Cob Jockey

You may remember a couple of years ago when I scored a pair of La Mundial's off eBay for $135.  They were barely used, and fit in almost every way, except for this weird bump/notch/wrinkle at the back of the calf:


That part of the calf was too big on me, but not noticeably so, so I continued to wear them like that for a couple of seasons.

Like at the KPG clinic in 2018.  PC: Leah

At LRKY this year, I brought them with me knowing LM would have a booth there, hoping they'd be willing to work on them even though I bought them secondhand.  (What can I say, I have PTSD from trying to work with the County rep on a secondhand saddle, ugh, what a waste of time that was.)

They ended up being so good to work with!  A nice gentleman had me try them on over my jeans, and then measured me as if I was getting new boots (knowing those measurements are on file is...tempting).  I filled out a form, paid $90, left my boots with him and promptly tried to forget about them.

Six weeks later, a shipment was released from customs to me, and I got my boots back!  Moment of truth:


They. Are. PERFECT!  They seriously fit like custom boots. 

A real quick "hey baby will you take a photo for my blog before I go to the barn and get them dirty?"

LM also gave them a beautiful polish while they had them.  I had sent them off looking dull, so to get them back looking like this was a thrill.






I didn't know or care how old they were when I bought them, but the LM guy reacted with surprise when he looked at the serial number and saw that they are from 2007!  Looking pretty good for 12 year old boots.






Through a little bit of luck and a little bit of working with a company that takes care of its products for life, I now have a pretty much custom pair of LMs for $225.  Hopefully someday in the future I can patronize LM by buying an actual pair of custom boots from them, but until then, these seem like they're going to keep kicking for a while!

Let me tell you, I've done a good job of keeping my KPG clinic-related crazy off this blog so far, so most of you guys don't know what my brain has been like the past week.

Tis the season...to buy yourself stuff!

My $50 eBayed Ariat Heritage Contour field boots continue to cut off my circulation if I wear them for more than 15 minutes, but I put up with that for the last...six years? because I only wear them to show in.

#passable.  PC: Lisa Brezina

If I unzip the right one during warmup (my calves are dramatically different sizes after I got kicked in the knee while riding in 2007), zip it for my test, AND don't work out for a couple days before a show, they're fine.

Oh and unzip it as soon as humanly possible after our test. PC: My mom

But if the right pair came along for the right price I wouldn't say no, which is why I've had a standing eBay search for "6 dressage boots" for a long time.  Like, years.

So that's how this happened:

First "nice" pair of tall boots ever, after a pair of Devon Aires and the Ariats.

Someone was selling a "worn ten times" pair of La Mundials in my size for $140 shipped last week.   Used boots are hard to resell, but at that price if they didn't work out I felt I could definitely turn a small profit on them if I had to.


But I don't think I'll have to.  They're a perfect fit in almost every way, except the calf which is a smidge big, especially on my small calf. Not so much to where it matters though.  I figure maybe I'll bring them to Rolex-not-Rolex where LM always has a booth and see if they can do something about it.

And, by that time I'll have been working out again for six months, so my calves might grow by then anyway.

They may not be as stiff as some hardcore Dressage boots, but they're stiff enough to stand up on their own without a tree.

Spanish top for the first time in my life!

Here's to show boots that won't leave my feet numb!