After yesterday's post about the mountain lion prints, I should clarify something. My horses are boarded about 12 miles away from the pinyon forest where I found the footprints. Additionally, there are many ranches around them with dogs. And, the ranch where I board them is only a quarter of a mile away from a school (not that THAT would mean much to a hungry mountain lion!). In fact, a mountain lion was killed here in the desert last year near a school! ACK! Now, THAT is scary. My cousin frequently takes one of her horses and works on the trails both here in the desert and up in the mountains and I have frequently warned her to PLEASE be careful and alert and she just laughs at me and thinks I'm crazy, BUT...the one killed here in the desert was right across the street from the areas where she works on the trails. YIKES! One time, she suggested that we meet in Pushawalla Canyon...she would ride her horse up in the canyon and I walked (ALONE). I parked my car and walked in, all the time looking up at the sheer cliffs in the canyon and I could feel the hairs on my neck prickling. It was in the middle of the day and I stayed in the middle of the canyon. I told her then, "This is mountain lion country, just look at those rocks", but she merely scoffed. Turns out, the mountain lion was spotted and shot right across the street from that same canyon! Mikey, no, I don't pack, but I'm rethinking that now! I've had the hairs on my neck stand up too many times. Here's a photo of the mountains where I board my horses. Yes, there is a lot of shrubbery there, but above this ranch is one that breeds dogs and they are constantly on the lookout! There are ranches all around this one and I'm sure the neighbors keep their eyes open! Actually, I'm more worried about running into a rattlesnake than a mountain lion! However, in the valley directly behind the ranch, mountain lions DO roam and that's where I saw a bobcat last spring. I remember one time, I was out walking around the ranch and I came stumbling out of the shrubs and both Cali and Scout took one look at me and ran to the center of their corral! You can see all the bushes in this photo and I'll stop and take some more this coming weekend. YEAH! It's Wednesday already!
2 comments:
The good news is that mountain lions will rarely attack a full-size horse, although they will go after foals and very small horses or ponies on occasion - at least so I've heard.
The idea of meeting a mountain lion alone is a scary one, though I imagine they generally stay to their own areas.
Even so, I would not want to be out there alone and run into one! And at least there's dogs around, they'll raise the alarm.
Beautiful area!
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