Boot Fitting.... again

Take two on trying to fit into my old amazing Cavallo boots. I've had them since I was a young rider and they are still in great condition. I brought them to the leather/shoe guy to have them stretched and have zippers put in them since my calves are not the svelte size they were when I was riding professionally, over 8 hours a day. Since the boots mean a lot to me and I didn't want him to mess them up, I stressed that I did not want him to over stretch them, but just stretch them a little and put the zippers in. Well, apparently this meant to the great shoe guy... don't stretch them at all and just put the zippers in. Which is just GREAT because once you put the zippers in, you can't stretch them. Well, I guess, you can't forcefully stretch them. You can sit in your couch and force them on your legs for hours at a time and try to stretch the leather out. So... welcome to my life now. The first few tries I wasn't even able to get the zippers up all the way, but now I can. As you can tell from the photo of my poor leg, that's what happened after quite a few hours of having the boot on over my sock (no pants yet). From left to right the marks are: edge of boot, zipper pull, edge of boot and snap that goes over the zipper. *Youch!*
I just hope that it gets better by show season! I guess I've got some work to do... 

What I do on a Saturday night: Boot Breakin'

First and foremost, I don't look at all as glamorous as the girl in the above photo but find myself too lazy to take a picture of what I actually look like sitting here, breaking in my boots. What the girl above and I do have in common? We both are sitting on couches in tall black boots, and we both have great ravenesque locks.

I have a pair of boots that I love. They are really nice Konig boots with a whale bone up the back. I got them when I started riding seriously, and my legs were a bit smaller than what they are currently. So, since I'm getting more serious now and will be showing, I'd like to show in my great and wonderful boots, that don't fit. So I brought them to the wonderful Otto of Otto's Shoe repair in Dundee. If you're a rider in the NW Illinois area and you ever need a boot repaired, dressage or otherwise, Otto is your man. He's downtown Dundee and though he's not a man of many words, he does a wonderful job and will give you your boots back shined up and looking great. Its just him so he can take a while to get things back to you, but the quality is much worth it.

So now here I sit... with the boots on trying to re-break them in. Since its been years since I've had them on they've gotten very stiff and they need to loosen up before they attempt to see the side of a horse. Oh, and I still can't zip them all the way either... but that's just a minor thing. Give me a bit of time, a bit more exercise, and I'm sure that won't be much of an issue.

Off to watch some more worthless TV and sit on the couch in riding clothes... with no horse. NOw who is all dressed up with no where to go???