From: photodoglv@yahoo.com   
      
   I received a little bit of a refund this year on my taxes and thought I'd   
   buy myself a new pair of boots. I typically go toward "work" boot styles,   
   but today, while shopping, I took a good look at what are traditionally   
   called "cowboy" boots. I find it hard to believe that drovers in the old   
   west could afford anything fancy, with tooled leather and the such, let   
   alone the exotic types of animal hides these things are made of now.   
      
   I always thought the pointed toe started out to make the boot go into the   
   stirrup easier, and the heel was to prevent the foot from sliding on through   
   the stirrup when bearing down on it. Aside from that, how authentic is   
   today's modern cowboy boot to what would have been found in say 1870-1880?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)