Cob Jockey

It's been a while since one of my product review posts! The number of folks that reach out to me publicly and privately to tell me how valuable they find these posts means a lot, and I have a couple of great additions to my winter wardrobe this year that will make for good reviews.

First up. My new lobster claw "Alpine climbing" gloves.

I let the other co-op members go out of town with their families at Christmas this year, which meant I had a LOT of chores. I had hoped my own family would come visit, but that didn't end up happening, so I was alone on Christmas, AND we had some of the most brutal winter weather I've ever experienced, with wind chills pushing -40F and the horses staying inside for multiple days since we don't have shelters outside.

Christmas morning was the first time they could safely go out in three days, and Disco was a perfect gentleman for turnout despite that. Good baby.

I'm not typically one to complain, but man it sucked. I bought myself a consolation present in advance: the best ultra cold weather barn gloves I've found so far, the Black Diamond Soloist Finger Cold Weather Gloves, which are designed for "technical Alpine climbing", which I hoped meant they would be more durable than ski gloves.

 

These gloves have a 100% waterproof outer shell, a removable/washable liner with 340g of insulation, and a Kevlar-reinforced goat leather palm. They also feature a split finger design, with the thumb and index finger being separate and the middle, ring and pinkie fingers together in a mitten space.

The removable liner. It's basically a sleeping bag for your hands.

I hoped that design would split (lol) the difference between the dexterity of gloves and the warmth of a mitten, and that's exactly what it does. They were more certainly more cumbersome than gloves, but I was able to do and undo blankets (slowly), throw hay bales, and open tab-top Ziploc supplement bags without taking the gloves off. Turns out I really don't use my middle, ring and pinkie fingers for much at the barn, unless I'm riding, which clearly these gloves are not suitable for.

 

In terms of warmth: WOW. Without a doubt the warmest gloves I've ever worn. For reference, my SSG 10 Belows have 100g of insulation, and these have 340g. Truly, they're so warm most of you will not need them, because you'll never experience temps cold enough to need them, they are that warm.

My index finger does tend to get a little cold when it's in its little pocket, but unless I actually need my index finger for something, I tend to tuck it into the mitten area where there's more than enough room for it, and then it stays warm.

(And for reference: it was so brutally cold that when I did take the gloves off for less than two minutes, my hands froze so quickly and thoroughly I had to spend 10 minutes in the heated office to avoid frostbite. They definitely got put to the warmth test.)

Some of the fuzzy liner visible on the inside. It's fleece against the skin and then 340g of Primaloft Gold insulation between the fleece and the waterproof shell.

Features I love: I love that the liner is removable. All of my gloves are washable of course, but these are going to dry faster and stay waterproof longer if I'm only regularly washing the liner. And in theory you could buy a second liner to alternate with, although I haven't found them for sale anywhere.

I also love the long cuffs. The SSG cuffs are elastic and designed to fit against the skin, which is annoying when you wear a smartwatch and have other sleeves in the way. The Black Diamond cuffs go comfortably over your coat sleeve and have a toggle to seal against snow getting into them, although I didn't feel the need to use it.

What are the negatives? First, I wish they had straps to keep them attached to my wrist when I take them off like the SSG 10 Belows do, although I can fix that with aftermarket glove straps. Second, they won't go small enough for everyone. I wear a medium in SSGs and a 6.5 in Roeckl, and I'm wearing the X-small here. Third, they are not cheap, at $129/pair (I paid $99). 

(I recommend buying them in a fit of rage when you JUST CAN'T EVEN with f****** winter anymore. It makes the price easier to swallow.)

Bottom line: If you have actual barn chores to do in climates where it's regularly below 15F, I can wholeheartedly recommend these. If you live where you just think it's cold (lol) or you only go to the barn to ride, you'd be better served by buying something cheaper that will give you more dexterity.

What: Black Diamond Soloist Finger Cold Weather Gloves

Where: Amazon or the Black Diamond website

Price: $129 (I paid $99 on sale)

Colors: Black, Dark Curry (brown)

Sizes: Men's XS to Men's XL

I so rarely get to spend time with my horses on Christmas: usually I'm going back to my hometown to be with my immediate family. This year though, my family came to my house for the first time - or they were supposed to, until COVID had something to say about that for a few of them.

Literally didn't let my sister or BIL in the door until their rapid tests were done

I have the perfect Christmas house. One of my five trees in the background!

Knowing I'd be spending Christmas morning with my livestock-owning family, I signed up for Christmas morning chores.We were supposed to feed and do Disco's stall, plus two more for a barnmate who's out of town, but that only left two more stalls, and it was a balmy 60 degrees outside, so my mom and I did them all as a Christmas present for everyone.

Spending Christmas morning in a horse barn together is a pretty good Christmas morning!

Disco also got to meet my dad, who if you'll remember, is so terrified to see me ride and jump, he's only met Connor once, when my dad attended the Dressage phase of Jump Start HT and then quietly and un-dramatically found reasons to not be around for the jumping phases. 

And my sister, who lives in Denver now, also met him.

It was a warm and wet Christmas, which was great for me because I went to pick up Connor from CGP's on Sunday!

This has been an interesting season of my life. A growing season.

Coworker: "You free?" Me: "It's 7pm on a Wednesday, man." *sends this photo*

I started a new job at the same employer, my first ever management job, in mid-October. Brought Disco home in early November. Realized I have no idea how to ride my own horse anymore in early December.

WTF do I even do with this?

In every aspect of my life except CrossFit, in which I'm finally feeling some kind of mastery after a decade, I'm finding myself in situations where I previously felt confident, experienced and in control, and now I'm suddenly back at square one, having to re-learn everything, having to prove myself all over again in new ways.

WTF do I even do with this?

This is, as you can maybe imagine, not easy, not all at once like that. Some days I'm able to take a deep breath, lean into the uncertainty and tell myself that I am capable of learning all of the new skills I need right now and getting through this uncomfortable season of growth, and that I will be better for it in the end.

After all, I've done this before, six years ago during my first months in a stretch job that was dramatically different from what I did before, and it left me sobbing at my desk then. That insanely painful period of growth was a formative experience that left me better for it in every possible way - a better human, a better employee, a better engineer. Even though it sucked to get through.

I'm so grateful for this geriatric babysitter <3

Other days, I am not able to hold it together as well and the strain of having to learn so much so fast and deal with the discomfort gets to me in the most unexpected ways. It never strikes me in the moments you think it would - I am capable, I get the things done that need to be done no matter my mental state. My bosses would tell you (and do tell me) that I'm doing incredible in my new role, and they're getting praise from across the organization for how good and effective I am.

("Your real experience is introducing some reason into this. I appreciate your willingness to not just smile and nod - it's refreshing," - Slack message from an industry leader I've respected for years after I took a stand and passionately derailed a metaphorical train during a meeting this week.)

I'm here to derail your trains and look good doing it. No matter how overwhelmed I feel, I sure as hell am looking forward to my husband's employer's annual holiday party in January, which is a masquerade ball this year.

No, it strikes me at home, when I'm suddenly not able to get the laundry done, when the Christmas shopping gets alternately very done and then very not done in manic swings, when my normally clean office gets cluttered because I just can't, even though I have more "free time" than ever right now what with not having a riding horse at home.

I did get all five trees up and all the inside garland done. I didn't do the outside garland. Something had to give.

Why am I sharing this? Not for sympathy, I don't need or want that, I will get through this and to be honest, sympathy makes me uncomfortable. I don't need any more discomfort in my life right now.

I'm sharing it because I want to normalize it. It's okay to challenge yourself, to admit that you weren't born knowing everything, to realize that you are capable of learning new things, and to recognize that it will still not be easy or comfortable no matter how smart or talented you are. 

It's also okay to admit to myself that I'm not dealing with things as well as I normally do right now. Christmas is an especially bad time of year for that, and then layer in the third wave of the pandemic and more friends dying preventably and the guilt and anguish that comes along with that, and, well, yeah. December 2021 is starting to feel like March 2020 all over again, except this time with all the promises of normalcy in the New Year that had been given to me (ball gowns and dancing and friends I haven't seen in years and airplanes and drinking with customers in strange cities and conferences and team off-sites and hotel bars and wearing heels and...) I am not nearly as mentally capable this time around.

The one bright spot in all of this is that Disco continues to be an absolutely foot-perfect baby, which is such a relief.

I'm also sharing it because it has everything to do with my approach to horses right now. Just like I don't know what I'm doing running a team at work yet, I don't know what I'm doing with a weanling or with a coming Third Level horse either, but I'm committed to learning and to not freaking out over it. I tell myself that I will screw up, I will learn, I will wish I'd done things differently years from now, and that's just what being human is.

And then ten minutes later, I will freak out about all of that. And then I'll get it together again. And then I'll freak out again. Rinse, repeat.

So yeah, I'm not blogging as much right now, although Connor comes home next weekend, so that will probably change soon. But this post felt worth writing, and I hope if you're feeling overwhelmed or if you're in a season of growth like I am, I hope you feel a little less alone. 

(Note to people reading on RSS: I'm messing with RSS settings, please let me know in the comments if anything is broken. Thank you!)

Today is the last day of my post-close-exposure quarantine (I did not end up getting it!). Tonight I'm at least going to go see Aeres - I have to work late, so riding might not happen, but I haven't even smelled a horse in two weeks, so anything is better than that!

Quarantine activities include wearing my dingo out

The two months I spent away from the barn in the spring feel very far away now. At the time I was pretty stuck in my riding, so the break from the barn was almost welcome. Now, though, when every time I ride I discover some other new button and showing Third next year seems realistic, it's been SO hard to stay away.

Thank goodness for the garage gym (behind me), at least I kept my sanity and my fitness while quarantined this time

The timing of this two week quarantine wasn't all bad - this is the time of year that I spend, you know, a few minutes decorating my house for Christmas. I'm up to 80 feet of live garland, around 100ft of fake garland, and four, soon to be five trees. Which is not excessive at all...right?

I was given this tree for free, but it's too big for the corner it needs to live in, so I only put half of it up every year and weight the back end down with softener salt so it doesn't tip over!

I bought these on after-Christmas clearance last year intending to put them in my office, not realizing they would be the perfect color scheme for the laundry room I hadn't yet planned at the time!

Only about an eighth of my cellar is Christmas stuff, that's not excessive...right?

One of the things I've grown to love best about blogging is the community, and the Secret Santa Tracy has hosted every year for the past...four? years totally epitomizes that.  I especially love it when Secret Santa leads me to a new blog to read like it did this year!

This year Rhiannon at The Horse is Not Black had me for SS.  She sent me a box chock full of goodies:


There were delicious chocolates:

...which were almost immediately stalked by someone that should not have chocolates (Bitsy):


Connor got a Mrs. Pastures stocking, which he devoured with enthusiasm (at least, as many as I would give him in one sitting, gotta watch that girlish figure):






And then I had specifically asked for trailering safety things for Christmas in general, so I was happy to find some magnetic and hookable LED lights and a helmet headlamp - both of which she remembered to put batteries in!


Since I use my trailer for year-round storage of things I don't use often, there are times when I just want to grab something quickly and don't want to bother with carefully backing my truck up so it's in range of trailer plug just to turn on the built-in lights in the tack room.  These are going to be awesome for those situations!  And they're SO bright!


Thanks so much, Rhiannon!  Love it!

Unlike previous years, Connor didn't get a whole lot for Christmas this year.  There will always be things I want for him, but there's just not much that he needs right now. It feels good to be at that point - after six years of collecting horse stuff :-D.  Let's not look at what it cost to get there, eh?

Too cold to ride (and you know I'll ride down into the low 20's so that tells you just HOW cold!) but he got stuffed with treats, got his feet picked and got all bundled up!

He did get in on my Secret Santa present with a stocking of Mrs. Pastures, which I gave to him on Christmas night along with some carrots and an apple.  It was the first time ever that I've been home to see him on Christmas!

The Shires Stormcheeta we won in the Dover contest last year.  It's so heavy at 400g he can usually only wear it a few days a year - except we'll barely break 20F for at least the next week so he may be in it for a while!

He also got four new Himalayan salt licks as a result of me cleaning out our cabinets and finding a pack of them that my husband got as a gift last Christmas.  They're people food but I don't see why they won't work for horses - they are literally just salt - so Connor wins!


Finally, I got another work spiff, and decided to buy him a Back on Track Dressage pad and the Back on Track nylon quarter sheet.  I've never bought him any BoT before (although I've had the glove liners for myself) and I'm a little skeptical about it, but hey. Best case, maybe it shortens his absurdly long warmup a bit, and worst case he gets the nicest saddle pad of his life and an upgraded exercise sheet from his Dover fleece one.

This, but navy.

In a couple of hours, I'll be going out to see Connor on Christmas for the first time ever.  Usually we're out of town, but we hightailed it back to beat some snow.  Can't wait to see him <3

Merry Christmas from me and Connor! 

Totally unrelated to this being a horse blog, but, I love this house at Christmas.  Happy December!

How many trees is too many trees?  The first Christmas, we had one, the second Christmas, we had two, this year we have three.  Hmmm...

Everyone loves Christmas except our crotchety old senior citizen, who hid from my decorating in the only safe place in the house - the place I was finished decorating.