eGlove Touchscreen glove trial

Thanks to twitter I saw an advert for bloggers wanted by eGlove to review their eQuest riding gloves that allow you to operate touchscreens.  eGlove kindly sent me a pair of their GripPro riding gloves and I have been putting them through their paces.

I was interested to try them as I often use my phone for various tasks while exercising my horse, the main one being setting the timer for interval training and lunging.  Now this often ends up with me removing a glove to set the timer which often ends up with one of two outcomes, me either dropping the glove or the phone when my horse senses an opportunity too good to miss as I'm not in full control trying to manage reins, whip and gloves in one hand!

The gloves arrived very quickly and I was impressed with the quality and lightweight material when I looked at them.  I went for them in black and size medium and the sizing was spot on.  I thought I would do a thorough test so also attempted tacking up with them on just to see how easy it would be, I have to say the feel through the gloves made doing up buckles as easy as without gloves on and I normally have to take them off to get the girth done up for extra grip.  Task one passed with flying colours, good grip, feel and even managed doing up the noseband one handed while taking photo!

Next test was obviously the 'horse ear view', we've all done it riding along and you're impelled to take a photo though the best view in the world... your horses ears!  You are not alone even the professionals can be seen snapping away to upload to Facebook and Twitter their view of the day.  Obviously I had to include the gloves to prove it was a legitimate eGlove taken photo so my attempt was a half horse ear view of grass but without the need to stuff the other glove in my hand, mouth or chaps it took seconds to snap away and all the icons worked first time, no bulky fingers or the 'if I just tap the screen harder it might work', so task two passed now onto the reason I wanted to try the gloves in the first place, for using the timer on my phone.  

I thought I'd test them whilst lunging and riding, I always set a timer to ensure my horse works equally on each rein on the lunge and also for interval training so needed both on and off the horse.  Also when interval training the horse can get quite sweaty making the reins slippery, so will the gloves still work in these conditions?  The answer is yes, great grip for both lunging and riding and also with a bit of rain included while we were riding I still had good feel down the reins.  The alarm goes and I am able to work the phone to get the timer set for a quick cool down before we repeat on the other rein.  Task complete and another success.  

Overall the gloves were a nice fit, felt comfortable and performed well as a riding glove giving excellent feel on the reins.  Different weather conditions didn't reduce the effectiveness of them when using my phone and the slim fit enabled you to easily use your touchscreen while wearing them.  Would I recommend them? Yes I would and I think I may even get myself a white pair for competing!  

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DISOBEDIENCES DISSAPEARING

The last couple of months have been very exciting with a mix of training, socialising and competing over the Central and South West regions.  We ventured over to the Central region and attended their senior camp at Addington Equestrian, this was a fun filled weekend including a dressage lesson both days, a test riding session and pole work and that was just the mounted sessions, we then had unMounted workshops and on the Saturday evening we were treated to a gala evening watching young stallions from Woodlander Stud under saddle which was very informative and thoroughly enjoyable.

It was our first time visiting Addington and I can't believe I have never been before it is like a palace for horses, a sea of arenas, horse walks and a relaxed friendly atmosphere.  On arrival I decided to take advantage of using one of the arenas that was available and as Socks is not hugely worldly wise I was a little apprehensive as to (a) how we were going to get to the arena on our own and (b) how I was going to get on as I was on my own!  These small details are the ones you forget about when taking a young horse out on your own, when you have your old faithful they don't even cross your mind.  So I decided to hand walk Socks around to the outdoor arenas as she showed off her Passage along the horse walk, unfortunately I seemed to be passing everyone going back having finished so I had no-one to follow and even more worrying no-one to help me get on, thankfully on arrival a nice lady was hand grazing her horse and held Socks while I quickly hopped on and we were away.  After a short and surprisingly uneventful leg stretch I braved riding her back along the horse walk and again she excelled herself, its funny how these 'normal' activities for most are such a highlight when you've had a tricky horse that had an opinion about almost everything (a.k.a stubborn/mare).

The whole weekend followed the same theme, complete surprise at having a well behaved horse that exceeded all expectations.  We even completed our first Novice test without a disobedience and gaining a mid 60 score, result!  The best part of the weekend had to be the first lesson, Socks was definitely not your average mare when 10 minutes in the horse at the other end of the arena dislodged its rider and came flat out towards us bucking... cool as a cucumber Socks stood still allowed it to canter around her without batting an eyelid then once the horse was safely under control continued our lesson as if nothing had happened (although we did have a bit more energy).

Next on the agenda was the South West Inter County Challenge, we had been selected as an individual to represent Wiltshire, so thankfully no pressure going as an individual and it was all to gain experience and mileage competing.  Coming from a showjumping background it was an unexpected surprise to have an arena walk every morning, even if it was at 6.30am!  Day one our test was outdoors and day two indoors with the results based on the combined scores over both days.  Socks went the best she has ever gone to gain just short of 70% leaving us lying 4th overnight.  Unfortunately being good is very tiring and Socks lacked energy the next day but still completed another test without a hint of a disobedience, we only dropped one place and was absolutely thrilled to be in the prize giving ending up in 5th place overall individually, good pony!

The not so average mare has gone from below average to above average and with the South West Camp at Hartpury just round the corner its exciting to see what is still to come from little Socks as she progresses.

My next update will also include a review of eGlove GripPro riding gloves, having just received a pair to trial and review from eGlove I'm interested to see how I get on with them.  I am constantly multitasking and although when riding my full concentration is on the horse there is the occasional time during the cool down or leisurely stroll through the fields or on your way to or from the arena when the phone goes and its that call/text you've been waiting for or you need to book in that appointment, you either clumsily try to use the touchscreen with bulky gloves at all sorts of angles to make it work or stuff one glove in your pocket/mouth/boot which always leads to either glove or phone ending up on the floor!  So lets see how we get on...

www.eglove.co.uk

  

GUINEA PIGS AND FREESTYLING

It has been an interesting and mixed journey with Socks, as with all young horses it is never easy and can take varying lengths of time with each horse but I can honestly say you never stop learning... or have the occasional day where you feel like giving up!  The progress has been a lot slower than I would have liked, lots of hurdles thrown in the way, my confidence, patience and ability tested but we are now on the road to start progressing through the levels.  If you had said to me a few years ago I'd be so pleased to be able to walk trot and canter and stay in an arena I'd have thought you were mad but right now I feel like I've accomplished Mount Everest!