'd ugly truth 'bout my boots!

Wile I do need a new pair of fashionable boots to wear out on the town, my ol'n'faithful everyday riding boots will remain the same.... as they have for a decade.

I certainly have been given a rough time about my boots, and for good reason....

The ugly truth is that they really are quite terribly, unabashedly ugly.

I love them anyways! And I think that they say a heck of a lot more about me than some fancy dancy, high flutin' toe pinchers, let me tell you!


Because my boots and I, we've got history!


I remember the day my Momma bought me these boots, it was my 18th Birthday and I was so tickled pink I insisted on wearing them everywhere...even though it was July and hotter than Hades and within an hour my heel's were bleeding and hurt so bad I nearly cried .... But I loved them anyways, my new Justin's....


As I said, my boots say a lot about me.... for instance... Why lace-ups?


Because back then I thought "real" cowgirls wore lace-ups. There was a time when I tried to be everything I thought a cowgirl should be- I rode the rankest horses, wore a belt buckle, Wranglers, rain slickers and a cowboy hat just to ride down the road. I watched rodeo, ran barrels and tried to learn to throw a rope. I thought if I wore the right boots, rode my pony hard and fast and learned the ropes (literally) one day I'd be a real cowgirl too....

Now "one day" has come and gone, and while I'm still not a "real" cowgirl, I am a real horsewoman. My boots, they tell the story of the dues I paid to get to where I am today. They bare the scars, wear, tear and crackle of having spent years sloshing through Fall's muddy pastures, riding in the rain and snow and kicking dirt ...

And these toes... they've kicked their fair share of dirt....


.... kicked dirt in boredom, frustration, anger, shyness, contemplation and just for the hell of it. These toes have drawn lines in the dirt to mark a finish line, to explain a pattern and while being drug behind a horse.
And these heels have been hard at work too...

.... they've dug trenches for water troughs, filled in gofer holes, driven a hip in or a ribcage out, and even taken a rest on a fence rail on occasion.....

These boots have seen me through more rain, snow, crap and mud than you can shake a stick at... and through it all they've held together....every single stitch...but one...

These boots carry the sweat of Sage, Truck, Jag, Sunday, Loachan, Sonny, Ellie, Kara, Cowboy, Slyder, Abby, Keo, Rosie, Rio, Dixie, Shaunti, Chevy, Riley, Sugar, Chief, Jablo, Trouble, Harley, Spinner and many others...

Each horse has made their mark....

On my boots and in my heart....

No matter how ugly, weathered or lined.....

my Justin's have become with time....

Or how lame it is that I've made this rhyme....

I love' em....

just 'cause, they're mine.