Just a general question, what are your preferences and why?
I like them soft.
I’m not gifted with the length of leg to be able to wear a super stiff boot and not look like my leg is 14" off the side of the horse. I need to be able to use the whole of my leg in different places and not just my upper calf and spur.
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Stiff! Gives you a better leg. I can be more relaxed through my leg without it bouncing around too much at the ankle, it looks more classic and still, and I use it more effectively (calf vs. spur, instead of everything kind of mushing together).
I’ll admit then when I just ride in soft boots, I prefer those, and the stiff boots take a few rides to get used to, but ultimately I ride better in stiff.
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Go with what works for you. I earned my silver rider medal riding in my custom soft field boots. Fit is important. How effective your leg is important.
I do have custom Petries that are stiff on the outside and like butter on the inside of the calf. Doesn’t make our flying changes any better than before
FYI the horse I was riding at the time OBJECTED to my trainers stiff boots. Too much for him. I continue to wear softer boots (that fit well so the boot doesn’t touch the horse before my leg does) on my younger horses.
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Stiff. Keeps my leg more stable, helps with alignment. I think my leg aids are clearer, I get better responses when I wear the stovepipes. I have a pair or field boots that used to be my daily riders, I will use them on occasion for a different feel. I started my greenie in the field boots so I could give extremely soft aids and have immediate tactile feedback. They are so soft and buttery and have vibram soles, nice for longer days when I’m on my feet more. She’s more confirmed on the aids so I wear the stuff boots to school now.
I broke in my stovepipes by spraying the inside with water and wearing them around the house for a day or two. The first few rides were murderous, but they finally dropped and I can feel my calves again.
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The stiff boot is designed for dressage to make sure the leg doesn’t wiggle unintentionally and either deaden the horse to the leg or make the horse feel that aids are occurring when they aren’t. The soft boots are necessary for jumpers because the leg is much more compressed with the shorter stirrup. There also many less aids required to get around a course than a Grand Prix test.
so stiff isn’t just tradition, it’s the best way to properly communicate with a highly tuned dressage horse with tons of minute aids available
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Both - it really doesn’t matter for most people/horses and the level we are all riding at.
I have Mountain Horse Victoria boots and very stiff pull on Cavallo boots and I switch between them within the same week depending on my whims - if I have to walk across the parking lot, if it’s wet/muddy, am I retaining water and my calves are a little bigger…
The soft boots are more comfortable to walk around in, but properly fitting and broken in stiff boots aren’t really that different. As it gets colder, I’ll wear my Cavallo boots more since I can fit thicker socks in them; once it’s really cold, I switch to my winter Mountain Horse boots. Sometimes, depending on how tight my hip flexors overall lower body is, one type of boot might feel like I can keep my leg longer than the other type, but it’s not consistent.
And I’ve shown FEI levels in both boots without comment.
What I wouldn’t do is always ride in half chaps or soft boots and then go to a show or clinic in stiff boots without having ridden a few times in the stiff boots ahead of the event.
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I’ve been hanging out with a friend who does dressage and I’m noticing a lot of boots that are somewhere in between. I’ll ask next time I see her, but it shouldn’t be too hard to do a search and find out.
Most custom boot makers will add another layer to the outside of a “dressage” boot as well as offer a “full mega hard” model. I know Kingsley, Petrie, and Pioneer all offer that.
I love my stiff Vogels best of all for dressage. For jumping, I actually like taller ankle Ariat paddock boots with my stiffer Ariat leather half chaps, and that’s what I use for training newbies, too. I feel more relaxed in the latter, but I have better control of my lower leg in the former.
I liked the moderately stiff Petries when I was riding a narrower thoroughbred type. I’m short, and really need the soft inner calf on a well sprung cobby type of horse… my leg hits at a very round part of the barrel and stiffer boots feel like an impediment instead of legs hanging beneath me. Still love the stiff outside though.
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Interesting. I’ve never worn anything other than jumper field boots or half chaps and am unlikely to need anything more on current horse trajectory :). However looking at local tack shops, it looks to me like soft fitted dress boots have entirely replaced stove pipes in off the shelf new models. Even the custom boots shown as demos online or in the shops are soft fitted. I do however see a lot of stove pipe dressage boots on consignment.
I agree with Scribbler, i think stovepipes are on the way out. Uncomfortable and unflattering.
I have two pairs, one pull-on and one lace-up, which i bought because I thought i “needed” them for “proper” rated dressage showing. I’ve never shown in either pair because they are horrible to ride in. I disagree with other commenters that the stiff boots allow for refined leg aids – i feel like you basically only have one “volume” of request, where with soft boots you can be subtle or loud or anything in between. You also have more freedom to move your leg forward or back on the horse to control different responses.
I certainly didn’t grow up in stovepipes so YMMV.
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I grew up riding Western and English in jeans and sneakers :), and had a pair of inexpensive pull on rubber tall boots for attempting English flat classes at our local gymkhana. When I returned to riding I got paddocks and half chaps (which did not exist in my youth) and then Ariat field boots on clearance which seemed like such a huge commitment to riding at the time!
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹I have to say that I don’t feel any difference in my leg between half chaps and field boots. When I ride in just paddocks, with no boot shaft or chap on the calf, I feel stable at the trot but sometimes feel slippery at the canter, but not always. If I get my leg under me at the start I am fine.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹
I find it hard to imagine that a stove pipe boot would make a huge difference in my overall leg stability because I do see people riding in stovepipes whose legs are bouncing every which way. I did enough hunter jumper lessons when I returned to riding that “solid stable lower leg” was drilled into me as desirable :).
However I’m also speaking as someone who has looked at stove pipes in tack stores for a decade with a mixture of fascination and horror :). I do have muscly calves, I take a wide boot shaft, I could never wear a pull on boot, either fashion or equestrian, and I have a very wide barreled horse, so probably they are not meant for me.
But I also don’t love the look of the more fitted “leather sock” dress boots, at least on the shelf. They also don’t seem that durable. Well, and they tend to be more expensive too at this point than basic field boots :). Also I think I internalized the look of a traditional field boot as a child 
and they just look “right” to me!
I do like the look of the stove pipe boot on a good dressage rider, it does seem part of the overall picture, but perhaps I should start looking for photos of people in leather sock boots. Change my eye.
If it makes sense to upgrade my very worn field boots to a dress boot, I am relieved the leather sock boots are an option.
I have difficulty being “loud” in soft boots, but I’m not sure I can get properly subtle in stiff boots. Possibly it’s because I bought a pair of Petries when they were on offer in order to spare my competition boots, unfortunately whilst they’ve dropped to a comfortable height behind the knee, they are a couple of cms too wide in the calf. I was wondering about selling them and getting a pair that were a better fit, but as I also have MH Opus as my other everyday boot, and they are now quite worn as well as being into their 3rd set of zips, I don’t know whether I should replace them or have a new back-up pair for competitions.
I’m genuinely curious. What does being “loud” mean, as opposed to being “clear”?
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Yikes, I was quoting someone but the post seems to have disappeared!
I just don’t have enough leg for stovepipes. It limits me to using my knee and my spur, essentially, because everything in between is locked up and miles away from the horse. If I were a nice tall man, maybe it would help; I do like the look, just doesn’t work for me. There’s a lot of boot between leather sock and super stovepipe - my petries are from cows that would survive the apocalypse and are quite substantial.
Stiff. Not complete stovepipe stiff, but pretty solid back and outside, with a slightly softer inside for better feel. I like the stability a stiff boot provides.
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Same here. As a kid riding English and western equitation, I had “heels down” drilled into me to the point I think I damaged my ankle joints slightly. Riding in half chaps on a greenie as I started learning dressage as an adult, the heels down thing was translating into bracing in a chair seat. Getting some somewhat stiff dressage boots (Petrie ANKY Elegance) gave my ankle more support and I’ve learned to keep a flexible ankle that isn’t braced or shoved down, so I can aid more subtly with all parts of my leg. I mean, now I can do that regardless of the boot I’m wearing, so I’d say the stiff boots were a training aid for me to change my feel and re-make my seat. My main boot now is Mountain Horse Estelle, which is soft on the inside and stiff on the outside. It’s a nice compromise being soft enough to ride my just-started 4 year old with a shorter stirrup, but also feel correct on my more trained horse.
