I’d give these gloves two thumbs up but it’s really hard to do that AND take a picture. All photos by Kristen Kovatch.
Some equestrians are lucky: they can keep on working all winter long in any variety of glove they find, from your basic horse-friendly models to the dollar store one-size-fits-all knit variety, and their hands are always toasty warm and ready to rock and roll. Tragically, I am not one of those people: after years of trying to figure out exactly what combination of silk ski liner, Hot Hands and glove I needed to NOT turn my hands into two ice blocks, I basically gave up, wore a wind-breaking thin glove layer so my knuckles didn’t dry and split and accepted the fact that I was never, ever going to find a pair of gloves that actually worked whether I was riding, driving or doing barn chores.
And then I found the SSG Winter Training Gloves. My only regret is that I did not find them years ago.
The Winter Training Gloves are all leather, lined with fleece and Thinsulate and include a knit storm cuff. These features combine to make an insulating, cozy glove that also looks nice without picking up “barn gunk” easily, meaning that I can actually wear them out for general public as well and not need to go crazy buying multiple pairs of gloves for one winter. The leather offers water resistance, and generally the gloves are so well insulated that the snow doesn’t stick and melt. While these gloves do add just a bit of bulk to my fingers, I still had plenty of dexterity to do up buckles, measure supplements in their tiny scoops and maintain feel on my horses’ mouths.
Glove back, including detail stitching.
I’ve used these gloves so far in the following applications:
- Snowshoeing in single-digit temperatures with wind chill factor below zero
- Driving my team with temperatures in the mid-20s
- Barn chores in conditions ranging from the 20s down to single digits
Even for driving the team, where I’m sitting fairly still with my hands extended and relatively stationary — typically a recipe for freezing your fingers into solid little ice cubes, isolated so far away from your core — my hands were comfortably warm, which is such a new sensation for me after years of driving weekend winter sleigh rides with numb hands that I had to tell everyone in our party about how awesome these gloves were.
Glove palm and knit storm cuff.
SSG Gloves has long been respected as one of the best manufacturers of equestrian gloves for working, training and showing. Browse the entire line of winter gloves here, and check out all of the categories to find the perfect pair for you!