Regardless of where you live, this time of year our barn and horse work demands layers. We’re focusing on a few impressive 
products from LL Bean. The Maine company currently is having a Winter Send-Off Sale.
Amy Skinner, owner of Essence Horsemanship and a trainer at Bar T Ranch in Pittsboro, North Carolina. She reviewed LL Bean’s Signature Packable Quilted Vest this month.
She writes:
It’s cold and windy, but barn chores and horses don’t wait for better weather. Trying to keep warm and able to move is a battle of balance, where sometimes you sacrifice mobility for warm layers.
As a woman who rides five days a week in all types of weather, I often find myself feeling and looking like the abominable snow man: bundled up head to toe, straining to lift a leg up into a stirrup and flop into the saddle with about 20 extra pounds of clothing on. An innocent bystander would not only be befuddled, but probably wouldn’t even be able to identify me as a woman under all the heavy, unfeminine layering.
I’m into practicality and ideally, I’d like to look good while doing farm work. This L.L Bean Packable Quilted Vest weighs just ounces and is insulated with Polartec’s Primaloft. When I pair it with a good scarf, it keeps me nice and warm. It is sleek, attractive in mariner blue, and fitted enough to reveal the wearer as a woman, yet still loose enough to layer under comfortably. Gone are my bundled, waddling, genderless days of barn work with this pretty and practical vest.
It has another attractive feature: five brass button snaps in place of a zipper. You not only get the longevity of a snap button where a zipper eventually fails (How annoying is it when the zipper teeth wear out, leaving your poor torso freezing as your vest flaps in the wind?), but you get to hear that satisfying “click” as you suit up for your work day.
It has two medium sized breast pockets, and below there are two larger pockets just above hip level big enough for most cell phones, granola bars, and other necessities. If you get hot throughout the day, this vest folds up about the size of a good paperback, fitting easily in your saddle bags, backpack, or purse. For extra convenience, it folds right into itself, with a sewn in zipper pocket on the inside you can tuck the vest right into.
I feel just as good wearing it out in town as I do at the barn. Going from dirty barn life to normal civilian life is easy with a quick wipe down of the vest’s exterior. It’s water resistant and easy to keep clean. This vest has replaced my old, heavy vests with its practicality, warmth, light weight, awesome pockets that can actually hold things (no wimpy girl pockets on this thing), and attractive look.
Sometimes you do actually get what you pay for, and this vest is worth the price with its quality and durability.
