I got both the V Sport and the Volant S boots for Christmas. Like Appsolute, I love them so much that I feel like I have to add that I am in no way paid by Ariat to share my feelings about the boots!
I have a few pairs of different brands of tall boots, but all I wear these days are my Ariats. Up until Christmas I lived in my old red-stripe Volants (which were incredibly unflattering…especially after they stretched in the leg as much as they did over the years), but they were so comfortable it was worth it, so when I decided I wanted new schooling boots I knew that I wanted the Volant foot with a (hopefully) more flattering leg.
My V Sport in action, and another
Volant S in action
I’m thrilled that Ariat added the spanish top to all of the new boots, and I think that what I ended up with is far more flattering than my old Volants.
I’m not sure how cleaning is going to go on the perforated leather (or leather-like material? Not sure it’s actually leather) on the Sport Vs. I think they look nice enough that I could wear them in a jumper class, but I would hold off on wearing them in a formal-type class (classic or prix). With that being said, the Sport V boots are a big step down in quality from the Volant S. The footbed isn’t as nice, they’re missing some little details (like the “safety keeper” that keeps the zipper from unzipping), and are in general much less “constructed” than the Volants. But for the $285 price tag I think they’re absolutely the best schooling boots you could buy for that money, and the picture is the first day I wore them…you can see that they already look broken in, and felt that way as well. The Volant S are more like a regular boot as far as break-in goes, and where I usually do a modified bathtub method on all new boots, I’m WAY too much of a wimp to do that in the winter! Where my Sport V and old Volants were broken in on day one, the Volant S took about a week (riding 5 horses a day every day) to really feel as comfy as the other boots. But I was completely and totally surprised that I like them enough that I would happily wear them in any/all shows and classes.
I’ll add one more note about the fit. I found that the reviews on Smartpak were fairly accurate. I wear a size 8 and have calves that are just a hair under 14 1/2" (which is their Full measurement). I was really on the fence about what size to order because with the stretch panel you’ve got a little leeway, and after use I absolutely swim in my old Full calf Volants. But in the end I stuck with my normal size (full calf) and don’t regret it. The Volant S boots could stand to be a HAIR snugger (I prefer that they start off just about cutting off circulation), but in general are fine. And I feel better about how much they might stretch since they don’t have the large stretchy panel that the old Volants had. The Sport Vs are a tiny bit snugger and I don’t think I could have gotten away with the Regular calf. I thought foot size was the same between both. And I will say here that I was a size 7 1/2 in Ariat for a decade, and then when they came out with the Volants and Monacos 5 or so years ago I thought they changed how they did the sizing and now I’m a size 8. So I think the sizing in the foot adheres to how they’ve been sizing their boots for the last several years.
