Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail

I don't know if it's officially winter yet, but it certainly feels like it's on its way.  The horses have been stabled at night for a couple of weeks now and I'm getting back into a mucking out routine.  Every night I give Buttons a lovely warm straw bed with big bankings and before I've even left the yard, he's demolished it and piled it all up against one wall.  He's like a giant hamster.  He's appreciating being in at night though.  I clipped Wolfie mid October before they came in at night.  I'll need to do it again soon as his coat is growing back fast, obviously trying to keep himself warm!  He was good to clip in that he has absolutely no fear of the clippers now but he's a fidget.  Straight lines on him are impossible.  He also has so many whorls on his coat and it doesn't lie in the same direction anywhere.  It's not the neatest of clips, but it will do.  I was clipping on my own so I wasn't able to get right under his elbows at his front legs, I would definitely need someone to help me otherwise he'd probably clunk me on the head with a foot.
The horses are both eating me out of house and home, Wolfie in particular.  Just had the good news that the livery charges are going up and we're to be charged for having the muck from the stables taken away.  On top of the ridiculous price of hay and feed, will it ever end.
The rain has been torrential this past week, combined with me having a really horrible cold I decided to give Wolfie a week's holiday last week. I've managed to get him into the school a couple of nights this week for twenty minutes with the sole purpose of trying to get him used to the flood lights.  He's been pretty good, it's been windy and cold, but apart from leaping into the air at his own shadow every few minutes, he's been okay.  We've even managed a little trot, a very fast, out of control extended trot, but it's a start.  As soon as he's settled in the school I want to concentrate on bending laterally and lots of suppling exercises.  He finds the school difficult as any issues he has with stiffness and bending laterally in there are due to him being unbalanced because he is young, green and not yet developed.  His leg yielding has came on and the shoulder in is coming on. I'm thinking of beginning to introduce travers, just to use them all as exercises for warming up and down and freeing up his shoulders and back.  Plus it's something else to do to break up the monotony of endless circles which Wolfie hates. 

The boys got their feet done tonight.  their next shoeing is on the 23rd December.  I can't believe Christmas is only 6 weeks away, I'm not looking forward to it.  I wish I could be like a bear, go to sleep and wake up again in the Spring.