Howdy Slim! Riding Boots for Thin Calves: Alfani Cabbie

With scrawny 11.9-inch calves, I've been on a mission for years (decades!) to find the very best, most beautiful slim calf boots. There have been successes, but for whatever reason, what remain most elusive are the perfect riding boots for thin calves. Heels and wedges are challenging to find with a narrow shaft, but equestrian inspired? The toughest of all. In this blog I'll review riding boots with calf circumferences published, or reported anecdotally, at under 14 inches around. If your legs are like mine, maybe you'll find your dream boot here :)

Please note: Except where otherwise stated in the captions, all photos & text are copyright this "Howdy Slim" blog and cannot be used elsewhere without permission.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Alfani Cabbie

These are the lowest-price riding boots with skinny calves I've found that are made from leather. So if your holiday bills are paid, but just barely, the Alfani Cabbie could be a good bet.

As far as I can tell, these under $100 (!) boots (as of mid-January) are virtually identical to the BCBGeneration Jericho -- also a wallet-friendly pair -- but are a teeny bit slimmer through the calf.

In a size 8, the Cabbie measures 14.75" at the top opening, a fairly narrow 13.75" at midcalf, and 11" at the ankle. The front is leather, while the back is stretch fabric, as with many narrow shaft boots on the market.The gap around my just-shy-of-12" calves is less noticeable, of course, over cords than over the thin stockings pictured above.

I'm not sure why they felt the need to put a shiny detail on the heel, but it's small and fairly subtle, so shouldn't be a dealbreaker for most.

Rating:
Beauty: ***/5
Value: *****/5
Calf slimness: ***/5

In black or brown.
Find it at: Amazon

1 comment:

mvu91February 19, 2014 at 10:15 PM
thanks for sharing, i purchased these in black as well =)
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Will these boots fit you like they do me?

That depends on your measurements. If you haven't already done so, sit down, wrap a soft or paper tape measure around your calf at its widest point (usually about 10-12 inches up from the bottom of the foot), and that's your calf measurement. Mine is 11.9 inches, which definitely falls into the skinnier than average category. Anything under 14 inches is pretty slim and may require a concerted effort to fit with a stylish boot.

Right under my knee, where many tall-boot openings fall, I measure 11.5 inches.

My ankles are about 8.25 inches around, so finding a good ankle fit can also be a challenge.

Finally, I'm about average height (5'4"), and for a knee-high look, the perfect boot shaft height for me is between 15 and 17 inches. If you're shorter, you might want to look at 13- to 15-inch-tall shafts instead.