As winter progresses and the air gets even colder, it can become difficult to keep your hands and fingers warm while riding, mucking stalls, filling water buckets, changing blankets and taking care of everything else at the barn. The right pair of winter riding gloves can go a long way in keeping your hands warm, but if you struggle with cold fingers here are some tips to help you stay warm so you can enjoy the time at the barn regardless of temperature.
- Invest in High-Quality Gloves: Researching various glove options and selecting a
proper pair is a good investment of your time and money, and will help ensure your hands stay warm
during cold and inclement weather. One of our most popular pairs is the SSG 10 Below Synthetic Leather Glove. These gloves have Thermal Feelings heating material which increases warmth, are lined with Thinsulate® which reduces bulkiness and have a waterproof backing. High-quality gloves will last you many years, and thus can be considered an investment. - Utilize Glove Liners:
Layering is how you keep your body warm on super cold days, so do the same for your hands! Glove liners as an extra layer under your normal winter riding gloves can dramatically improve warmth without adding much bulk. A couple options that work well are the SSG® Ceramic Glove Liners, which make your own body heat work to keep you warm by reflecting it back, and the Under Armour® Infrared Core Liner Gloves, which are touch screen compatible too. - Keep Hands Dry: Hands can easily become wet during stable chores like scrubbing and filling water buckets, bringing horses in from the rain and snow or changing a wet blanket. Once hands become wet, keeping them warm is increasingly difficult, so it’s important that your hands stay dry when it’s cold outside. The Tredstep™ Arctic H2O Gloves are 100% waterproof with amazing warmth inside provided by 40 grams of Thinsulate. These gloves are also not bulky, making it easy to adjust tack and use your fingers.
- Keep Blood Flowing: Movement is the best way to keep your blood flowing and naturally warm up your hands and fingers. One quick way to warm up hands is to make a fist without bending the final joint of your fingers; then alternate flexing and relaxing your hands in this position. Another option is to swing your arm around in a circular motion to encourage blood to flow to the finger tips. Additionally, keeping your core warm with the right winter jacket helps blood move to your hands more readily than if it was working to keep your core warm.
- Use Hand-Warmers: If you are going to be outside for a prolonged period of time, hand-warmers can provide an additional boost of warmth to help your winter riding gloves keep you warm. The Heritage Extreme Winter Gloves, which are incredibly warm on their own, even have a built in zippered pocket for a hand-warmer to be inserted into!
Following these tips should help your hands stay warm during the winter months and keep you comfortable while working with your horse and around the barn.
Let us know in the comments what your tricks for keeping hands warm in cold weather are!