These are hard won pictures.

Maybe not good pictures but hard ones to get. I got home at 8:30, the car thermometer said -12.5C, John Deere had 18F. The night was clear and the sky starry. It wasn't going to get warmer.

It seems to me that the point of blanketing is 20F and -15C is the point of thinking about bringing horses in, especially if there's freezing rain. Nothing to do then but to put on a coat, snow pants, a balaclava and a hat and head to the barn. I threw out some hay, naively thinking I'd toss on the blankets while the equines munched. I started with donkey, he's not used to being blanketed but took it all quite well, I couldn't get a leg strap clamped quickly and so got dragged through the mud but I'd dressed for that. I have to say he's a good natured animal, I wouldn't cling to a horse's leg while being dragged along.

Austin was chewing away so I thought I'd do him next. Alas, being approached by a man in a hat, plainly a new and scary man, was too much for him and with a fit of bucking he was off across the field. Dixie of course followed. I trudged after them, halter in hand. It's surprising how fast a half lame horse can run in deep snow. By now I was concerned that all this running would make them sweaty, just what I didn't want before a cold night, but then Dixie turned, seeming to realise that the hat hadn't made me a monster and I was able to lead her to the barn. She has the best blanket, clips not buckles, no need to take your gloves off, done in a trice.

And so to the evil one. He's looking particularly hostile here as the rope is just too short for him to be able to eat. After having to chase him he's lucky I didn't leave him like that.

Done! 45 minutes of mud splattered fun and now time for a beer. After all that there'd better not be a freak rise in temperature overnight.