I’ve tried several products/techniques (suggested from the trainer) on my daughters’ boots and I am not satisfied with the results as I’ve seen riders with much better shine at shows.
Please share your product and technique advice for both at the show and at home.
Thanks!
Apply with a damp rag and heat the polish after application and before buffing with a lighter. To get a really good shine on new boots or rarely polished boots you need to spend 30-45 minutes applying and buffing.
I use regular old kiwi polish.
What are you using now?
I would suggest one of those paste shoe polishes like Kiwi in Parade Shine Black. Apply let dry buff repeat.
You don’t use products for saddle leather on tall boots. No leather conditioner.
Also different brands and quality of boots will have different levels of shine to the leather.
With the advent of sneakers and disposable shoes the art of polishing shoes and boots has been forgotten. When I was growing up my father had a closet full of good quality leather shoes and a shoe polish kit in a wooden box with a place on the lid to rest your shoe while you worked on it.
I’ve ordered the Tarrago Self-Shine Cream to try…
I’ve seen riders apply polish with what appears to be some sort of spongy/dauber thing that they sort of paint the boot with and get good results before classes. I’ve also ordered the Masters Shine Spray after seeing it used with good results and am going to try that as well.
Just get yourself some good kiwi polish. Cheap at the grocery store. Slightly damp rag/little bit of water in the polish. Use pantyhose for extra shine. Google marine spit shine videos if you want extreme shine.
also depends on the boot leather. My newer boots just dont get as shiny.
I also use murad for quick shine. Either clear or black. Apply, let dry and buff.
This is mostly saddle care products.
Won’t work. Just get yourself old school black Kiwi polish and apply, dry, buff.
Murad is fantastic for scuffs and scrapes.
Not familiar with the Tarrago product. What you need is a basic black shoe polish so if that’s what it is, you’re good.
IME a boot polished with Kiwi will shine up nicely again once you wipe the dust off and buff a moment.
Lots of ideas on YouTube —this is my favorite but I’ve never done it —I do use Kiwi and buff-buff-buff —however, my kids have asked that I never polished the inside of the boot that touches the horse. Here’s a link to what I consider the epitome of boot shining . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRIcJsm3OQg
A little pro tip…never put polish on the part of the boot that will come into contact with the saddle and the horse. A well shined inner boot is slick as hell and will stain the horse, especially if it’s grey!
That is so over the top… I love it!
Probably not practical between classes at a show 
Clean only with water. Maybe, maybe a bit of Ivory or Dawn soap in water if they are TRULY grimy. Regular glycerin saddle soap will strip their shine.
Polish with regular Kiwi polish. (I like the Effax polish in the kit you have for maintenance, because the tube/sponge is convenient, but for when I need major shine, Kiwi is better.)
If it’s sunny out, put boots in the sun for an hour - this is an old tip from my trainer’s childhood trainer.
Buff into oblivion with a pair of nylons - I like to stick a tack sponge in them.
Buff into oblivion with Effax Speedy Shine sponge.
Kiwi Parade Gloss, warmed up, with lots of buffing.
I’d love to hear more about what people are doing at the show itself, between classes.
Lots of good advice, but I would add that lots of layers really help, especially if the boots are not a shiny leather to begin with. So just keep polishing them, and they’ll eventually get better. I also use the grocery store polish with good results.
I really like a microfiber towel–like the kind they sell for drying cars–for a last buff.
I’ll be the other voice: URAD shoe polish is my absolute favorite, also Meltonian color spray is nice to give new life to older boots with toe scuffs, etc (or if you were misfortunate enough to ever clean them with tack cleaner and kill the shine!)
I mostly just wipe down boots with a damp rag regularly and when I do polish them I use a horsehair brush and mist some water on the polished boots before buffing to get the spit shine
I use Urad polish. Works great. Doesn’t take that long to apply. Clean boot, put thin layer of polish on and let dry…then buff. I wouldn’t freak out on polished boots. As long as clean…that is the big thing. And DON’T do the side of the boot that touches the horse.
My father had one of those shoe shine boxes too, every night he polished whatever shoes he had worn that day, a habit he got into while in the Navy.
I prefer Meltonian cream polish to Kiwi and I do polish the inside of my tall boots, but I use NEUTRAL polish on the inside, so it does not leave any black color on saddle, pad or horse and it doesn’t make the boot slippery either, in fact its kind of grippy. I always finish buffing with panty hose too.
I use some sort of cream. Not Kiwi. Let it sit on there a bit (live the sun idea) and then polish with a nylon. I do this, after cleaning the boots, after every show. That way I have some layers of polish so all I do between classes is wipe off with a dry towel. Quite honestly, if they’re not a sweaty mess, that’s all I do between days. If sweaty I clean the insides without touching the polished outsides.
A friend just just started a boot shine business. She’s currently set up at a horse show, complete with shoe shine stand. Her training is police academy.
Talk to a Marine! Quality polish. Elbow grease. Buff. Add elbow grease.
A boot shine stand at big horse shows is absolute genius. I was just thinking the shoeshine stand had absolutely disappeared from modern life. I think the last holdouts were at the airports.
I used creme Kiwi polish and buffed with a little water. Lots and lots of buffing.
In between classes a lite wipe down with the all purpose towel my dad always had in his belt was all that was needed to keep them shiny.
My dad was a Marine so I knew how to shine a pair of boots, lol! He wasn’t horsey but he knew how to make things shine so my boots and tack always looked sharp.
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