Breaking in new tall boots:

I personally wouldn't put my Ariats in water. But that's just me I walk up and down steps for a while and that usually sinks the back in a bit to where they are bearable.

It's worked on my Ariats lol but everyone is different!

When your boots start getting dry (you'll see a little white on your leather) that's when you'll need to start putting the polish on, and be very generous with it. Wear your boots around and polish, polish, polish.

Of course - check your care instructions too. I've done this with about 4 sets of tall boots and every pair of leather boots I've owned.

Lol!
Good dress boots can take months to break in. I have scars just from my crappy ones. You guys are lucky you get to wear soft boots!!!
The best thing is to grab some sponges for behind your knees and go riding! Also doing stairs can help. And remember to wear a good pair of socks to avoid rubbing in the ankle area and purchase some moleskin!
Good luck

Ok! I lead a pony(at a trot) through a little hunter course and that helped a lot. It was good exercise too! Then I rode a horse through the course a few times and they are much more comfortable now!

Interesting, the nicer the field boot the easier to break in! Do dress boots not ever come in calf skin or anything?

The best way to break in your boots is usage. Cover your feet in moleskin and wear them everywhere and ride as much as you can.

Dress boots (the good ones at least) sound like wood when you knock on them and can be 1/8" thick. To have them in calf skin would defeat their purpose.

They just had a thread about the bath tub trick on another form I've joined. The general consensus was warm water is fine, stand in the water untill you can just feel the inside is wet, then just wear the boots untill they dry. If you take them off before they dry, they will shrink. If you stay in the water untill the boots are completely soaked, they take forever to dry.

Cool! Glad I'm not the only one that does it LOL! It usually only takes a day for mine to dry.

I have those boots. They have more or less broken in fairly quickly just from wearing and riding a few times. Have you actually worn them to ride in yet - that did the trick for me.

I think my ariat's are the same as those, I would have to check which design to be sure. I just put them on and started to ride in them. I wore them around for a bout a week or so (not riding) and they never gave me any sore's and are pretty comfy!
They were not inexpensive and I was concerned about the break in part, but was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get them supple.
Halfpass