| Today's horse riding boots differ greatly from | | | | and better developed; the South was walking largely |
| footwear in the Old West. Boot making and shoe | | | | on bare feet by the end of the war.) |
| making technology and materials are radically different | | | | Military footwear, especially various sizes and shapes |
| today than they were on the Plains or prairies of the | | | | of boots, made their way westward and took over |
| 1800s. Today's boots offer comfort and fit unknown | | | | most of the handmade horse riding boots and cowboy |
| back then. | | | | boots in the civilian population. Jack boots were made |
| In the Old West, horse riding boots came in about one | | | | early on, a sort of huge, high boot that might reach |
| general selection -- leather. Sure, depending on the skills | | | | nearly up to the hip. Jack boots were crafted out of |
| and interests of an individual boot maker, they might be | | | | heavy leather and were virtually indestructible. In fact, |
| shaped a bit differently from pair to pair, and some | | | | many a father bequeathed his favorite pair of jack |
| boot craftsmen might vary the length of the boot on | | | | boots to his son. |
| the leg and the height of the heel. But generally | | | | Cowboy boots stretch back in origins to the early |
| speaking, you could count on a good pair of horse | | | | Spanish "vaqueros" in the 1500s and 1600s, taking their |
| riding boots to be made out of leather. | | | | name from those early cowboys. They were made of |
| Yes, of course, as the 1800s progressed and Eastern | | | | tough leather and often had pointed toes and high |
| shoe and boot makers moved their wares westward | | | | heels, better made for fitting in stirrups on horseback |
| first via wagon then railroad, "store bought" boots | | | | than for walking. (Even cowboys generally |
| began to replace the hand workmanship of the | | | | acknowledged that Indian moccasins were the most |
| pioneers and early settlers. Mass produced shoes and | | | | comfortable shoes for walking, as long as you didn't |
| boots that made their way into the west began, really, | | | | have to walk too far -- which few cowboys liked to |
| with the Civil War. | | | | do.) By the latter part of the 1800s, cowboy boots had |
| In fact, the distinct and careful shaping of boots into | | | | developed into beautifully tooled leather masterpieces |
| right-foot and left-foot pairs only became standardized | | | | similar to today's better handmade boots. |
| as factory shoes and boots were produced for Union | | | | So whether you're talking about cowboy boots or |
| and Confederate troops in that conflict. (Some | | | | English style riding footwear, today's horse riding boots |
| historians have made the case that the lack of good | | | | come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, certainly |
| shoes and boots contributed heavily to the defeat of | | | | very different from the limited and less comfortable |
| the Confederacy. Union factories were better funded | | | | choices of the Old West. |