[warranty replacement]
 >
 > One did and they replaced them.  The boots they replaced
 > them with
 > didn't last more than a couple of months either.  In my
 > case they did
 > nothing.  I really think I should have been warned.  I'm
 > really
 > disappointed in the Ariats.
 
That's too bad.  Well, mine will probably last forever because I won't be 
putting them to hard use.    But I appreciate the warning.
 
 > a couple
 > of us wear the sneakers,(the only shoes I've ever worn that
 > never hurt).
 
Michael Plumb's Horse Journal just did a big run-down of paddock shoes a 
couple of issues ago.  I forget which ones they liked.   In general I think 
he prefers real boots to the sneakers, but of course he would.
 
 > -> You know, if these boots don't perform as they say in
 > the ads, it's
 > -> really too bad, because we could all use comfortable
 > boots.  In
 >
 > Isn't that the truth.  The difference in the quality of
 > the mens and
 > womens boots still makes me MAD.  If I pay over a hundred
 > dollars for
 > boots I expect them to last for a couple of years and to
 > look good for
 > more than a month.
 
Well, I don't know.  I would have agreed with you 20 years ago, but these 
days, a hundred dollars only gets you a pair of cheap boots. I paid ninety 
bucks each for a couple of pairs of ankle-boots (we're talking fashion boots 
here, not 'real' boots) and I baby them; the leather is a thin split and if 
you yanked them on and off, they'd tear up.  (I bought these in the early 
80's.)  So I'd expect decent riding boots to be well over 100 just for cheap 
ones.
 
I agree with you, though -- for the same price point, there's no excuse for 
the women's and men's being such different quality.  The only thing to do is 
to hound the company and make them fix it, or at least to write a letter 
saying "I'm switching back to Justins because your boots didn't hold up to 
ordinary use" or something like that.   If the company gets no negative 
feedback at all, they will never clean up their act.
 
We get Ariat sales reps through town doing trunk shows from time to time.  I 
can put a word in the ear of the local sales rep, but it would be useful to 
know what model you have and when you bought them.
 
Totally agree with the idea of gel-sole inserts, though inserts don't always 
work (if you've bought the shoes to fit without them, the shoes are then too 
small with the inserts in.)
--- Opus-CBCS 1.73a
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