The Basics of Buying Cowboy Boots

Series Summary

The horse has been used in warfare since as early as 4000 BCE, but a cowboy wouldn't care. There is archaeological evidence in the steppes of Eurasia of fortified towns being built to defend against horse-riding bandits and raiders. In 1350 BCE, the Hittite tribe developed a written manual for successfully breeding and conditioning chariot horses. Thus, since before written history and throughout the recorded development of mankind, horses have been a powerful ally to victorious armies and successful agriculturalists. In America's Wild West of the 19th century, cowboys became famous for their horse-riding and cow-herding skills. Wild mustangs could fetch a high price for breeding with other stocks of horses. Outside of warfare, horses became necessary tools of the cowboys for handling livestock and traversing arid lands.

In this free video series, expert cowboy boot salesman Dustin Williams will teach you how to choose the perfect pair of cowboy boots. You will learn how to fit a pair of cowboy boots, different styles, what to look for when shopping for boots, how to choose from the leathers, and different materials that go into making cowboy boots. Dustin also gives tips on picking boots with a purpose- do you need exotic boots, casual, dressy, for work? Dustin has the answer. It is all here. Even how to protect and waterproof your cowboy boots after purchase.

Video Transcript

"Hi I am Dustin Williams on behalf of Expert Village. I am here at A.A. Callisters and today I'm going to be talking about some boots. First will talk about the terminology of boots. You'll see here this is a LaCasey. Very nice boot. We'll basically we will start out here with the, the dividing up the boot. It's called piping. This little piece of leather that goes down the middle here. And this basically the fights the front from the back. This front part the whole front. Anything in front of the foxing, in front of the piping is called the vamp leather. Anything in the back is called the foxing., Anything above is called the, the shaft. Sorry. And this here is obviously the heal, the toe, the sole. That's we can get through that there. This here extra piece of leather which is normally on dress boots and other fancy boots. This here is called the wingtip. Now this one here is in lizard skin which makes an exotic boot. This one here. This extra piece of leather some people might think it's a wing tip. It's not. It's called a scab. And that there is also leather. They put that there for a nice touch to the boot. Here we have the pull straps. Which is obviously the function and style and they come in many different styles. From the Kennedy poll straps with little that stretched down here. They got mule ears that basically are loose. They have cloth straps on the inside also called cloths. They also have pull holes also. You'll see here. And that's what we're talking about today is boots."