Well no matter what it is I always take the don’t bother it till it bothers me stance. If it is a bob cat it will take care of things you don’t want.
And…neither bobcat nor mountain lion will attack horses, generally (and bobcats…probably never!). A horse is oversized prey for a mt. lion–they normally take deer sized animals. Perhaps a small horse, pony or mini would be at minimal risk. Take precautions: stalled or pen close to the house, automatic lights, night check. I would not play loud music…might make it impossible for horses to hear a predator approach. I know here in Oregon Fish and Game has said time and again that the claims made (with inspection by F/G of the animals) by horse owners that their horse’s wounds are lion caused have proven false every time. Mostly pasture accidents.
Mountain lions love horse meat.
Smaller adults, like broodmares and foals and yearlings are attacked here when one comes by.
We had one attack five mature geldings, chase them down a draw and they broke thru a wire gate into a very large pasture.
We found them scared in a corner, 2 miles away, but with mere small scratches on them.
Where the attack and chase happened was sandy and we could read the horse and cougar prints where it happened and of course had to repair the gate they broke thru.
One horse never did get over it, would not leave the pens to go graze in that pasture and if led out there, acted up, would not go and not stay out there.
We finally sold him to someone in town, where he was very happy in their “safe” pasture.
The first picture he looks like a mountain lion, the second one, with more body showing, more like a bobcat.
I would not guess just from those two pictures, but I can’t really see them very good.
If there is plenty of deer and other and the horses have plenty of room to run, I doubt that a mountain lion would go after them.
While it happens here, it is only every so many years, not that common.
Here, mountain lions have an area about 150 square miles each, that they check in a loop that takes them about three weeks to cover.
We see the same one every three weeks, unless one is raising young, then they stay in one place for a few months.
When that happens, they generally chase and bring down deer or cattle.
We came upon one chasing a big steer once, had already taken some strips of hide off it’s hind end and was seriously on the war path when we ran the mountain lion off and tried to pen it to treat it’s wounds.
He ran me down and I measured my length trying to jump a ditch, or he would have trampled me.
We did get him penned and treated, but he always had two long, wide strips of hide missing on his behind and a big scar on his flank.
Rarely you see two in one territory.
Because of mountain lions being solitary and protecting a large area, their numbers are sparse.
If your eastern mountain lions are really western mountain lions, here is some info from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, in case someone does have a lion wandering through their area.
I lived in lion country years ago. I thought they were beautiful animals. They never bothered the horses, which were out on hundreds of acres of pasture, but there were plenty of deer around at that time. I was, and still am, more afraid of bears!
We had a jaguarondi living in our pasture for about a year…it is is only supposed to be along the Rio Grande valley (inhabits the brush country of extreme southern Texas in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties). We are in the middle of the Dallas /Ft Worth about two miles east of downtown Ft Worth…
Wild life authorities told us since it is a protected animal we could not trap it to relocate it.
The horses never even looked at it much as it stayed clear of them.
We have TONS of mountain lions around here - many horses, and zero reports of attacks on horses.
But they WILL eat your goats / alpacas / pigs etc with gusto. Neighbor lost about 10 animals (assortment of the above) over a few months. Finally put up a high powered electric fence that kept them out.
In our area reported ranges are more like 250 miles - a number have been tagged with tracking devices - and you can watch their movements online! http://santacruzpumas.org/puma-tracker/
We had one creeping around the back yard for a week or so - scratched the house, crapped in the yard - and eventually moved on 
Today’s new story? Mountain lion on top of a car in the suburbs.
http://abc7news.com/pets/surveillance-video-captures-mountain-lion-on-sj-homeowners-car/341347/
Pictures show a bobcat and I would not worry about it much. We have one (or more) here and it does not ever bother the horses. I rarely see the bobcat “in person” but have seen it quite regularly on my game cameras. I’d be more worried about it taking small pets or things like chickens or bunnies, but not too concerned about the horses. The one time I encountered our bobcat buddy around the horses, the bobcat was out in the pasture and horses were up by the barn and completely unconcerned. I thought it was a dog at first, as it was facing away, then it turned to look at me and I thought, huh, that dog looks like a kitty! But like I said, the horses didn’t care a bit, kind of how they react to coyotes as well.
Bobcats are cool, too.
Their tails are not always stubby, they can get almost to their hocks on some of them, and if the tail looks long but if it’s really a tail lying against a hind leg, and that makes it look like a long tail, then I stand corrected.
Are the ears tufted? Bobcat.
Stripes on legs? Bobcat.
Mountain lions can certainly have black on the back of their ears.
The body does look longer in the photo; could be the angle but it does look long.
ETA: I just tried to blow up the photo and the short tail people I think are correct: that’s not a long tail but a shorter tail and the right hind leg.
and I agree with Anne’s analysis above. When I saw the photos, my first reaction was LION!!! They do have black patches on the back of their ears…
Then I realized, thats not a tail - thats a leg. And the weird dark spot near the leg? The end of a bob cat tail. They can be spotted - but some look more solid over their backs…
Bob cats pose zero worry - this is the one that would hang out in our driveway.
I come across them when riding often - its kinda cool because they are less scared of people when on a horse - I have had them canter right along beside us on the trail.
Regardless of whatever that thing is, daylight doesn’t necessarily stop them from coming around. When I lived in CA, I used to see all sorts of wildlife during the day. Even saw a mountain lion wandering around town once. It eventually got shot by cops.
Looks like a cougar. Here’s how to tell the difference.
http://vacougarsighting.blogspot.com/2009/02/bobcat-vs-cougar-identification.html
We also have a resident bobcat, but it is a tall, leggy, skinnier one and about half the size of a mountain lion.
When it sits there watching us go feed in the dawn, he looks like those egyptian statues of their cat gods.
Ours comes thru in the night and leaves at dusk and has not bothered anything, other than any time a stray cat shows up, it doesn’t make it the night.
We think we had a mountain lion in our back yard/pasture a couple weeks ago that killed a deer. The dogs were going nuts one night, as were all the dogs in the neighborhood, so we let them out thinking maybe there was a raccoon coming through or something.
The next day I was out by the pasture turning on the sprinklers for the arena and I saw a dead deer up against the fence on the inside of the pasture. Its neck had been broken, it had a big puncture wound under its chin, and of course the buzzards had been going at it. We moved it with the tractor to an area behind the manure pile so the buzzards could finish it off. We debated about whether or not the dogs killed it or a mountain lion killed it.
The next morning, a whole line of our no-climb fence was down (had been pushed over!). We went to check out the deer carcass, just wondering…and it had been moved. So we then thought that it was a mountain lion and it came back to get its kill and it pushed the fence over to get in and look around…didn’t find it so it followed the stink and found it and moved it.
But then the NEXT morning another deer was in the pasture/yard (stupid deer jump the fence and then the dogs go nuts if they’re inside) and the dogs were out and they went hell bent for leather after that deer, all the while Mr. PoPo and I trying to chase them down in our bare feet and undies. Once the deer did go down, the dogs just sort of stood there looking at it, not trying to kill it, so again - we don’t know if the original kill was a dog or cougar.
We do have water on our property, and with the drought going on, that would likely make our place attractive. We’ve certainly got enough deer around here that they wouldn’t need to go after a horse, hopefully (knocking wood big time). Plus our neighbors have goats and sheep so I think that would be easier prey as well. We have a big flood light outside the barn that is on all night long. Our friends, who live a couple miles away as the crow flies but a ways away driving through country roads, have neighbors who have lost goats to a cougar, and other neighbors who have caught the cougar on night camera.
Very cool to get those pictures from your friend, no matter what it is!
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7796553]
Looks like a cougar. Here’s how to tell the difference.
http://vacougarsighting.blogspot.com/2009/02/bobcat-vs-cougar-identification.html[/QUOTE]
For those who think the cat looks long, I agree, but likely the angle. I, however am voting bobcat as you can clearly see the light patches on the ears, and cougar ears on the back are supposedly all dark.
Below is from KauraKY’s attachment.
- Ears: Cougars- have rounded ears with black behind the ears.
Bobcats- have ears which look pointed because of black ear tufts. The backside is dark, with a white spot.
Take a yard stick, go back to the camera site, stick the yard stick and take another picture ( or line your phone camera up with the game camera).
Then you have the size measurements you need, using the two large branches in the photo as your guides.
Or ask the hunter how high that camera was placed.
[QUOTE=3chestnuts;7795966]
Aw, man. Sorry guys. I was looking at the pictures on my phone before, but as I loaded them onto my computer, it actually looks like this just might be a Bobcat.[/QUOTE]
Thank you, OP, for taking the time to look closer. Your photos do indeed clearly show a bobcat, albeit with a striking optical illusion on the infrared that his hind leg is a tail.
There are all sorts of creatures lurking in the woods…my least favourite are the misinformed people with firearms and self-conviction.
Enjoy the wildlife encounters, I had great fun with a hi-def trail cam I borrowed from a co-worker & set up in my lower pasture. Great shots of turkey, coyotes, fishing herons, silly deer…and quite a few of a very uninspired bush.
For some ridiculous reason, it is still legal in most NC counties to keep large cats as ‘pets’ as long as they are captive bred. facepalm It’s quite an…interesting experience to find a ‘stray’ tiger chained to a lamp-post in Charlotte once the owner realized it might grow up to weigh 700 lbs. We are lucky to have a phenomenal rescue, research, & educational center in Chatham County (http://www.carolinatigerrescue.org; although they have all manner of cats) – they have a brother & sister Siberian tiger pair who were found WELDED INTO A BOXCAR and abandoned.
Point being, while we do have the occasional ACTUAL large cat wandering about in NC, it is due to some ‘lovely’ person released their ‘pet’ after it stopped being a fun kitten.
-Actual Zoologist/Wildlife Biologist
[QUOTE=wildlifer;7796834]
There are all sorts of creatures lurking in the woods…my least favourite are the misinformed people with firearms and self-conviction…
-Actual Zoologist/Wildlife Biologist[/QUOTE]
Love this! Very funny.
Thank you for lending your expertise and helping confirm: BOBCAT!
I’m sure there are Mountain Lions in the east, but the one in the pictures isn’t :). The one found in Connecticut walked there from Western South Dakota. We have a lot of them here, they use the river that runs through our farm as a “cougar Highway”. They have not caused any trouble in this area, and stick to their normal prey. We even have a wild goat that lives with the broodmares and he has been with them 5 or 6 years, unscathed.
Mountain Lions “back east” might help with deer overpopulation!
I wouldn’t even worry too much if it was a cougar. I kept my horses in the Sierra foothills for years and there were several mountain lions in the area that didn’t bother the horses. Smaller ponies, yes. When I was working for a vet I did see one horse who had been attacked by a mountain lion years prior, with very impressive scars over her neck and back. She is the only horse I have ever come across to tussle with a mountain lion.
On first glance it looks like it has a long tail, but upon close inspection what looked like a long tail is actually the right hind leg extended, and the short tail of the bobcat with the black tuft is clearly visible.
Proof is also visible with the left front leg back in the same position as the diagonally opposite right hind, because a bobcat is not a pacer like a polar bear. Another way to look at it is that the left hind leg is forward so the right hind has to be backward exactly where it is shown (looking like a tail) unless the cat is in mid leap with both rear legs underneath.
It’s a bobcat.
