Boots are NOT Southern

Let me say this again, COWBOY BOOTS ARE NOT SOUTHERN. I grew up in Texas, I saw more boots in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Colorado than in Austin.

When I read a post about how “I put on my boots and burnt orange and expected to watch some Texas football” please, stop. You have never gotten those boots, or any other pair, covered with mud. What you hope is mud. You have never spent an entire day in a saddle or on a tractor. I bet you clomp around in your boots. When I got a pair of boots, I had to  learn how to walk quietly and without scuffing any floors. Scuffing floors just makes life harder for janitors.

Because you are Texan, you don’t wear boots. That is a terrible stereotype. It’s like the stereotype that I rode a horse to school because I went to school in Texas and know how to ride a horse. Most of the people I knew in high school had never ridden a horse outside of the pony rides. And I learned how to ride in South Dakota, thank you very much!

If it’s a fashion statement, fine. But don’t call boots Texas. Boots are country. Boots are dancing. Boots are packing up the truck, loading the ATVs, and wondering if you will find any mice at the campsite at dawn when you go through the hay and get the horses their breakfast. If you own boots, live in a city, and go riding in tennis shoes – no. You don’t wear boots because Texas, you wear boots because Fashion. And, yes, it is a bit of a fashion in Texas, but you don’t wear your boots everyday. If you do, and you live in Texas, then fine. But, most of the people who make posts about “putting on their boots to watch Texas football” sorry hun, bless your heart, but you really shouldn’t bother. If you are wearing boots specifically to look Texas, you aren’t wearing boots because you are a Texan.

Those of you who think this is a southern thing, let me inform you of something. I think you live in a city. There, how does that feel?

I say this as a Southerner who does wear boots. Who learned to ride at age 5. Who was put on a horse at age 3. Who grew up in a suburb. Who loves barn dances and country dancing- and all types of ballroom dancing. If you bought a pair of boots because you are from Texas or go to certain schools, please never tell anyone else.