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| Wolverines |
A couple of years ago I swapped out a miserable pair of Bates combat boots for a pair of Wolverine Wellingtons. The combat boots were hard to ride in, the sole delaminated and they trapped water; useless if you're planning on crossing soggy fields, creeks, or anywhere that involved them getting wet.
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| Ariat |
The Wolverines did well but they didn't have a lot of support, which I wanted for riding, so I invested in a pair of Ariat "Brown Bomber Heritage" crepe soled boots. Great support, thanks to their special, patented, sounds like a gimmick but maybe isn't, insole, and I thought they looked good too.
The plan was simple. Use the Wolverines for getting out in the field after rabbits, dove and low level hunting. Use the Ariats for riding.
Great plan; how did it work out? Two years into the experiment I have the result and I've got to admit I'm surprised. The Wolverines win. Why?
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| Cheaper, waterproof, don't spread |
Because they haven't spread, they're far more waterproof and they're cheaper.
After a year, I found that the Ariats were becoming too wide to fit into English style stirrups. They had mystically grown by at least a centimeter. With Western stirrups, which are generally wider, it wasn't a problem, but with English? A disaster. If your boot gets caught in the stirrup and you have to get off the horse... well, who likes being dragged behind a charging animal.
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| Mad horse |
Also, even in Texas, you're going to come across water when riding. Perhaps when you hose the animal down in the searing heat of the summer, or maybe when you get off at the stock tank for a bit of target practice and plinking. Whatever, the boots will get wet. The Ariats failed. They leaked and started to squelch with even a little exposure to the rare and valuable Texas water. Now, I really dislike a squelching boot and I don't like knowing that my feet can't get out of the stirrups if necessary, so it was back to the Wolverines.
After all this time, two years, I've found that they actually offer more support than the Ariats because they haven't spread. They're more waterproof and don't trap water, perhaps because they're unlined and, this is important for people on a budget, they're cheap.
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| Spur |
At a little more than $70 I have a boot that works on horseback and is perfectly adequate for beating about the countryside. A great all round, inexpensive, durable boot. The Ariats are fine as far as they go; they look good, they're tough, the strange widening doesn't matter for Western style riding -- and I'll continue to use them for that, but in the end, the Wolverines are simply better bang for your buck.
God knows we all need more of that.
Sorry Ariat.
LSP
