muscle that runs down the entire leg and is the carrier of the kinetic energy of the "dropping the weight" down through the ankle (which controls the alignment) into the heel.

The ankle angle and rotation will also control calf placement.

Too often rider rotate the ankle out causing the toe to point and incorrectly engaging the back of the calf muscle.

Controlled/suppled/strong ankles = controlled toe + soft dropped heel + properly placed calf + relaxed thigh + open Hips + aligned seat

When a rider has a foot issue...I say

Look to the ankle.