(For 50 Years, Krause Boots Have Been On Right Track)<\/b><\/p>\n
As a reporter for the Mayefield Messenger, Thomas Carroll \u00a0captured the soul of his hometown by writing about \u201creal people,\u201d not just those considered newsworthy.\u00a0 His feature stories were well regarded and occasionally came to the attention of the metropolitan daily, the Beacon Light, which published Thomas\u2019 stories under the heading \u201cDispatch from Mayefield.\u201d\u00a0 The following is one of these Dispatches, published in 1975.<\/i><\/p>\n
For 50 Years, Krause Boots Have Been On Right Track<\/b><\/p>\n
By Thomas Carroll<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Mayefield Messenger<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI like America better,\u201d Midge said.\u00a0 \u201cDo you remember Mr. Krause, in Mayefield, where you got those riding boots made in a day?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMmm\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we kept driving round that shopping center there, and getting lost in the one-way streets\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper, that week was\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWish we could go again\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
This conversation, excerpted from the novel Rat Race<\/span> by British jockey-turned-mystery-writer Dick Francis, recalls an incident that occurred a few years ago when Francis was attending the horse races in Mayefield.<\/p>\n He needed a pair of riding boots, but had to leave town the next day.\u00a0 Israel and Morris Krause, owners of A.M. Krause & Sons, of Maye\u00ad\u00adfield, worked through the night and had the boots ready on time.\u00a0 The appreciative Francis incorporated their efforts into the literature of racing fiction.<\/p>\n On race tracks throughout the country \u2013and in many parts of the world\u2014the Krause name is regarded as the very best in racing boots.\u00a0 The Krauses estimate that well over half the jockeys in the United States wouldn\u2019t even consider mounting their steeds in boots other than Krause\u2019s.<\/p>\n A.M. Krause & Sons is celebrating its 50th<\/sup> anniversary of boot making at its Mayefield plant this month.\u00a0 The firm\u2019s founder, Adolph Michael Krause, died in 1966, but it is still a family business, with sons Israel and Morris and daughter Mary Kleinman carrying on the tradition of quality.<\/p>\n When Willie Shoemaker needs a new pair of riding boots, all he has to do is pick up the phone and call Krause\u2019s.\u00a0 His conversation with Mrs. Kleinman, who runs the office, is brief since his size and custom specifications are on file, along with those of hundreds of other jockeys.<\/p>\n The Krause boot is popular with jockeys because it is lightweight, yet durable.\u00a0 They can make a pair of boots as light as nine ounces that will hold up for many grueling rides.<\/p>\n In their office, the Krauses proudly display one of their boots made for Shoemaker, which he wore in 100 races.\u00a0 It looks as if it had been worn only a few times, with the only real wear around the ankle pad.<\/p>\n The Krause riding boot for jockeys is made of sturdy leather with reinforcements at two main points of wear, on the toe and ankle.\u00a0 These reinforcements were original ideas of A.M. Krause and patented by him in 1936.\u00a0 The idea for the ankle pad came when he realized the jockey works his legs back and forth during a race and ankle leather wears out quickly.<\/p>\n The senior Krause\u2019s entry into boot making for jockeys came almost by accident.\u00a0 He immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1907 and set up cobbler shops in various locations before moving to Mayefield in 1925.<\/p>\n He was in Mayefield for a only short while when jockey Henry Erickson came to the Main Street shop and requested a special pair of boots.\u00a0 Mr. Krause followed his specifications, and Erickson liked the results, ordered more and told his friends.\u00a0 Since then, the Krauses have hardly been able to keep up with the orders.<\/p>\n Israel Krause estimates that today the firm manufactures 65 percent of all riding boots for jockeys in the country.\u00a0 Each one is made by hand in the small, unassuming factory.\u00a0 In the Krause operation, each of the 14 employees can do several things.\u00a0 The process differs from the standard assembly line production since employees can cover for each other when one is sick, and they can be taken from one job and put immediately into another when necessary.<\/p>\n Israel calls boot making \u201ca dying art,\u201d and getting qualified workers is becoming increasingly harder.\u00a0 The difficulty of finding people to learn the craft is described by Israel as \u201cthe impatience of the young.\u00a0 You can\u2019t just come in and learn boot making right away.\u00a0 It takes a long time and the young people just don\u2019t seem to be interested in starting at the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. Kleinman thinks that craft schools teaching shoemaking would be a good idea.\u00a0 \u201cThere are schools for other crafts, such as plumbers and electricians, why not for shoemaking?\u201d<\/p>\n For a long while, it appeared that the Krause family tradition in boot making would disappear when Israel, Morris and Mary retired.\u00a0 Mary has three daughters, none interested in the business.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s son \u2013the only boy among the three\u2019s offspring\u2014is a successful engineer.\u00a0 But recently, Morris\u2019 daughter, Randy, has shown an interest in boot making and has been working part time learning the trade.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope Randy will be able to take over someday,\u201d her uncle Israel says.\u00a0 \u201cShe has been enthusiastic, hard working, and has good hands,\u201d the three qualities most important in the craft.<\/p>\n The business that Randy stands to inherit includes much more than boots for jockeys.\u00a0 The Krauses also make western-style boots, exercise boots, English-style riding boots, and Cuban heel and zipper jodhpurs.<\/p>\n A few years ago, the Krauses introduced their \u201cKroco\u201d jockey riding boot, made of a synthetic material imported from Japan.\u00a0 Known to jockeys simply as \u201cKrocs,\u201d this easy maintenance product is fast becoming popular.<\/p>\n When the Mayefield Hunt Club visited England last fall, club members were wearing Krause\u2019s heavy duty riding boots, especially designed for the vigor of hunts and steeplechases.<\/p>\n Although they have been involved in a racing related industry for a half century, the Krauses have no personal interested in the races.\u00a0 \u201cWe used to have a lot of jockeys stop by just to talk and watch us work,\u201d Morris remembers, \u201cand sometimes they would give us tips.<\/p>\n \u201cOne day we got what looked like a really good tip.\u00a0 Mary was excited, but we couldn\u2019t find anywhere to place a bet.\u00a0 It was a good thing, because the horse lost.\u00a0 We don\u2019t pay much attention to tips anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t even go to the races.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen a race in 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n The Krauses may not be personally visible at the nation\u2019s race tracks, but they are in almost every race.\u00a0 When Willie Shoemaker and other top jockeys race, their boots in the stirrups have to be Krause\u2019s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Robert J. Marton)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (For 50 Years, Krause Boots Have Been On Right Track)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}