A cold (but not the coldest) night at the barn

So we've hit a cold stretch here in northern Vermont. I'm looking at my home thermometer and we're at -7 and dropping.

At the barn last night, the clock in the indoor arena registered 12 degrees; wayyy below the temperature I consider my cut-off for riding (25-ish). I noticed after I took the photo that the helpful temperature guide indicates that we were indeed in the "VERY COLD" range last night. This clock clearly was not made in Vermont since what it identifies as the COLD range of 30-60 degrees is more like what's considered to be NORMAL here. :)

The horses didn't go out because of the cold and also because light snow had caused some icy patches and treacherous walking. Since the barn was pretty quiet, I was able to bring them separately into the indoor for some romping time. Bestie rolled, then strolled about sniffing. I got her to free lunge, although she kept looking at me with that "why are you making me do this?" expression.

Dude had a couple long leisurely rolls, then trotted around, and finally, got fixated on a gate latch clanking in the wind outside. 

Here he is, intently staring in the direction of the mysterious clanking noise, apparently using his x-ray-through-the-walls vision while trying to figure the noise out. I kept running around the arena like a crazy woman, trying to get him to run around too. I warmed up, but couldn't distract him; he was far more interested in listening to the clanking. So much for romping time!