Most ladies love buying shoes, but choosing what to put on your feet when you’re riding on, or working around, your horse is much more than a fashion decision. It’s mostly a safety decision, and because of that, you need to know exactly what to look for when choosing the best boots to wear.
Do You Know How To Choose Riding Style Boots
What will you be doing in the boots you wear? Just riding? Riding and paddock work? The answer to this question makes the most difference when choosing boots.
A good pair of riding boots will prevent two major accidents:
1. Getting your foot caught in the stirrup in the event you fall or are thrown from your horse.
2. Having your foot crushed by your horse’s hoof while on the ground.
With the right choice in footwear, both of these potential disastrous situations can be avoided.
Have You Considered These Points In Making your Selection
Leather riding boots for women come in many styles, colors, and materials. What you need to remember about riding boots is that safety comes first, fashion comes second.
Let’s explore the different components of riding style boots and why they enhance the safety of the boot.
What Materials Are the Boots Made of
The sturdiest horse riding boots for women are made of cowhide leather. Thick, durable and long-wearing, this is the most common material making up the shaft and upper of the boot. Some riding style boots also have compressed, hard leather soles.
Others have hard plastic as the sole material. If you’ll be standing in the paddock or mucking out stalls, a plastic or hard rubber sole is best, as the ammonia in urine will break down leather. If you’re riding, a leather sole is best.
The heel can be either man made, or natural (some are stacked or layered wood), but in most cases the heel is composed of some type of hard plastic.
An angled heel (also called a cowboy heel) is most common in western riding boots, but a short, straight, stacked heel is also common for roper-style boots.
Why is the Sole So Important
The sole of your boots, when you’re riding, helps keep your foot in the stirrup by using the bit of tread on the bottom. Plastic-soled boots have that bit of tread built in already, but leather-soled boots straight out of the box will be very slippery.
It’s a good idea to rough up the sole by walking on concrete or gravel – anything that will give the smooth sole a bit of wear. Of course, only do this if you are absolutely sure you have a great-fitting boot, because they will not be returnable with this kind of wear on the soles. You can also use sandpaper to rough-up the sole, if necessary.
Do You Know The Reason for the Heel
The heel on a pair of boots is not for height enhancement. You’ll notice that even little girls horse riding boots have a heel, and there’s a good reason for that.
The heel of the boot is what keeps your foot from slipping completely through the stirrup. If this were to happen, and you accidentally give your horse the signal to move (with your foot), the results could be tragic.
The horse moves out, and you, unable to gain control of that foot in the stirrup, lose your balance on the saddle. Down you go, with your foot still in the stirrup.
The heel is there to prevent that slippage from happening, which is why it’s important to never go riding wearing athletic shoes or any type of shoe with no heel to it.
Do You Understand the Upper Properly
The upper of your boot is the only thing protecting you from having your foot crushed in the event that you’re standing by your horse and it decides to change position. For this reason, having a boot made of quality leather is of utmost importance.
The paddock or round pen is no place for your fancy snakeskin or ostrich boots – stick with a high-quality leather for your boot upper and shaft, and even if you do get stepped on, your foot will be protected from the very worst of damage.
Natural leather is also quite water resistant on its own, and there are sprays and oils that can help increase the water-resistance of the boot while helping preserve the look, feel and suppleness of the leather.
When you purchase your boots, ask a store associate what kind of emollient you should use to prevent dryness in the leather of your boots.
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Lexol 907 Leather Care Kit, 8-oz.
Bickmore Bick 4 Leather Cleaner & ConditionerLexol 1014 Leather Conditioner, 3-Liter
Leather riding boots are not only comfortable, but they are durable, easy to care for, and will provide you with the safest ride while on your horse, and the greatest protection while next to your trusty steed.
Where To Go For The Best Boots
When shopping for the right cowboy boots where do you go to find the best boots at the best prices? that is a great question. My answer is you can go to Amazon.com, and start a search for men’s boots for horse back riding or a search for women’s boots for western style horse riding, these searches will provide you with a myriad of choices.
Other companies to look at while on Amazon, would be Laredo, and Durango for men. Very Volatile and Madden for women. Just some suggestions of where to start looking.
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Very Volatile Women’s Rio Grande Boot,Tan,7 B USVery Volatile Women’s Markie Bootie,Tan,7.5 B USVery Volatile Women’s Whitby Boot, Charcoal, 7.5 B USVery Volatile Women’s Raspy Boot,Taupe,7.5 B US
Here is a selection of Loredo and Durango western riding boots for men.
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Durango Men’s Rebel DB4442 Western BootLaredo Men’s Willow Creek Boot,CrazyhorseDurango Men’s DDB0125 Western BootLaredo Men’s 68068 Monty Western Boot,Brown/Copper
Please Keep These Top Tips In Mind
Keep the above tips in mind when doing your boot-shopping, and you’ll walk away with a great pair of riding style boots that you love, that will last a lifetime!
Read More About Outfitting A Western Rider-View Related Posts Below
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