Having been burnt once buying used field boots online, I was hesitant to do so again. The Dehners I got for $100 fit all sorts of wanky. Excessively tight in the calf and so loose in the ankle as well as too narrow in the foot. Ugh.
My dreams are filled with the Ariat Heritage Contour Field boot. The 6/regular fit me as if it was made for me. Drool worthy. But…. the kiddo needs a new summer wardrobe having outgrown everything from last summer and well that is just more important, so the $300 boots will have to remain on the shelf until such a time as I win a bunch of money or Christmas rolls around.
I took to the internet to see what my options were and landed on Riding Warehouse. They had the Ovation Synergy Field Boot on sale for only $68 and while they are synthetic versus leather, I figured it as worth the try. At least they were returnable and for $68, they could last a season or two while I make sure this new adventure is going to be worth sinking money into.
They arrived on Friday and while not the precise fit of the Ariat boots, they actually don’t fit that bad. The ankle is a bit too wide, but I have insanely narrow ankles so that isn’t a surprise. In fact, I could likely fit better in a 5.5, but they don’t offer that or at least Rising Warehouse doesn’t offer it on their site.
Overall it’s fine for a $68 synthetic boot at the beginner level of everything and will serve my purposes well. The only question I have left is WHY ON EARTH DO TALL BOOTS CAUSE SO MUCH PAIN OH MY WORD!!!
In other shopping news, somehow I managed to gain an entire pants size in 11 days 😦  I had tried on a pair of the Kerrits Microcord Full seats in the store in an medium and they were huge. The smalls for me very well. They only had them in black, so the store ordered me the small in tan. I thought it was a done deal.
I picked them up with my new Jump girth (yay! I can finally ride her in the jump saddle!!) Friday but when I tried them on they were awfully tight. Borderline obscenely tight. Um? How???
Sigh.
I called the shop prepared to be told I couldn’t return them since they were special order and all. Thankfully she was happy to take them back and put them out on the floor. I decided to just order the Irideon ones in medium in both tan and white. My endurance tights are Irideon mediums in both the Issential and Synergy lines, so I would hope it is a pretty safe bet that the mediums in the cadence would fit well. I’m sure they won’t.
In the meantime I am cursing at these field boots and wearing them around the house to break them in.
The Roaming Rider 