Boots for the Every Girl

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If you know me, you know I've been horseback riding for the past twelve years. I love it and wouldn't consider my life without it. One thing I don't love, though, is that it's given me some monster calves that don't quite fit into the standard knee boot. My calves are a comfortable 15.5" around-making them about an inch or inch and a half too big for most boots. General calf sizes range from 13-15". From there, if you search for wide widths on a site like Zappos, you're pretty much going to be faced with boots with extremely wide widths. It can be hard to find to find the middle-range sizes.
If you're a girl who falls just slightly outside of the normal range, boot shopping can be about as embarrassing as bikini shopping. Luckily, I've found a few sites and brands that make attractive and high-quality boots with slightly wider than average calf circumferences.

In my own closet, I own pairs of Naturalizer, Restricted, and Steve Madden boots. The Steve Maddens were a lucky find. Most of them don't manage to fit me at all. But I've found Naturalizer and Restricted to be great for the above-average girl.

DSW: Their wide boots section features boots at those lovely DSW prices with shaft circumferences up to 16".

Shop Ruche: There are many things to love about this site, from the clothes to the jewelry to the bags. I own two pairs of boots from Shop Ruche and I love them both. I ordered both online and they fit like a dream. While these boots (below) don't list a calf circumference, they are lace up so I imagine the fit is pretty adjustable. Plus, aren't they just adorable?

Continental Crossroads Boots

Blowfish: I was browsing their website this morning and came across a beautiful pair of grey boots (the next on my shopping list!) that were not only gorgeous, but featured a 15.5" circumference. They have a slight heel that, while I normally only buy flat boots, seems manageable. These beautiful Beams come in lots of different colors. Most of the Blowfish boots seem to have a calf circumference of 15.5".

Do any of you have other problems finding shoes and/or boots? I also have a bunion on one of my feet that pinches the nerve on that foot. While I've been living with it for several years (5-6 at this point), at this stage I'm not considering surgery. It would take too much time away from the things I love (read: I could not possibly sit in bed for six weeks). Maybe I'll make another post about my shoe shopping challenges with that. There are so many shoes that seemed to have been designed without the foot in mind, which is a tragedy.

Jag Lever