That more supportive footwear is more forgiving on uneven ground isn't necessarily so. In practice it's a two-edged sword, as the support is provided at the expense of mobility, which in turn can tend to prevnt a foot conforming to a surface: a big, stiff boot might require edging where a much lighter, flexible shoe can provide full contact, and thus less chance of a slip, and if you do past the Point of No Return then the extra "support" actually helps lever you over, making things worse rather than better! Studies of populations where a significant number walk barefoot show that the majority of nasty ankle injuries happen to people in shoes, not to those with bare feet.
The main problem with trainers over rough ground is they don't distribute "hot spots" over the whole foot, so you tend to get rather sore feet over thr course of a day. A stiffer and/or thicker sole in an otherwise light shoe willget around that though. Boots really score where you want to prop up your undercarriage doing things it hasn't evolved to do, like standing on edges and distributing the load away from the contact points.
I think it's the case not that our cosseted feet are not necessarily significantly weaker, but they are much less adpatable on the small scale. In particular, a barefoot walker has a myriad of muscles under their foot which are used to helping deform the foot selectively to ride over small perturbations, and that's how a habitual barefoot walker can walk easily over gravel that would hideously painful to someone who normally wears shoes.
So perhaps the problems are really down to change. If you're used to light footwear then big heavy boots will be agony, if you're used to big heavy boots then light stuff won't support the way you're used to, so "most suitable" is usually going to be "what you're happy with". I guess since the nation's default is boots then anything that moves away from that is a possible problem, so fair point with real lightweights in many cases... But don't assume that, at least given time and acclimatisation, your over-pronation issue stops you using lightweight footwear. Speaking as an over-pronator I can assue you it's not a "boots only" state of being.
Onto what's written for outdoor mags... well, it's whatever is submitted to them for publication! In practice it tends to be folk writing about stuff they've done, and perhaps the general assumption is it needs to be a bit out of the ordinary to warrant doing an article, and that tends to be the more able folk? But Trevor's perfectly physically fit people is an interesting term, as it covers a huge range of possibilities. No shortage of folk who consider themselves fit and able bodied would wilt if they had to walk up a Munro without a series of breaks, so you don't have to be Superman to be "perfectly physically fit" by the general standard. And it's also the case that you don't have to pass a physical to write an article.
Pete.
