So far my glove strategy has been wearing summer schooling gloves or my back on track liners and just making to sure do enough work that I get blood flow to my fingers to keep me warm.
I don't think that will last for long though.
Nothing I'm seeing in actual riding glove options are looking like the solution however. So I went looking at legit outdoor gear companies. A friend from livejournal days recommended the company Outdoor Research and from there my mind was just blown.
Did you know such a thing exists as a waterproof/windproof mitten shell with no insulation? I knew I could get fingerless gloves/mitten convertibles, but this was new to me. I'm pretty sure it's going to be my answer.
I put together a set of thinner gloves plus the shell at Outdoor research and grumbled at being $9 away from free shipping.
Then I checked amazon, because I'm a good drone with a prime account. They didn't have exactly what I was hoping to find and I wasn't sure how best to search for a shell with no insulation of its own but then I remembered REI.
Not only did REI have the original gloves I wanted from Outdoor Research (just not the color) that were sold out, they also had a slightly different version of the mitten shell in their brand. The gloves were cheaper, the shell was more expensive and the threshold for free shipping was far less and I came out to less than my original plan at Outdoor Research.
Instead of a $55 glove, I am getting the Outdoor Research Melody Sensor Glove which is much more reasonable at $35.
Now none of these are really riding appropriate, but for my needs at the moment, I don't need a high performance winter riding glove and I do have my Ovation thinsulate gloves that I HATE getting in and out of because it doesn't stretch enough at the wrist to accommodate my hand width and I end up feeling claustrophobic and stuck, especially if my hands start to sweat.
I picked those things because I see a dual purpose use for them with outdoor barn chores, snow shoveling and skiing but also using for running as a windbreak. Someone else suggested the reusable snap heat packs like these:
They can be recharged by boiling for 10 minutes and you just snap to activate the chemicals and they heat up. I've added those to a wish list for now. I don't want to go too crazy. I'm just hoping my current solutions will work.
What do you do? What temperatures would you rate your gloves to work down to keeping your fingers warm?
What do you do? What temperatures would you rate your gloves to work down to keeping your fingers warm?
Move south :)
ReplyDeleteDid you stop by the HotSnapZ booth at WEG? They were really interesting. Some of their packs will also freeze and provide ice for hours. I can't remember how they did both, mostly because the live infomercial "but wait there's more!", atmosphere was getting old, but the packs were super interesting.
I would LOVE to move south, lol
DeleteI didn't see them at WEG! I think I tried to avoid a lot of the more informercial type booths because I didn't want to get sucked in. I got suckered by one that was selling necklaces that 'balance' you and it annoyed me that whatever trick they use to convince you it works worked on me.
I did like the "not a TENS" TENS device. But it was out of my spending budget.
ha i just picked up a super cheap pair of rubberized gardening gloves from a hardware store bc i can't bare to spend a ton of $$$ on gloves....
ReplyDeletere: those rechargeable hot packs, my friend brought those or something like them to an icy cold horse show last year and.... meh. i was not super impressed. they didn't stay warm for very long, and then were giant solid lumps in my pocket. and.... i never bothered to boil to reset again bc they weren't really all that useful to begin with. ymmv tho!
Do you use those for riding? I try those on when I see them in the farm store but they are either too big or too small. I can't stand it, lol
DeleteI've had no luck with new gloves honestly. I have so many pairs of rejects. So my favorites are a pair from my childhood (like seriously these are over 18 years old) that are slowly dying which are fleece lined thick knit gloves that have the open ended figures that you can flip a mitten over. Let's me get my fingers out for doing things but so toasty when the mitten is on. When it's really cold I put thin regular gloves underneath. I've been searching for something similar to replace them with but not luck so far.
ReplyDeleteI found some like those on Amazon! I was going to buy a pair of those, but I didn't want knit or fleece because then shavings and hay will just stick to it.
DeleteDo you remember what you searched for? I would love to buy some more! Yeah it's not great for shavings and hay but I usually don't touch my shavings and I take them off for hay and put on some other gloves. Basically I make it work for warm hands, lol.
DeleteThe heated gloves Olivia mentions sound interesting!
I was really hoping for a pair of heated gloves for christmas but I got something also awesome that can be used year round (solar powered outdoor speaker for my arena)
DeleteAre these like what you had?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQEGHX6/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01MQEGHX6&pd_rd_w=L1dZ1&pf_rd_p=f0dedbe2-13c8-4136-a746-4398ed93cf0f&pd_rd_wg=mhJ3Y&pf_rd_r=YZCEJPAG114ZCST1RVZV&pd_rd_r=8d307169-1a62-11e9-982d-992e9505a650
I have heated gloves from Ororo. They have little battery packs and keep my hands pretty warm, especially if I keep them inside mittens.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I'll look into that! I had wanted heated gloves for christmas but it was not to be.
DeleteI have yet to find a glove that actually keeps my hands warm when it's ACTUALLY cold that I can also ride effectively in. If you find anything, please share!! I am so good at keeping the rest of myself warm (since I work outside full time) but once my fingers get cold, that's the end of it and I turn into a whiny baby. I can't STAND having cold hands or feet.
ReplyDeleteOn impulse I bought the Ovation Vortex winter mitten at my tack store and I did use them yesterday when the wind was blowing and temperatures were in the 20s. My hands were sweating. I was dealing with a very... uphill mare and I could adjust reins pretty easily.
DeleteI hear you on can't standing cold hands or feet. That's been my biggest goal lately, finding solutions that keep me warm.