Human boot questions, help me! Petries

[TheDBYC]

Something I’m wondering is if it has anything to do with metal boning in dressage boots being not as popular nowadays? I imagine they can use much thinner, softer leather in boots without. I mean the BNRs look like they still wear them, but I know only one person in irl who does. But she’s a GP level trainer, so she doesn’t count!

The old Konigs had the metal boning & the leather was almost as heavy as you’d find on a saddle flap. Forget hard to break in. They had obviously repelled 30+ years of effort at breaking in. The new ones don’t have any boning. If they were black & didn’t have a very prominent Spanish top I would think they might be just a dress boot. But navy blue leather in a ready-to-wear is going to be a dressage boot.

[Scribbler]

Yes I imagine the old stove pipe dressage boots were pretty sturdy. But old school field boots were also apparently much sturdier than modern field boots of the same cut.

I agree, the soft fitted boot, whether dress or field, is necessarily made of thinner leather that may not necessarily be barn appropriate. I was looking at the DeNiro webpage and they said about their lower priced models “suitable for riding several times a week.” When you went up in price you got even more fragile fancy leathers for competition, and you needed to get up to the top price range to get a plain boot that was “suitable for riding every day.” No mention of barn work or multiple horses!

[Libby2563]

@eponacelt

That said, I was VERY disappointed in the quality of the Petries I bought a few years ago. Despite regular cleaning and pretty light-moderate use, the leather at the ankle started breaking down inside of a year. I tried contacting the company and they did nothing. A bad use of $700 in my opinion.

That sucks. I had the same experience with a gorgeous pair of Cavallos. I’d never spent nearly that much on boots in my life and they developed a hole in the inside of the ankle within a few months. Then to add insult to injury, the shoe shop I took them to for repair put a freakin enormous patch that wrapped around to the outside of the boot, so they’re not really presentable anymore.

[Erika]

Just like @Somantu, I purchased my Petrie’s from Ooteman as well. I purchased the Melbourne model back in 2017 and they cost less than $300 CAD. The boots have held up excellently. I love them, they were comfortable from the beginning and dropped very little. I wouldn’t hesitate to order another pair of Petries in the future.