Hippoi Athanatoi

Long time, no blog! I miss doing my weekly lesson reports, but I haven’t been able to get back to doing them with enthusiasm rather than with it feeling like a chore. As a result, I’ve avoided the blog altogether, but now I am trying (again) to find a more casual approach to posting and doing it only when I feel inspired by something specific.

Such as my new favourite horse (and dog) clothes from Uhip, acquired at the Gothenburg Horse Show last weekend. I had been eyeing their thermal skirts for a while since my current riding breeches are on the chilly side for winter and since I easily get cold legs in general when I am out with Ringo. I decided to get one of the Sport skirts and since they offered 50% off if you bought two items, I felt I just had to try on their long coat as well. After a bit of my usual indecision, I came away from there with a bag stuffed full of one cosy thermal skirt and one light and fluffy long coat.

And then I thought, why don’t I blog about it? I do book reviews from time to time, after all, so why not cover the occasional purchase related to my other hobbies? So, I dragged off Elio to the woods to shoot a couple of pictures and if you read on you get to see those as well. Bonus Ringo included!

My favourite feature of the Arctic coat is probably how soft and light it is. You definitely do not feel weighed down by it and while it keeps you warm it also seems to breathe quite well. Given that we’re already moving into spring, I haven’t had a chance to test it in really cold weather, but it certainly felt as if it would handle down to about -10 as it is supposed to do. The cuffs that can be folded down over your hands are a nice touch and the hood is a good size.

I had been a little hesitant about the colour at first as it seemed a bit bright of a red, but I quite like it on me. I think I would have preferred black details, but then again, I always prefer black details. ;) I could have worn a 36 instead of a 38, it really wasn’t tight even then, but I wanted to make sure I’d have room for a warm sweater and the 38 is perfect for that.

While the coat can be used for riding—it has a slit in the back, a two-way zipper in the front and leg laces for securing the sides when its zipped open—I expect I will mostly use it for dog walks and dog trainings. It should do well for this too, but it does have a few shortcomings that I think Uhip should consider addressing for any future versions of the coat. My main quibble is that there isn’t quite enough pocket room for bringing along dog toys and dog treats. One approach to the latter which would allow the same slim silhouette for the coat would be to have a separate treat pocket attached via a clip or hook at the side. I have this on another coat and it is a really nice feature, especially since you can easily wash the treat pocket separately.

On the whole, though, I am very happy with my purchase and I am looking forward to an opportunity to test the skirt as well.