Dressage Boots for Short People - Cavallo Stanford

I've been riding in my trusty Ariat field boots for the past several years, and they are very comfortable and totally fine for what I do.  However, with my trainer's encouragement I've been contemplating getting real dressage boots for a while.  Who knows, maybe they'll even help with my bad habit of bracing on the stirrup and shortening my leg!

Unfortunately I don't have the nice long legs desirable for dressage riders.  I measured my height from the ground to the back of my knees at about 17" or 43 cm, and my calves at the widest part, with breeches, at about 13" or 33 cm.  I usually wear a 7.5 shoe, sometimes 7.  My Ariats are a 7.5 short height, regular calf.  They are a bit big all around, but I love the footbed enough I would have bought a dressage boot the same size if they had them - unfortunately they don't seem to have any dressage models at present.  Since I've never worn stiff boots I didn't really want to splurge on my first pair and find out it's not for me - I was hoping to spend around $500 (black Friday deals preferred!)

I previously bought Tredstep dress boots, and just didn't love them so I wasn't interested in that brand.  I've heard some people really like Mountain Horse, and others say they don't last long, but since their Serenade dressage boot doesn't seem to come in a short height it's a moot point.  That left me with several European brands and the ones I looked into were DeNiro, which I've heard are pretty comfortable, and Petrie.  Well Petrie was out immediately because they don't seem to come in short at all.  And DeNiro only had regular dress boots in short at my pricepoint.

Then I landed on something on Dover's website I wasn't familiar with, the Cavallo Stanford.  It only had one review, but at least it was 5 stars.  I couldn't find much more information or reviews on it.  But they have a size 7/7.5, 45 cm height (XX short, lol!), 33 cm (X slim, which is not something I ever would have called my calves), at $399 and with Dover's free returns I figured it was definitely worth a try.  

I receive them a few days later, and was very excited to try them on!  I was wearing workout capris and ankle socks, and the boots felt a bit big in the feet (probably not ideal for someone who is a true 7), and zipped up easily.  I was worried they might rub the ankles a bit, but overall they seemed to fit pretty well.  They zip on the inside, and don't have elastic.  They are stiff on the outside, but soft on the inside.

Because I'm impatient, and/or a masochist, I only wore them around the house for about 3 minutes before my first ride.  At my friend's suggestion I wore tall socks and thick winter breeches under them, so they were definitely more snug!  I rode for about 20 minutes before taking a walk break with my feet out of the stirrups when I started to worry I might go numb, then finished up with about 15 more minutes work.  

I used my Soloshot, and even though my feet still alternate between heels up and down I think overall I did have them level more of the time than usual.  

So far I'm quite happy with my purchase and first stiff boot experience!