A couple weeks ago on Instagram one clothing company asked “How would you describe your riding clothing style?”. My reply was instant – classic with a modern twist. Sounds weird, I know, so let me explain. I love the look of rust breeches, brown boots, wide hunting bridles, and tweed coats. But I also love modern design and comfortable fabrics. If Animo ever makes rust breeches, my pocketbook is in serious trouble.
This spring I decided it was about time to retire my well worn Ariat Volants and find a new pair of schooling boots. But this time I decided I wanted brown. Here’s where I should mention: I am picky. I really like a Spanish top, a slightly squared toe, elastic laces and I was super particular about what shade I wanted. Not too dark, not too red (my complaint with each of Ariat’s brown shades). I spent weeks pouring over every corner of the internet in search of just the right boot. Unfortunately I also had a budget of under $400. That ruled out just about everything. Custom brown Parlanti’s, how I love thee, but alas it just was not meant to be.
Finally I stumbled onto a Dutch website called Divoza. And there, shining like a beacon of all things fabulous, I found the Mondoni Kingston.
They were exactly the color I had in mind, plus they had all the modern styling. I spent some time googling to find out more about the brand (good luck deciphering Dutch message boards) and found out that Mondoni is Divoza’s house brand. So basically – that’s the only place I could get them. But they were only $225, so for that price I figured it was worth taking a gamble. Then began my obsession with the size chart and many back and forth emails with poor Divoza’s customer service reps. I formally apologize to them for being a pain the ass. But I finally figured out what size I needed, ordered them, and voila – 4 days later they arrived from the Netherlands. No kidding – Four. Days. Divoza had them on the truck and sent me a tracking number within an hour of me placing my order. Pretty amazing.
When I pulled them out of the box it was love at first zip. They were beautiful and fit pretty darn well. It’s now been 4 months and I still love them. Brown is fabulous. For the price these boots are pretty nice. Are they as nice as my Ariat Monaco’s? No. But they’re also a quarter of the price. I get compliments on them constantly, and just looking at them makes me happy. I’ve even shown in them a few times… having a jumper has it’s fashion perks.
I will say that brown requires a little more upkeep. I don’t know if I’m being overprotective but scratches and rubs seem to show more. I polish them about once a month with chocolate polish, which has given them a really beautiful rich color. I’m also not sure that they’ll survive many years of daily abuse, but they’re very comfortable and I can wear them all day with no complaints. And again – for such a reasonable price they still seem like a good value to me even if I only get a few years out of them.
The best part is that if you sign up for Divoza’s email newsletter, they send out a 25% off coupon code about once a month. That makes the boots only about $200 USD including shipping. Definitely a good buy for that price!
breedrideevent.com 
Love these boots! If my calf wasn’t so wide I’d be ordering a pair 🙂
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oooo, ahhhh, I want. I much prefer brown to black for just about everything. I wish brown boots were more widely accepted at shows. But I guess they do fly for jumpers, lucky me. Thanks for the review, I’ll keep these in mind for the future!
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If I was doing the hunters I would totally be brave enough to wear them for normal classes. I’ve definitely had no hesitation wearing them in the jumpers. Every once in a while I get a funny look (usually from the kiddos who had no idea boots ever came in anything but black) but for the most part you’d be surprised how much people say they like them.
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Yay! Added these to my future purchases list!
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I WANT THESE. They are sooooo pretty!
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Seems like a totally reasonable wedding present? 😉
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Love! I so want a pair of brown boots someday!
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They look awesome!
I have a pair of chocolate la mundials coming. I would have probably preferred to go non custom for brown boots but everything I found was too light. I want a nice rich chocolate to match all of my dark tack.
Thanks for the review!
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One of Ariat’s browns is a chocolate color. The other is a more red cordovan color. All brown is fabulous though!
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I’ve been going between these and the mountain horse sovereign boots which are a chocolate color. Your comment made up my decision. I love the look of the lighter boots but my tack is dark so dark boots it is, thank you!
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Nothing dreamier than brown boots!
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Seriously not a fan of brown. However, I do like the looks of those boots!
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I have the Cognac Ariats- LOVE them! Brown is in- even in Hunterland!
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Ohhhhh need! Must wait till after baby is born so they fit after I lost the baby weight lol!
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Wow Thanks for the share! Sometimes I hate living in the US because we don’t get any of the really cool and still affordable products! Beautiful boots 🙂
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gorgeous boots!
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Oooooooh. Off to learn Danish.
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Well Divoza is in the Netherlands, so Dutch might help you more than Danish! 😉 lol
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I’m about to order some breeches from Divoza, and I was wondering if you could tell me how much shipping is to the US?
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You have great taste! I am super glad I found this post, because I LOVE those boots, and now I have signed up for emails from that website. Once I have my 25% off, they shall be mine!
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I’ve just ordered these gorgeous boots and am looking for a boot polish like the one you talked about. Do you think the Ariat chocolate cream polish would be suitable?
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