I am clumsy. I wear flat, flat rings - our wedding rings are flat and plain, and my engagement ring is just raised enough to accommodate some flat sapphires and cubic zirconium. I usually take the engagement ring off…
I have a diamond engagement ring, which I try to never wear to the barn because it is too valuable to damage or lose the diamond. I also have two wedding rings, a diamond eternity band and a plain platinum band that matches my husband’s ring. I try to never wear my diamond eternity ring to the barn. I used to wear the plain band to the barn when we boarded. Of course, now that the barn is in our back yard, I never wear the rings there unless I’m doing a check after being out somewhere else. I just keep them in the house if I’m going to be riding or doing barn chores.
My husband, OTOH, NEVER takes off his wedding band. He even sleeps and showers with it on. I swear, it has nothing to do with that stake I drove through it after the ceremony! 
He has literally taken it off twice since we’ve been married - both times when he was chopping a stump out of the yard by hand. His fingers started to swell, so he took the ring off. Other than that, he has NEVER taken it off.
I am not married now, but I did keep my engagement ring. I got one that has the diamons set into the band flush with the band so nothing sticks up. My fiance at the time got it made that way so I wouldn’t lose the stones or a finger.
I wear it on a different finger now, but I have not taken it off in 5 years (sleep, shower, muck stalls, paint fences, hammer nails, swim, etc) and I am not sure it actually can come off.
I always take mine off at the barn. Besides my Pony Club upbringing of no jewelry for safety, I know it will get barn crud in it and smell like the barn just like my last watch did.
I don’t wear mine once I get home from work. I also specifically got a low profile setting, but it still catches on things. I never do chores with it on, and I have it insured ( only costs about $40 a year for me ). Then again I’ve only been engaged for a few months, so I might relax more as time goes on.
I wear it on a different finger now, but I have not taken it off in 5 years (sleep, shower, muck stalls, paint fences, hammer nails, swim, etc) and I am not sure it actually can come off.
Same here, I never take mine off and unless I take a really long, hot shower…it’s almost impossible to remove anyway.
The callous above it holds it on, LOL! In order to clean it at the jewelers every few months I have to soak my hand in hot water to soften my callouses up. Horsie women don’t always have womanly hands. :winkgrin:
I’ve worn a replacement wedding ring for years because I lost a stone out of my wedding ring about two months after our wedding… I was holding a racehorse by the halter and he twisted his head away from me and the ring caught on the metal ring of the cheekpiece…
That being said, I NEVER take my rings off. I’d lose them. No, I can’t replace the diamond in my engagement ring if anything happens to it… but I know for certain I’d lose it if I didn’t wear it. I try to ride in gloves and as someone else said, the callouses from mucking out with rings on keep them tight! LOL
I try to remember to take my engagement ring off when I’m riding/doing the barn-- my horses are at home so I often do pop in the barn for something quick while wearing it. When I had a bad fall a few years ago and ended up passed out in the hospital for a few days, I was glad I’d taken it off and left it in the house! Would’ve been easy for someone to steal if I’d had it on and they were so inclined.
I sometimes forget to put mine back on and inevitably one of my co-workers (usually the nosey one!) will comment on it. I’m like, no biggie, I just took it off before I rode last night. She’s a “city person” and never takes hers off.
I always remove my ring. I do not know what caused it, but i remember one time when my mom’s hand swelled up around her ring. Yes, she was working around horses at the time and probably got kicked or smashed by one of our critters. I was probably about 7 or 8 at the time. She was incredibly lucky that our neighbor had tin smith tools and was able to cut it off quickly. Otherwise she could have lost her finger even in the short time it would have taken her to get to the hospital. It really left an impression on me and I am paranoid about any jewelry at the barn. I always remove all jewelry and do not even like wearing a watch that is not a break away.
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So now I wear the single ring and it doesn’t come off. Only other piece of jewelry I wear is my watch, that only comes off for the shower and overnight.
If you wear gloves, the wedding band should be okay. I wouldn’t advise it for any band with delicate set stones though. Pave is gorgeous, I love it. But they come out rather easily.
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I had my engagement and wedding ring soldered together so they didn’t twist and less chance of losing them…
Although, a bit of weight gain after marriage, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon…lol :lol:
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/Huntertwo/DSC00255.jpg
Haven’t taken them off in 10 years despite working around horses, and usually wear gloves mucking my mare’s paddock or other dirty chores. Gardening, etc.
Despite banging them up pretty good at times, the platinum really holds up and my jeweler has never found a loose prong.
My DH and I only wear our rings when we “dress up” for something. There are just too many times a day I’d take mine off and never remember where I would leave them. My engagement ring is a “respectable” 1.3 carats and band has 7 small diamonds, and they have been “family diamonds” for a long, long time. I’d feel awful if I lost them.
ETA: My DH bought me a stainless steel and diamond watch for our anniversary, and I wear that EVERYWHERE instead of my rings.
As my wife put it, she’d rather have a Friesian for an engagment ring than a diamond. It’s far more practical around the barn 
No rings, anytime, around horses, dangerous equipment, or when handling heavy materials. If you’d ever seen any of those safety movies of a finger ripped out by the roots, with 18" of ligaments and other bloody things dangling from it, you wouldn’t be asking this question.
Yummy. You just convinced me. Thank you.
Thanks for all the replies!
So much to consider! Thankfully I have time to decide on what to do, but I likely will be taking off both while at the barn. I guess no one really notices anyway (I never do, hence why I started this thread).
I always wear my rings, and earrings, when I’m at the barn. The only time I don’t is if it’s a weekend and it’s a “slacker” day. In that instance, I don’t do anything special and all my jewelry is still in it’s cleaning container.
I do not and won’t ever wear a necklace at the barn. I guess that wearing something the neck that could easily catch scares me more then wearing a ring.
My engagement/wedding band is a single solitaire with two small diamonds off the sides. It’s all welded together into one band. I’ve never had any issues with either my wedding ring or my other “fashion” rings (a small ring with my birthstone in it and another custom-made ring with a Guatemalan jade stone).
I guess it’s whatever you prefer but I don’t have a problem wearing my ring 99.9% of the time. It comes off when I sleep and occasionally if I’m doing really “dirty” work. Otherwise, it’s always on. And, FWIW, I have mine insured under my homeowner’s policy (always have, always will) and if I lose the a stone off my wedding ring, the jewelry store will actually replace it for a $1.
ETA: If I worked with machinery or did a lot of heavy lifting stuff, I wouldn’t wear my ring. But considering my day job is a desk job and I don’t do too much manual work at the barn (no stalls/buckets/etc) I don’t worry about wearing my ring.
[QUOTE=Belg;5785404]
As my wife put it, she’d rather have a Friesian for an engagment ring than a diamond. It’s far more practical around the barn :)[/QUOTE]
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! I can now tell hubby that I’m not “such” a freak after all…hehehe
Not at all :=)
[QUOTE=Frank B;5785421]
No rings, anytime, around horses, dangerous equipment, or when handling heavy materials. If you’d ever seen any of those safety movies of a finger ripped out by the roots, with 18" of ligaments and other bloody things dangling from it, you wouldn’t be asking this question.[/QUOTE]
A friend of mine just last week broke her finger by falling off a spook and getting her ring caught through her glove on something. Doctor said she was lucky not to lose her finger and he had seen it happen before.
No more rings at the barn for her.
Yeesh, I hadn’t actually worn my wedding band in months because I took it off and it had just been sitting on my desk. I had put it back on when my hubby and I attended a wedding recently. After reading some of these posts about losing fingers, etc… it is now sitting on my desk again.
