Centered in the Saddle

It’s not super warm in Wisconsin (yet), but when I was down in Florida for Live Oak International, it was hot. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being in the warm weather; but my body was like hey man, wtf? It’s like 90 degrees, can we please find some shade? Unfortunately the answer to that question was normally, “no, sorry, we’re sitting in the sun on these bleachers for at least two more hours so just deal with it.”

Luckily there were some nice vendors in a shady, tented area, so we would occasionally wander through to get some relief and salivate browse over all the pretty stuff. My hands-down favorite was She Rides I Pay, a really awesome shop with everything from high-end clothing to gifts and hand soap (which smells awesome). We chatted with the owner, Elizabeth, each day, and she was super nice. She was kind enough to let us try on and model some of her awesome belts and even offered to let us try on Animo breeches. (Given that we were covered in several layers of sunscreen, sweat and dirt, we politely declined.) There will be more about the belts later. This particular post is really about the EIS Cool Shirt.

Review: Equi In Style (EIS) Cool Shirt
Order from: http://sheridesipay.com/collections/equi-in-style-eis
Color: Lavender
Price: $96-$98 (on sale right now for $85.99-$87.99!)
Star Rating: 5 out of 5

Now, let me explain. People in Florida wear long sleeves, pants and even scarves sometimes. How they don’t just melt, I may never know. However, we saw so many people wearing these EIS shirts every day. Like, seriously, every third person was wearing one of these shirts. I had looked at them in the She Rides I Pay tent every single day, so finally on our last day I decided to purchase one. I was sunburned – despite the many layers of sunscreen – and was interested in the UPF 50 protection within the shirt as well as the “cool fabric” technology. I wasn’t convinced that a long-sleeved shirt would actually lower my body temperature by 5 degrees, but I was ready to give it a shot. Plus, they’re cute.

I ended up getting the lavender one and I love it. It’s very flattering and comfortable. The mesh panels on the underside of the arms are great for air flow, and they look nice. I wore my new shirt all day and guess what? I was the coolest and most comfortable I had been the whole trip. The fabric is nuts. Even in the 85-degree heat and direct sunlight, my arms and torso were much cooler than my bare, shorts-clad legs. When a breeze drifts past, it’s feels like a cold breeze through the fabric of the shirt. It. Is. Awesome.

At dinner that night, I wore my shirt out. People in Ocala wear horse clothes everywhere. It’s great! I didn’t feel like a crazy smelly person running errands like I do when I hit up Target after being at the barn in Wisconsin. Anyway, I wore my Cool Shirt out to dinner and was actually a little bit uncomfortably cold in the air conditioning. This is not a bad thing, just another point to illustrate that the Cool Shirt really does make you cooler. All the time. I can’t wait to wear it in the warm Wisconsin weather. And, yeah…I’m really eyeing up some more colors…like seabreeze…and red…and sapphire pistachio…and…