Review of Macwet Gloves… from the winter to summer…

One of my wonderful sponsors, Macwet Gloves, kindly provided me with some pairs to try out, here is my review…..

As it was during the winter months when I secured the sponsorship I was hopeful that the Climatec  gloves I received would be just as good as they claimed to be as I was spending an awful lot of time riding and working outdoors, (oh for an indoor arena…)

As most people are aware, our Winter was a seriously wet one, and day in, day out I seemed to be spending more time changing and drying my old gloves out (some rather nice expensive ones) rather than riding! Well, it is not the laundry I get paid for!

My first experience of the Macwet Climatec gloves were WOW, these look amazing, feel so soft and almost like a 2^nd skin. More importantly they claimed to be water resistant with the clever use of “Aquatec” fabric technology,and wind proof, well I was about to find out! I also liked the fact that all the Macwet gloves are available in a wide range of sizes too, so you are assured that the gloves will be exactly right.

I was asked which cuff length I would prefer too, not something you find with most other manufacturers, some riders like the short cuff, others (like me) prefer the long cuff.

So, the test!

The first day I wore the gloves, it was wet and windy, I have a strong desire to have warm fingers when tacking up, and usually have to be bare handed to do the buckles up, but I tried to do everything in the macwets, not expecting to be able to, but I needn’t have been so worried, the gloves were indeed like a 2^nd skin and I could manoeuvre every buckle and adjust tack as necessary! Result!!

So I had the tacking up box ticked!

Now onto the riding, up till this point I hadn’t got wet, just wind swept, but the rain test was indeed next up..

I rode in our school with horizontal rain, a good test for any clothing!

My tack was the same as always, reins not particularly slippery but usually I did lose grip on them in the rain with my old gloves, but after 30 minutes (and soaked to the skin!) the reins hadn’t slipped once. My gloves were still shaking off the wet and although very wet on the outer, my hands were still dry and warm. Another good result!

This was how the winter basically went – wet wet wet! But my hands after discovering the Macwet were dry and warm, EVERY time I rode.

The gloves also dried out in super quick time, so on the odd day when I had a few to ride, I could rest assured I was not going to be wringing my hands out mid ride to find grip!

The Climatec gloves got a massive thumbs up from me and a huge thank you to Macwet for developing such an amazing glove!

On to the spring/summer…

So, having spent  6 months in my climatecs, I thought it was time to try out the micromesh gloves.

These are designed with the same aquatec fabric which keeps your hands super dry, but the backing has a super airflow due to the clever micromesh.

As with the climatecs, the colours, sizes and cuff lengths are all available, making your gloves the perfect fit.

I rode a livery horse who was fairly hard work, and the temperature being in the high 20’s, I was going to be a tad warm, I knew that before even riding!

This time the gloves challenge was to keep my hands from sweating and losing grip, and yet again, the micromesh was amazing! The air flow did indeed aid cooling to my hands whilst the gloves remained non slip. Another success!

Macwet gloves have used some incredible technology to bring us these gloves, and added style and comfort to boot!

Having spent over 30 years riding, I can honestly say I have never found a glove that I would change back to!

Gloves being worn here are the Climatec Short Cuff.

A saddle fit check that was money VERY well spent....

As rocky has now been in work a couple of months, I thought it was time to get his current saddle checked for its fit, not that I felt anything was wrong, simply to check that rocky was comfortable in it.

Martin Andrews was my chosen saddler, he is a qualified saddle fitter and  a member of the Master Saddlers Association, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience with him.

Martin arrived and after an initial briefing of Rocky and what he is up to etc it was time to saddle up. His current saddle is a super, if old, working hunter, ideal for the straighter shoulders, and has been doing a great job – or so I thought.

I knew this saddle was never going to be his forever saddle, it was bought especially for the initial stages of training, until he has developed sufficiently to buy him a dressage saddle.

What I wasn’t expecting was for Martin to begin walking to his van with my saddle and suddenly turn around to say ..... THE TREE IS BROKEN!!!

Well, the term shell shocked was perhaps how to describe how I felt, ashamed, sad, cruel, all these feelings shot through me at an alarming rate and I stood there looking at Martin, the saddle and Rocky absolutely speechless.

On purchasing the saddle I had done the usual checks, stirrup bars ok, girth straps fine, even the “pull the pommel to cantle to check for a broken tree” check!!! All of which passed with flying colours.

Now whilst in my care, the saddle has never been dropped, handled badly, has been left with rocky to play with (as youngsters do!) or anything that would cause a broken tree, or even a scratch come to that. I am very careful with my tack!

So to hear those words “the tree is broken” was not only a surprise but questionable too.

I couldn’t apologise enough to both Martin and Rocky, but Martin pointed out, I needn’t feel guilty as I didn’t know and only he after unstitching the panels could be 100% sure, as the tree from cantle to pommel was fine, it was just a minute movement between the points of the saddle that raised suspicion.. I should only feel guilty if I knew it was broken and kept using it! Fair point, but oh boy it didn’t make me feel much better.

On examining the saddle, it was the pommel part of the tree, the metal plate, had sheared in half, not an easy task, and definitely nothing I had done, that part made me feel better!

I had luckily another saddle there to try, purely coincidental but very pleased I had it! This one is another 2^nd hand one, but has been checked over and over and then over again!! It does fit him too, luckily, so we are not left without a saddle to use.

We spent over an hour and a half ensuring the “new” saddle was the perfect one for him, riding him in the school, making odd adjustments, then riding him again, and so on. 

Rocky hasn’t done much recently, purely due to my time constraints, but was as usual unfazed by all the mounting up, dismounting, try this, try that etc... and behaved impeccably.

Baring in mind what pressure that old saddle must have been putting on him, it is a testament to Rocky and his attitude that at no point has he said NO or been awkward to ride, but it does explain a few of his tight spots.

He has an appointment with Lucy Morgans on Tuesday  for an equinology session to ensure his body is absolutely fine before embarking on more ridden work, until then he shall be a man of leisure!

I cannot emphasise enough the need to get your saddle checked, by a qualified and recommended one at that. Also the fact that your saddler should see you ride in the saddle, the un-ridden horse can have a saddle fitted which is fine in halt, but then when the back engages, can alter the fit if that saddle dramatically.

I now need to go put some money on the lottery to buy a new, if still 2^nd hand, saddle for this special boy. Wish me luck!!

Here are two pictures of the broken tree: