  After a long day out away from the house,  visiting dad and 'mama' at the nursing home,  ticking 'mama'& nbsp; off because I made her eat some vegetables ( that was the highlight!
 buying new furniture and stuff,  we finally pulled into the driveway about 6: 30. nbsp;  It wasn’ t quite dark yet,
 so I went to the barn to put Magic in for the night and to give her dinner. nbsp;  Normally,  when she sees us drive in,  she follows the car and heads to the barn. nbsp;
 As I am driving down the driveway,  I notice her in the arena and she is looking very intently into the trees along the river. nbsp;  I don’ t think much about this as she does this often. nbsp;
 What I did notice is that she doesn’ t move to the barn. nbsp;  By the time I park the car in the drive,  and walk over to the barn,  I have to call her to come to me.
nbsp;  Another signal that something wasn’ t right. nbsp;  After a few calls,  she comes to me.
nbsp;  We’ re standing in the pasture right outside the barn. nbsp;  Again,  she normally will follow me into the barn because she knows she gets her treats (
oats)  with her alfalfa. nbsp;  This is like heroin to an addict. nbsp;  She will try to climb over me to get to her oats.
nbsp;  I’ m able to coax her into the barn,  but she comes flying out again before I can close the gate. nbsp;  Whats up with that?
nbsp;  I thought I would put her feed in her feeder so then she would see me doing that. nbsp;  That didn’ t work either. nbsp;
 She is terrified of something and is obviously scared about going into her stall. nbsp;  About 2 weeks ago,  I took down the siding covering 2 of her walls,  giving her an unobstructed view of the lower pasture and the trees along side the barn. nbsp;
 We put the walls up last winter to help keep her warm and dry. nbsp;  The fencing in her stall now is a 4- foot high,  4- board fence.
 Back to the story. nbsp;  I finally get her into the stall by walking her into it with her can of oats in one hand and the lead rope around her neck! nbsp;  Stupid horse would not come in any other way. nbsp;
 I get the gate closed and locked and my next chore is to put her blanket on her. nbsp;  It still gets a little cool at night and I don’ t want her to catch a cold! nbsp;  (
How anal is this) nbsp;  I’ ve now got the blanket in my arms and it is normally no problem putting it on her. nbsp;  She normally stands still and lets me fasten the 2 belly straps,
 2 hind leg straps,  and the 2 snaps on the chest straps. nbsp;  On a good day,  this takes me about 30 seconds. nbsp;
 However,  I knew this was not going to be a good day. nbsp;  She starts dancing around me inside her stall. nbsp;  I manage to throw the blanket on her,
 which freaks her out. nbsp;  This does not make any sense to me at all. nbsp;  Naturally,  I get mad.
nbsp;  I do realize this isn’ t the place to be mad in,  a 12x24 foot stall with a 16hand horse,  weighing in at 1100 pounds. nbsp;
 I calm down and talk calmly to her and manage to get the blanket just so it sits right on her. nbsp;  Getting it fastened in all the places took about 5 minutes. nbsp;  NLG,  in the meantime,
 is in the house and can’ t figure out what is taking me so long. nbsp;  I had cleaned the stall that morning before we left for the day and knew putting her up for the night only took about 5 minutes. nbsp;  He comes out to find me dealing with a horse that is almost out of control.
 We start putting together the whole situation,  Magic in the pasture and not moving towards the barn when she sees us pull up;  her not wanting to go in her stall and not wanting to stay in it when she does go in it. nbsp;  Something was out there scaring her. nbsp;
 We hear the neighbors’  dogs barking. nbsp;  Okay,  we’ re dealing with a critter hear.
nbsp;  We know if it was a bear,  we would hear it growl or at least move through the bushes and in the river. nbsp;  We didn’ t hear anything.
nbsp;  I stay with Magic and NLG goes in and calls a friend about it. nbsp;  We were told that it was probably a cat,  or more specifically,  a cougar!
nbsp;  Evidently,  there have been some spotted here in the valley. nbsp;  He comes back out to the barn and tells me this. nbsp;
 By now it is pitch dark and am being told that there is a dangerous animal lurking about. nbsp;  No wonder Magic is freaking out. nbsp;  She either smells it or hears it or both! nbsp;
 MNLG goes inside and brings me a flashlight so I can check out the edge of the pasture that borders the river. nbsp;  Magic is getting worse. nbsp;  She is rearing up inside her stall and is convinced that something is going to get her. nbsp;
 I now decide to stay in the barn with her to help calm her and make sure she doesn’ t injure herself. nbsp;  Mike goes back to the house and gets a 2nd flashlight and loads the revolver. nbsp;  I’
m panicked to say the least. nbsp;  We’ re outside the barn,  NLG explores around by the arena with the flashlight and gun. nbsp;
 I’ m in the middle of the pasture,  right in front of the barn. nbsp;  The sensor lights are on and all the lights are on inside the barn. nbsp;
 Magic is snorting and going nuts in her stall. nbsp;  I’ m trying to console her standing in front of the gate that keeps her in her stall,  thinking how lucky I was she didn’ t kill me while I was trying to put her blanket on and that a stupid wild animal didn’
t jump in there from behind the stall and get us both. nbsp;  NLG stays out there for about 30 minutes until he starts getting hungry. nbsp;  Huh? nbsp;
 Hungry? nbsp;  Are you kidding me? nbsp;  I’ m afraid for my life and my horse’
s life and he is now concerned about eating. nbsp;  Okay,  he leaves me the gun and brings out the intercom that goes in the barn. nbsp;  This way I can at least tell him that a wild animal is in the barn and is about to eat me.
nbsp;  I’ m standing on the hay stack,  about 2 feet over Magic’ s head,  with one hand holding the flashlight searching the outer pasture,
 and the other hand holding a loaded revolver,  trying to keep myself and my& nbsp; horse calm. nbsp;  I’
m realizing that this must look hysterical. nbsp;  One nervous female with a loaded gun in her hand,  and I might add,  menopausal. nbsp;
 But we won’ t go there. nbsp;  The next thing NLG does is to come back out and shout to me ( because he won’ t walk out there without the gun)
 “ Hey babe,  do you want a glass of wine? nbsp;  What the heck! nbsp;
 I’ m in the barn,  about 10 feet up standing on hay bales,  trying to keep my balance and not fall between the bales,  clutching the flashlight and trying not to shoot myself in the foot with the gun and trying hard not to add to the panicked horse who is spinning,  snorting,
 rearing up,  and crapping all over the place. nbsp;  Yeah,  now he wants to serve me wine and cheese. nbsp;
 I guess he must be thinking this would be my last supper or something. nbsp;  I’ m thinking,  here I am,  holding a flashlight and a gun,
 how in the heck am I gonna hold my wine! nbsp;  There is something wrong with this picture of a woman in my frame of mind with a glass of wine and a loaded gun! nbsp;  Am I right! nbsp;
 I would know not to shoot myself and there is no way in the world that I would shoot my horse…  The only thing left would be NLG! nbsp;  He’ d come walking up and I would just shoot him,  thinking he was the cougar.
nbsp;  I tell him to save me a glass and if I make it back into the house,  I will for sure want it then. nbsp;  Two hours later,  I come back into the house.
nbsp;  Magic is calmer,  the dogs have stopped barking and now,  I’ m hungry and I want my wine. nbsp;
 I leave the barn lights on so that I can see her from the house. nbsp;  The gun is still loaded and in the bedroom.  The moral of the story is that we will never leave Magic alone at night again. nbsp;  We will always be here by the time it gets dark.
nbsp;  NLG is in the middle of redoing the laundry room/ service area and when he finishes that,  we will move the approximately 3 tons of hay around in the barn and move Magic to the middle of it. nbsp;  That way no animal can get to her.
nbsp;  We’ ll store the hay in the outside stalls and leave the protected inner stall for her. nbsp;  I also do not want her to have an open window. nbsp;
 She will have the windows with the bars in it so that no animal can get in. nbsp;  It won’ t leave her with much of a view,  just 4 walls,  but she will be safe!
nbsp;  She was in an inside stall like this when we bought her,  so she will be familiar with it. nbsp;  & nbsp;
I thought about wiring the outside of the barn with the electric fencing. nbsp;  This way,  if anything came up to the barn,  they would get zapped! nbsp;
 NLG doesn’ t like that idea,  I don’ t know why. nbsp;  &
nbsp; He just came in from the laundry area and chewed me out because he found an old meat cleaver like knife that I had thrown away. nbsp;  Evidently it is like 60 years old and he wants to keep it. nbsp;  I see it as an old rusty thing and thought it should be thrown away.
nbsp;  I had to promise not to throw anything else in the garage away again. nbsp;  Crap.
