Cowboys and stilettos

Now, now, don't start visualizing cowboys wearing stilettos.  Though, I am sure there is more than one who struts around somewhere in his favorite stilettos; there got to be some.

And, nope, I am not planning to become a cowboy.  Nor do I have any plan to wear high heels--they just don't work for my chicken legs ;)

I was reading this and I came across a parenthetical note: "(cowboy boots still use heels in this way)"

That stopped me right there.  I had never, ever associated cowboy boots with heels.  Heels?

I often tell students to trust, but verify.  Which is what I also did.  Ahem, it checks out:

Shorter men have extra reason to love cowboy boots — the heel adds anywhere from a half-inch to nearly two inches of height. Taller men will definitely want a lower-slung “walking heel” style, but particularly short men can sneak another inch or so in by wearing full “cowboy heels.”

I could use another two inches.  Of heels, I mean.  Clean your dirty mind!!! ;)

Look at this image of a men's cowboy boots:

Source

That is for men?!

But, cowboy boots having heels was not the real shocking thing that I read.  Instead, it was this:

High heels were, in fact, originally designed for men – and had an immensely practical purpose. Soldiers on horseback wore them in tenth-century Persia, according to Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. The heel helped keep them stable as they stood up in their stirrups and took aim at enemies with bows and arrows

What the what?

Over time, heels appeared on the shoes of male aristocrats across Europe. Yet from the mid-17th century, heels became associated with supposedly “feminine” qualities such as frivolity, and so became women’s wear.

It was originally for us men and then women took over?  I suppose anything we do they really can do it better ;)