Chatham Blenheim fur lined riding boot: review

These boots are sturdy but not particularly smart due to their baggy fit

I was excited about these boots because my old Dubarrys are starting to look like they have seen better days after many years devoted service and I hoped these would work as replacement boots to wear when reporting outside in cold and wet weather.

The boots looked smart when I saw them lying in the box so the omens were good. However, trying them on brought disappointment — the boots were too big around the leg, so while I could pull them in using the straps, the leather then bowed inwards and they didn’t look very smart. I considered putting my jeans outside them and still wearing them for work on dryer days, but this didn’t really work because the straps stick out the back of the boots and so they pushed my trousers into a strange shape.

As the boots didn’t look smart, I decided they weren’t suitable for work and that I would wear them at home instead. I have found them very useful for this — in the past I would go outside before riding in my wellies because I needed to catch my horse from a wet field and hose his legs and my jodphur boots are not waterproof. I’d then have to change into jodphur boots and half chaps before I rode. Now I just go outside in these boots and wear them to get ready and to ride — this has saved time and the hassle of carrying more kit down to the field.

I have found the boots comfortable and waterproof for yard work, dog walking and riding. The fur lining means they are very warm in cold weather, which is great, but I imagine I will have to stop wearing them once spring comes as they will be too hot!

I was unsure how I would feel riding in the boots because in addition to being too big round the leg, the foot and ankle are not very close-fitting. I am used to riding in neat jodphur boots and half chaps and have never ridden in mucker boots or similar.

However, I felt perfectly comfortable riding in these boots and had no concerns about my foot getting stuck in the stirrup, even though I use quite small stirrups. My only concern about the fit comes back to the problem about the leg being too big — the boots bagged open a bit at the top so while I haven’t worn them in heavy rain, I imagine in relentless downpours I would get water inside.

Now that I have these boots, I think I will get a lot of wear out of them and find them very useful. However, I wouldn’t spend £120 on a pair of boots to wear at home only and I am too vain to wear them out anywhere smart because of the problem with the fit, so for me they do not represent value for money. I am a standard size 12 and I would say my legs are slim to normal — they are certainly not super skinny — so I would imagine this is quite a common problem.