Contemporary takes on riding boots have elements like small heels and elastic panels for added stretch. Pictured here is a pair of boots from Bobbies. Photo: The New York Times
Riding boots are worn today as much for walking on city sidewalks as they are for hunting or the other horseback activities for which the footwear was originally made centuries ago.
But with so many options out there, how does one choose?
The knee-high boots have become popular as interest in ankle boots has dwindled.
Their taller height and narrow leg shaft can make it harder to find the right fit, but Laura Ratliff, the manager of Manhattan Saddlery, the lone tack shop in New York City, said that equestrian brands like Fratelli Fabbri and DeNiro Salento have started to make styles with discreet elastic gussets to accommodate different calf widths.
Fashion brands like Penelope Chilvers and Frye have started to offer boots in a variety of calf widths as well.
Ratliff’s shop specialises in “boots for athletes, not skinny supermodels,” as she put it.
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But she attributed the recent popularity of riding boots partly to models like Eve Jobs and Bella Hadid, who have appeared on horseback on social media and in city streets.
“Being a horse girl has a mystique around it,” Ratliff said. “There is a cachet to the style and fashion of equestrian boots, and people realise they are quite a useful shoe.”
Fashion brands’ riding boots often have silhouettes different from those made by equestrian brands for competition, which are meant to hug the leg as snugly as possible to allow close contact between riders and their horses.
Jobs, a competitive show jumper for the US team who has appeared in advertisements for Glossier and Louis Vuitton, said that whatever a boot’s fit, styles that sit higher on the leg – “just under the knee” – have a more elegant profile.
Riding boots kept clean and in good condition, Jobs said, can last for years (she wears boots from the Roman brand Parlanti for competitions and maintains them using “leather cleaner, softener, little polish sticks and a towel,” she said).
Irene Neuwirth, a jewellery designer in Los Angeles, who has ridden horses throughout her life, echoed Jobs’ sentiments about boots’ height.
“You want a riding boot to come up against the knee because it slouches down once it’s broken in,” said Neuwirth, who likes boots from Vogel, a brand in New York.
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The black, slightly glossy styles associated with riding boots have roots in the English style of horseback riding; brown pairs are more closely linked to the Western style of riding, the version popularised by cowboys.
A pioneer in bringing riding boots from the stables to the streets was Hermes, which started as a saddle maker and in the early 2000s introduced its Bardigiano and Jumping boots, two styles not for sport.
Hodakova, a Swedish brand that won this year’s LVMH Prize, featured riding boots in its recent spring 2025 runway show – and not just as footwear. Deconstructed boots were used to make items like a skirt and a dress.
The brand’s founder, Ellen Hodakova Larsson, who has competed as a show jumper and dressage rider, correlated the interest in riding boots to a larger shift in fashion, which she characterized as a preference for practical wardrobe items.
“Equestrian sports are about quality things that you can wear forever,” Larsson said. – ©2024 The New York Times Company
