The Real Reason I Started Bareback Footwear

5 reasons to buy Bareback Footwear:

The beginning of the story

A wet weekend, in a cold field, under a marquee roof. How we spend most weekends. A lady comes in for shelter and begins looking at our footwear. Originally, we sold several of the most well-known equestrian boot brands. This lady had visited pretty much every other soggy marquee and was wet through.

Spirits as damp as her socks she sat down. “I haven’t got really weird shaped legs, have I?” quite loudly to be heard over the tip tapping of rain on the marquee roof.

Emma took a seat next to the lady “no, you haven’t” it was the simple answer. We proceeded to try all the styles that we sold including several in wide fitting. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to the lady leaving her to make a mad dash for the car empty handed and thoroughly disheartened.

In the horse box later, still battling the tip tapping of rain on the roof we were having our own conversation sharing a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. “That lady is not alone, everyone I know who rides struggles with footwear, I can never find boots that properly fit, I don’t know why equestrian brands design boots without a calf or completely without a shape to them”, a couple of pieces of chocolate later our courage was growing “If we do this there is no point unless the quality is the best it possibly can be and we are going to design boots for everybody”.

Fast forward to the same soggy field a year on, same tipper tapper of rain on the marquee roof. The same lady rushes in, this time with an umbrella in hand, she shakes it out and goes straight for our latest additions to the range. Emma rushes over “We’ve done it”. The lady, not expecting to be recognised, raised an eyebrow. “We’ve designed a range of boots that actually fit, you have to try these Lucianna Boots”.

The boots fitted perfectly in our standard fit and Lucy, who had never managed to find a pair of well fitting long boots, left the marquee skipping into the rain, brolly in one hand and the boots that finally fitted in the other. Lucy now visits ever year at Bramham Horse Trails to look for our latest styles, to claim full responsibility for Bareback Footwear’s success, and (we suspect) for a piece of Cadbury's…

That’s why we do what we do and how it all began.

Emma x