One of our greatest motivation for wearing riding boots is to make getting stepped on by your horse a less painful occurrence. The other is for safety while mounted on a horse. For the past 19 years I have measured many customers’ feet for custom riding boots.  I have noticed a trend that most equestrians may never discover. Your right foot tends to be wider than your left. Let’s think about this.  We lead our horses with our right hand or on the right hand side of our bodies.  This exposes your right foot to the danger of being trampled on a regular basis.  A squashed foot with broken pinkie toes tends to be a whole lot wider.  A proper riding boot or shoe offers protection in the form or a ridged toe box.  While walking your horse, riding boots have the advantage over soft toed sneakers.

When your foot is in the stirrup the heel of the proper riding paddock or jodhpur is large enough to be safe.  Boots without heels can slip through the stirrups and get caught up as the rider looses their balance or falls off. 
Riding boots with the correct heel height generally less than 1”, and good toe box structure are either a short ankle height boot called a paddock boot, or a tall field or dress boot. Either boot is correct for riding.  Children wear paddock boots when they are competing in horse shows.  Adults wear paddock boots for everyday riding and general use. Adults compete in tall field or dress style riding boots. May competitions allow paddock boots and half chaps as proper attire. Some half chaps are made from top hide leather that even looks like a boot top. Coupled with a half chap, paddocks will perform almost the same way as a boot would.
Ariat, the leading manufacturer in riding boots paved the way for paddock as we know them today.
 “In 1990, co-founders Beth Cross and Pam Parker set out to create a new company and a new way of thinking about footwear for riders. The two realized that traditional riding boots, both English and Western weren't all that well suited for riding. They were stiff, heavy and hard on the feet.

So they assembled a group of top footwear engineers and designers, and set them on the task of creating the world's most technically innovative performance riding boot for both English and Western riders. They started by re-designing the outsole, rethinking the arch support system and finally taking a hard look at the suitability of "traditional last shape and fit.”  Ariat .com

Tall or Knee Riding Boots are available in many styles and heights. Custom horseback riding boots like Fabrini, Vogels’ and Dehners make a beautiful boot whether you choose to horse show or fox hunt or do dressage. There is something for everyone. Stock tall boots come in women’s sizes 5-11 with up to five calf widths and two heights per foot size.