I bought some Ariat boots that retail for $300 or so. Those aren’t the top-of-the-line for Ariat. Do y’all think they would survive a soak-n-wear in the bath tub?
Thanks in advance.
I would go for it.
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I’ve done it on cheap -> expensive boots without a problem. And that includes my Ariat V Sport $250ish boots. But I fill them with water in the barn - IOW, I don’t soak the foot portion of the boot (which is where I would expect a failure out of a less expensive boot).
Thank you! Good call on leaving the foot section alone.
While a one time brief soak wouldn’t ruin a pair of boots by itself, water is still bad for leather and I wouldn’t do it unless I had a pair that was truly stubborn about breaking in. Did you buy the heritage contours? If so, I have had three pairs of those, and they all broke in relatively painlessly in 2 weeks or so after just riding in them. They’re soft leather and easy to break in to begin with, I personally see no reason to use the bathtub method with the contours.
I recently broke in a pair of ariat challenge contour boots. They were pretty soft to begin with and stretched a little every time I zipped them up. I needed them to drop a bit so that I could zip them to the top. (I apparently have “fluffy” knees! Haha)
While I’ve read about the bathtub method…it scares me and I didn’t want to wear wet boots for how ever long they would take to dry. So instead, for the first few rides, I wet the calves and ankles of my socks with rubbing alcohol. For me, this method worked really well!
Congrats on new boots!
I have used bathtub method twice on V Sports and never had a problem. I actually have to do it about once a year because the V Sport zipper collapses right into my achilles and wearing them is torture.
I have Challenge Contours (the square toe) that broke in quickly and painlessly with no weird treatment and are my all time favorite boots of all time. I had Heritage Contours that never fit right but I suspect they would have hurt my achilles the same way the V Sports do.
What I have learned about Ariat over the years is that the more you pay, the more comfortable and better fitting the boots are.
As far as the bathtub method, it’s not just for cheap boots. I broke in my custom Konigs that way also, with no regrets.
Because I don’t want to ruin the glue on the footbed, I generally wet my socks from ankle to knee and then wear the boots until the socks are completey dry.
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I’ve done it with Ariats before… only wet the calf and worked fine - just be sure to keep them on until they’re completely dry. Not sure where you live, but not something I’d want to deal with in this cold! I’ve also had success dousing the calves in rubbing alcohol from a spray bottle, which is essentially the same as the $10 boot stretch spray stores sell 
What I have done is after a ride I might take mine to the wash rack with me when I am hosing my horse off, and give them a quick squirt. Then I wear them until they are dry and then condition the ankle.
I have $300 Ariats and they broke in nicely after just about 2-3 weeks (riding 1-2x a week). If it were me, I would try just wearing them for a few rides first. They rubbed my ankles for maybe 4 rides, and since then they have been super comfortable and I prefer riding in them over my half-chaps now.
Just buy some spray stretch and use that.
