What pants do you wear to stay warm in the winter while doing barn work?
I normally wear jeans or sweat pants, with ski pants over them. But, I would love to find other alternatives!
Carhhartt insulated bibs. You can often get men’s seconds at
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/s~carhartt-bibs/?perPage=24
But if you want them in pink you might have to go to TSC and pay full price.
Insulated bibs - coveralls - both excellent choices. . . if I don’t feel like struggling into a set of coveralls, I wear nylon, insulated ski pants from Columbia, over sweat pants - never jeans - I have not found denim to be very warm. LL Bean however makes some to-die-for flannel lined jeans that are fantastic. When it’s below zero I usually wear polartec under the coveralls and by LL Bean boots, a “mad bomber” hat that covers my ears well - and the warmest gloves I can find with hand-warmers in them.
I don’t like coveralls for work. They are good for sitting on a tractor or other relatively low exertion activities, but if I’m switching between shovelling and watching water troughs fill I need a jacket I can take on and off to regulate temperature.
Carrharts are amazing. I respectfully disagree with tangledweb. Though perhaps we are discussing something slightly different–I prefer the insulated overalls to the coveralls. If you are wearing a pair of Carrhart insulated overalls, you can take off your coat and muck away, then pop your coat back on when you head out to empty the muck wagon. I find mobility in carrharts to be just fine. I do all kinds of work in them and also ride in them. Frankly, I think that layering is for people with a lot more time on their hands than I have. Much easier to just slip those babies on over whatever you are wearing and you are good to go. I prefer the women’s version.
I wear sweats, with long underwear when it’s below 20 degrees, and switch to insulated ski pants over long johns when I have to be out for a long time…more than the normal 30 minutes it takes me to do my stalls, or it’s in the low teens or single digit temperatures. Or when it’s snowing and staying dry is an issue.
Gee, none of that sounds fun, does it?
Why did I move from California???
I have a pair of flannel-lined LL Bean Jeans that I’ll pull out if it is very cold and I want to ride. For every day chores I just wear sweatpants, long smart wool socks, turtleneck, sweatshirt, down vest, long LL Bean poofy coat, fleece scarf (I’ve found that to be the key to keeping me warm), hat, and gloves. This worked pretty well for our snow storm and cold snap last week that left us with a week in the single digits and the negative single digits. If I’m really desperate, I’ll put on long undies under my sweats, but for me it is my upper body that I worry about more.
Forget about doing anything other than putting out hay and putting hot water in the buckets, though. The horses were in the snow (large paddocks off the barn so they could come in when they wanted to . . . funny, they mostly chose to be outside in the snow!), as was their poop, and I wasn’t about to go digging it out when I couldn’t feel my fingers and my runny nose was freezing with every breath!
Mr. PoPo swears by Duluth Trading Co. fleece-lined pants.
And now I have a week’s worth of thawing poo to clean out from the paddocks. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend! At least we’re having a heat wave in the 40s to melt the snow!
I bought three pairs of fleece lined Levis (cargo style) from Wal-Mart. for my husband - he loves tem so much he will not take them off except for washing (occasionally). They have washed like a rag for over a year now.
[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8424883]
Carrharts are amazing. I respectfully disagree with tangledweb. … I prefer the insulated overalls to the coveralls.[/QUOTE]
Maybe I was not clear, but I think you completely agree with me.
I have an insulated pair of Berne overalls and I love them. You can take your jacket off if you are getting too warm. I like that the overalls covering your body to prevent you from getting too cold if you take your jacket off. I find them to be very comfortable for barn work.
I’ve used long johns (light, medium and heavy wt ones), sweat pants, fleece-lined jeans, wind pants and snow pants. All seemed to work well.
Never wanted bibs and never tried Carhartt coats.
I wear L.L.Bean ski pants or mountain horse insulated riding pants . The riding pants are a little bit warmer than the ski pants. They keep me plenty warm in freezing weather and I HATE cold weather.
I’m looking for a good glove to muck stalls in. I want warm but not bulky. Any suggestions? ( warm enough so my fingers don’t go numb but nimble enough to actually take clips off of buckets ect).
Stop everything, look no further.
They even look good enough to <gasp!> go to town. And definitely bring the warms.
No, they’re NOT as warm, probably, as the Carhartt pants, but unless it gets REALLY cold, they do just fine. And REALLY cold? You’re going to want to wear these under your Carhartts anyway.
Someone recommended them last year in a similar thread and I have LIVED in them for cold weather since. Fabulous.
(I like the brown waaaay better than the black. The black picks up every cat hair and piece of lint. Brown fabric seems to be more resistant to that.)
[QUOTE=Simkie;8426166]
Stop everything, look no further.
They even look good enough to <gasp!> go to town. And definitely bring the warms.
No, they’re NOT as warm, probably, as the Carhartt pants, but unless it gets REALLY cold, they do just fine. And REALLY cold? You’re going to want to wear these under your Carhartts anyway.
Someone recommended them last year in a similar thread and I have LIVED in them for cold weather since. Fabulous.
(I like the brown waaaay better than the black. The black picks up every cat hair and piece of lint. Brown fabric seems to be more resistant to that.)[/QUOTE]
oh no…I think I need to have a pair of those pants!!! Damn…
^^ Yes!!! I have one pair and am buying a 2nd so that I can swap out while one pair is being washed. Maybe i’ll buy a 3rd pair too, so I can wear them every day. 
I like to wear a lot of layers too. Here’s what I usually wear - polartek/fleece riding pants, warm thermal socks pulled up over the pants.
Lined splash pants on top of that.
On top a thermal shirt,an old cashmere T neck sweater (it is very thin and light, but warm) a sweater on top of that, a polar fleece vest on that that can be zipped up or down as I heat up… and a light wind proof jacket over it all.
I hate hats!! so I wear a winter head band to cover my ears, and a scarf, that can be pulled up over my face.
Warm boots = dry feet.
I look good!! :lol:
But I do stay quite warm and am able to work comfortably.
The Carhardtt bibs are wonderful, plus you can step out of them and be somewhat clean when you go into the house. They REALLY keep you warm.
[QUOTE=tangledweb;8424732]
Carhhartt insulated bibs. You can often get men’s seconds at
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/s~carhartt-bibs/?perPage=24
But if you want them in pink you might have to go to TSC and pay full price.[/QUOTE]
I got the pink ones! Thankfully, I had a gift card.
For keeping my hands warm, I’ve started wearing exam gloves (sometimes double gloved if its really cold) under whatever barn gloves I have (fleece, leather…). This has made such a difference in my hands staying warm and a bonus is that if I have to take my gloves off to fiddle with something that requires dexterity, my hands still have a layer of protection. Double bonus is that I can work my phone in exam gloves, even double gloved.
Another bonus is that if you get wet dealing with filling or emptying buckets, your hands aren’t wet. I haven’t had as much trouble with cracking skin on my hands since I started using exam gloves.
I got the idea from my sister in law, who said she started doing in because of what they used to do when she was young…put bread bags over your hands and then put mittens on. They were too poor to have waterproof gloves, but with this setup she could go out and play in the snow for hours.
If you’re going to be out for a long time and not moving vigorously, absolutely Carhartt bib overalls, my friend calls them Cubbies. They stop the cold wind from getting in and keep you quite comfortable, and you can add/remove coat/shirt layers as it suits. Down side: I find them restrictive. If I have to walk around a lot or move up and down a lot, they’re annoying.
Something with a lot of movement, like mucking a bunch of stalls, I prefer pants and long underwear. Specifically, the slippery long underwear, not the pebbly cotton stuff.
