VIDEO HERE (9:30 minutes)
*****
I've worn cowboy boots my entire adult life. Hell, until just a few years ago, that was all I wore until I wore holes in the soles of my favorite shit kicker pointy toed boots. I couldn't find a cobbler around here, so I retired them and started wearing a round toe slip on work boot. I eventually did find a Mexican fella down in Gallatin that did leatherwork and boot resoling, so I am wearing them again occasionally.
Before I found the dude though, I was looking around online and Dwayne in the video ain't lyin', it's damned near impossible to find a pair of pointy toed boots anymore because everybody's wearing those butt-ugly square toed boots that I wouldn't be caught dead in. I haven't seen any pointy toed boots at all locally. I found a few pair online with that style of toe but they were either fancy or rough-out, so they were out. Besides, I really don't care to buy boots online, especially when we're talking at least a couple hundred bucks. I need to feel 'em on my feet before I pony up that kind of money.
When I first got out the army back in 1981, I went back to doing ranch work on the weekends for spending money. When I say ranch work, I ain't talking about herding cattle and yippie-ki-yi-yaying across the lone prairie on horseback, I'm talking all the mundane shit that most people don't think about - mucking troughs and stalls, repairing wire fences, digging holes, stacking hay, shit like that. Stuff that needed to be done but the owner or manager would rather hire somebody than do it themselves. My pointy-toed boots weren't cutting it. One of the guys I was working for directed me to a little back street western store that sold ropers like he was wearing. He said that style would suit me better.
A roper boot is a tight fitting leather lace up uninsulated boot with a narrow round toe and a tall walking heel, the boot standing about 10-11 inches tall. I think I paid just over a hundred bucks for my first pair and that was a pretty penny back then.
But man, they made a world of difference. They had a fairly aggressive sole so I wasn't slipping and sliding, and the ankle support was outrageous. I've had a pair of ropers ever since. I'm on my third pair now.
. All my life I never got passed the 1950s "The Wild One" inspired engineer boots and motorcycle jacket phase. Until now when at my advanced age I've finally arrived in the slippers, jammies and nightcap stage
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to wear heavy shoes anymore, my feet are always sore.
DeleteDaryl
crocs, don't laff till you try 'em.
DeleteSecond that. Crocs keep me walking.
DeleteI am very fond of my feet - especially the toes - and I always wear protective toe shoes. Even my so-called athletic runners are alloy toe. I have never spent any time around large animals, but if I did, I'd wear a steel toe with a metatarsal guard. That's what I wear to the weight room at the gym. Some of the young guys think it's weird, but I once saw a weight lifter drop a 25-pound weight on his foot.
ReplyDeleteWe have Boot Barns in Florida. Maybe they are elsewhere. They have a nice selection of cowboy boots. For years I wore Dingo. This is not the square toe with the straps and the round metal ring on the side. I hate them damn things whatever they were called. The Dingo was a round toe not a high heel and if there was design it was in the stitching. Nothing fancy. Today I wear Tecovas and they are holding up well. I aint very tall but just don't like a tall heel. I'm content with my elevation. Been here for years.
ReplyDeleteLove tecovas, last pair, half size too big, sent them back for free, they then sent the new size, for free. Love them and yes, pointy toed, not the square crap. Hybo
DeleteGotta give two thumbs up for Tecovas. Still have a pair of Red Wings from the early 80's, wore Tony Llama's for years, but they now just sit in the closet. The last pair I bought were Tecovas. Love 'em. Perfect fit - like a soft, leather glove for my feet. (They are my 'go to town' boots. Steel toe Georgia Boots handle the day-to-day stuff around the property).
DeleteI know what you mean. I can't buy online either. Gotta try 'em on. Black bullhide lasts for about 5 sets of Vibram soles (rubber) before they wear out. Plus a bit of black shoe polish and you can wear 'em to church....
ReplyDeleteI'm partial to Nocona, but that is different for every man.
He is on the money!!! I'm 70 now, and I've gone to the lower heel too. And I'd echo those who like Tecovas. I've got a pair and they are extremely well made and comfortable (and round toed).
ReplyDeleteFor years I have worn either a Carolina or Georgia logger boot since I stand on concrete all day they change your posture and keep my back from hurting at the end of shift. The company I work for now has a boot truck that comes around once a year and the only logger they had was a Carhartt. This was before all the BS came from the woke executive staff. They were easy to break in and have been comfortable since new. I may have to go back to my time tested brand this year though.
ReplyDeleteAs I expected, I'm an oddball. I always preferred the square-toed boots with the straps & the ring on each side. In this area & a bit west, they're called 'harness boots', both the square- & pointed-toed ones.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been able to wear them since 2014. I have to have a 1" buildup on the right sole so I don't list to starboard, & my feet are too fucked up to wear cowboy boots anymore anyhow.
--Tennessee Budd
I've worn cowboy style boots all my life. I can remember being in the second grade and myself and one other boy were the only two persons from K-12 that wore cowboy boots (I was country when country wasn't cool). I was raised on a farm and we had horses and cattle, but the main reason I wore that style of boots was because that is all my daddy ever wore and I liked them. I splurged a little when I got out of high school and bought a pair of Nocona boots made from veal skin. I have had them resoled twice. They are pointed toe with a higher heel. I got married in them 38 years ago and still have them. It is funny that you put up this post Ken, because today while returning from a doctors visit, I stopped in Tecovas store and bought a pair of their boots (ropers and rough out) and I really like them. Besides a pair of Justin work boots (round toe/western), and pair of lace up ropers that my daddy had new in the box when I died, these are the first pair of boots I've acquired in nearly 40 years.
ReplyDeleteI've worn Danner or Wesco for work boots, am real fond of Redback for every day wear, ExtraTuffs when I working on the water
ReplyDeleteWhat size do you wear? Have a pair that are 40 years old worn little and that due to my age can no longer wear. Happy to send them to you pro bono if they would serve.
ReplyDeleteTens.
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ReplyDeleteTribute to Cowboy Boots: 'Charlie Dunn', Jerry Jeff Walker
https://youtu.be/_fg3y_PvUxM
Could you post a picture of the Ropers?
ReplyDeleteJerry
If I can find my camera.
DeleteEver since I developed issues with my back I switched to New Balance. Now though, after 18 years, they're not quite cutting it. The heel is too high, I need more of a flat surface so it's not putting pressure on my back.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was stationed in Wichita Falls Tx I got a pair of boots made at Olsen Stelzer Boot Company. They fit but were a bit stiff. Two months later they were pure comfort for the next 25 years. They got resoled 3 times before the uppers wore out. It was the best $120 I ever spent.
ReplyDeleteI’m CAV. I have all kinds of riding boots. Boots for riding animals, boots for riding two wheeled machines, boots for tanks. Oh hell I have boots I use for church. Horse boots there are three different kinds. Dirt bike I have trials bike, enduro bike, and adventure bike boots. Sad thing is all my motorcycle boots are from Europe. None are make in FUSA. Bottom line is this, your feet are VERY important to your survival, put good footwear on them and take care of both. Then there is wading, SOTA hiking, working, walking. Really?
ReplyDeleteSaber, I could not agree more. I was a ground pounder in the corp 68. Also, for thirty years I rode many tours alone on motorcyles. I got home in 69. Five months later, 1970, two other vets, and myself in a dodge cornet hit a quarry stone bridge head on. It was March Friday the 13th. I crushed six inches of bone in the left leg and broke the right in two places. I was told I would not walk again and rode an iron pony, wheel chair, for a long time. My home grown therapy was painful but it worked and I walked. Since then I need big support on my ankles. All I wear are boots and they have to be good ones. I can't wear a tall heel. I'm 73 and my legs still give me a fit at times.
DeleteFootwear, mattresses, office chairs, tires- always buy the best you can afford.
ReplyDeleteIn my college years, wore elephant skin Noconas just before export of that skin was outlawed. Awesome boots, pointy toed design and that elephant skin was tough. Until an unlucky accident where a 2x4 fell across the right toe and made a hole in it. Damn it ! Grey color went with pretty much everything I wore at the time. Moved on to a distressed leather pointy boot (I forget the make) which were comfortable but hot - made my feet sweat. By this time athletic shoes began to look a bit less 'rednecky' in the office and I moved on to those. Still like how quickly boots are to put on, no laces and shit. My boots are now limited to my outdoor pursuits, military patterns except for a pair of snake boots which are extremely hot to wear. But in high grass and brush, worth the peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of one beat up pair of athletic shoes that I used to wear stream fishing, I own nothing but boots. About half of them are lace up and the other half pull on, but I bet I have 8 pair all together. And yes, I have the snake boots and you're right - they are hot to wear. I've only worn them a few times, most of that in the winter because they are so hot.
DeleteHad a co-worker from Chicago who wore Cowboy boots so he could carry a boot knife. In the early days of dress down Fridays, he still was wearing a white shirt and tie. I asked him why he wasn't dressed down like the rest of us. He replied, "I am. The tie is polyester and the boots aren't Tony Lama." One of the four people I most respected in my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was stationed in Wichita Falls TX there was a boot maker that would take a mold of each of your feet and make a pair of boots to fit. I was a E-3 and I spent a month's pay on those boots back in the early 80's. I had those boots resoled 3 or 4 times until the uppers wore through some 30 years later. I have tried off the shelf boots but they don't fit like the pair I got in Texas. Do a little research and get yourself a good pair of boots made.
ReplyDeleteI had a hell of a time finding a semi local guy just to resole my boots, I'm not even going to try to find a custom bootmaker around here. Not that I could afford it anyway.
DeleteHad me 2X Pair of Justin Ropers back in the day... wore one -completely- out (blew the side and heel leather out) and the other I just outgrew... do they make anything like a 15W or 16W? I wore those back when I was in the Army during the height of the 'Cowboy Revival' of Garth Brooks, Shania Twain... you wanted to get laid with hawt chicks in the 101st, you went country alllll the way to the Red Roper club.
ReplyDeleteCan't find anything in my size anymore... the bitch of being a big sumbitch Aye?
Did you ever watch this guy on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/c/RoseAnvil
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool. He dismantles all kinds of boots - he cut's them in half with a bandsaw, and gives his opinions.
yep most of my footwear are boots. Work boots , cowboy boots for dress, engineer boots for riding Mickey Mouse boots for when its freaking cold and the gool old general purpose shit kickers gotta have good boots, cant build a structure with nothing for a foundation . I also suffer from the curse of the sasquatch having size 15 ee earth pads . My go to place (not affiliated , just a happy customer) is the Shoe Box in Black Earth Wisconsin , great place try em
ReplyDeleteNothing beats a good pair of ropers or loggers. Loggers tend to have a wider toe box and AGGRESSIVE soles compared to ropers, and can come with caulked soles for times when you absolutely positively can't slip...think lots of built in track spikes for walking on slippery wet logs.
ReplyDeleteLook up Trival Boots. Doesn't get any pointier than that!
ReplyDelete