The trials and tribulations of buying new English horseback riding boots

For equestrians, skin-tight pants and tall black boots are completely normal daily attire for the barn, school library, Walmart — the venue doesn’t matter. To anyone of the non-horsey persuasion or unfamiliar with equestrian couture, seeing someone dressed like this might make you question their fashion sense and/or wonder if they’re merging attire for their night job with their day job, if ya catch my drift. But I can assure you that my night job involves nothing more than homework.

Anyhow, my latest project has been breaking in new field boots, so I’ve been wearing them in public (AKA not the barn) quite often lately.

For my non horse-people readers, field boots are tall black boots with laces in the front used for certain types of English riding. Not only are they difficult to fit, as you have to consider calf size and height, but they’re expensive as heck and real buggers to break in.

When you buy field boots, they’re generally at least an inch taller than you want because they drop in height as the leather relaxes. Plus they should be almost as tight as you can bear so they don’t become too loose around your calves as they stretch. Continue reading →