Anyone know any tips on how to keep your heels down while riding?. 

i always got told to imagine weights on your heels and and its pushing on your heels.. it helps i find.. ( cause the power of suggestion ) :)

It never really clicked with me until my trainer would tell me "toes out and up" doing that pushes your heels down as well. Also, if you think of flexing your lower calve muscles too. That pushes your heels down. Also practice. :p Most things with horses is practice :)

I would practice stretching my calf muscles on stairs when I was young. I would stand half on the stair (with my heels off the stair--about where the bridge of your foot is) and then flex my toes upward (so my heels would go down). I would do this whenever stairs were near and I was waiting.

My trainer always says to wrap around the barrel. Like if you keep your legs back and try and fit as much of your leg against the horse as possible, your heels will drop on their own as you try and make contact with the horse with your lower calf. This also pushes your toes up and out a little.

She also says having a good long leg, at the end of the day, is technically more important than just your heels being down. Because the further back and longer your leg, the more they'll just kinda drop on their own. Like, you can have a terrible leg and still have your heels down but it's harder to maintain a good leg and have a bad heel.

Link Tree

Two-point position all day, every day 

I cheat....my boots are a tad too big for me so while my foot is sorta level my boot makes it look like my heels are down hahaha

But i dont do any fancy english riding or whatnot....just trails mainly!

"Toes to the sky!"

Be sure to check that your feet aren't too far into the stirrup irons. You want them to rest as evenly against the ball of your foot, not wrapping your toes around either. You can practice standing in your stirrups while at the walk as well as 2 point (half seat), until you feel balanced and strong enough to try it at the trot. It will help strech out and stengthen your legs all the while allowing your heels to flex down. Toes to the sky, heels down to the ground!
The stairs strech like what Sass mentioned is also very helpful! :)

Ahahaha I second Lacey's answer - it was continually shouted in lessons years ago.

My Coach has this EVIL thing she makes us do.

you put you feet in the Stirrup backwards. So your heel into the front of the stirrup. then you ride for an hour like that. Walking is hard. Posting to the trot is even harder. 

Zad I can't even imagine that. Holy crap. 

My biggest vice is my hands dropping and leaning forward.

Link Tree

Yikes Zad...O_O

No stirrups riding was dreadful, but dropping them does help line your body up the way it should be. It stretches your legs down (also makes you a stronger rider). I always found that once I was able to pick up my stirrups again, I felt more confident and strong.

I did the stair case stretches that have already been mentioned as well. 

I was taught some bad habits by my hunter/jumper trainer of my teenage years. She made us ride on near our tippy toes, when you should be firmly on the ball of your feet. The way she had us toes in, using as little stirrup as possible pushes your leg out and away from your horse - and it definitely doesn't make your heel go down. Your heel will naturally dip down if you're feet are correctly in the stirrup. Too far in, and your heels turn up and toes dip down. Not in enough and you lose contact with your horse. As most things though it's just practice! 

I said Evil.. But it works... The harder you work at it the better you get a putting the weight into your heels.

Def stretch your calf muscles on stairs and stuff like that. I honestly just have a check list I run through (heels down, leg on, thumbs on top, shoulders straight, chin up, eyes forward) and I run through that every couple of strides. Especially coming up to a jump. But I've been dong it so long that it's very much second nature. I just had "heels down" shouted a lot when I was younger or "toes to the sky" stuff like that. Focusing on keeping your heels down and leg on will make for a much steadier leg too.

I don't have a suggestion beyond practice! I'm currently working on pushing my torso foward and my behind back over jumps so that my heels stay down and my legs stay still (so a leg doesn't fly back and pull my stirrup off). I think I learned to keep them down by riding when I was younger from just fixing my position every time I thought about it and it became muscle memory. Good luck!

EDIT: I forgot to say (and my whole point was) that if the rest of your legs are in the correct position, it will help your legs stay down. I'm not sure what type of riding you do, but for huntseat keeping your legs on, and knees not sticking out helps a lot.

Sam: For what you're working on try doing squats at home. :D

Also Wall Sits, Planks, and push-ups are all great home exercises that will help build your muscle for riding.

Oh, flutter kicks will also work your core.

Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions!