I spent a long time searching for a pair of long riding boots which were brown, affordable, stylish and most importantly, fit me! After avoiding Mountain Horse boots after hearing that they tend to come up small, I wandered into their stand at Badminton Horse Trials after trying what felt like hundreds of boots on to try their Sovereign High Boots. They took some measurements and put me straight into a size 7, regular length, wide leg and they fit! The actual foot part of the boot was quite tight and I felt a bit uncomfortable, so people weren’t lying when they said they come up a bit small. So I went up a shoe size and that was much better. They were still a bit snug, but they fit really well. I knew these were the boots I wanted.
£299
Mountain Horse don’t sell them directly, but they wrote down the size I would need and gave me a list of retailers who stocked them, including people who were at Badminton that week. So I wandered off to the nearest retailer, Hope Valley Saddlery to buy my first proper pair of long riding boots and thanks to their Badminton deal, we also got a Mountain Horse Saddle Pad with the purchase!
Now these boots are just simply gorgeous. They are so stylish and a gorgeous colour. I love the style and are perfect for non horsey days/nights out too if I keep them clean! I wore them to Ascot races over the summer and they fit in perfectly.
They are also extremely comfy. Unlike other long boots, I don’t feel like they are cutting into me while they stretch. This could be due to the elastic areas towards the back of the boot. Apparently the idea is that the elastic stretches until the leather stretches to fit your leg, meaning that they should be comfortable straight away. And as the leather stretches, the elastic should shrink back, leaving you with perfectly fitting boots.
In a very short space of time I put these boots through their paces on the flat, hacking and jumping and despite only having been worn a few times before all this, they caused me no discomfort at all! I wore them to our training camp in June and they were so comfy I practically lived in them the whole time I was there!
However, I seemed to have been quite unlucky with the zips. After less than 20 wears, the zip on my left boot popped open at the heel as I got off. Needless to say I was not impressed that my £300 boots had given up on me so quickly. But Hope Valley Saddlery and Mountain Horse were fantastic and after seeing a photo of the damaged zip sent out a replacement pair to me.
Unfortunately, my bad luck continued as when the replacement pair arrived, I was gutted to see that one of the boots already had a broken zip at the bottom towards the heel. Was straight back in contact with Hope Valley Saddlery who couldn’t believe this had happened and instantly passed this on to Mountain Horse to deal with. They quickly said they would be sending out another replacement pair. Unfortunately, they seemed to be out of stock and it ended up taking them several months to get this replacement out to me. Which was really frustrating!
During this time I did a bit of research and I couldn’t find anyone else who had had this problem with these boots and the really helpful lady in the returns department at Hope Valley Saddlery was incredibly helpful and couldn’t believe I had had such bad luck with a brand with a reputation for good quality goods. So I have come to the conclusion that I was just extremely unlucky.
Despite the issues I had with the zips, I really do love these boots and would recommend these boots to anyone who struggles to fit into brands like Ariat. The fact that I didn’t find anyone else who had this problem makes me think that it is very rare. And if you do have a problem within a year of purchase, it seems they will replace them no questions asked. So I feel like they are a safe investment.
Last Updated on 07/08/2018
I have had my eye on these boots for a while. Although I’m going to have to wait a bit longer because I was able to buy brown Ariats with a couple of gift cards I had for Amazon. But I’m glad to know these seem like a solid investment.