Things that go BARK in the night.

Early this morning Boyd mentioned that he could hear my golden retriever barking.  Since I seem to be losing my hearing the longer I teach school, I had to get out of bed and open the door to see if he was right. I asked Boyd what he thought it was and he said, "Horse".  What?????   My first thought was MOUNTAIN LION!!!!!  This fear is based on real life events and isn't unfounded.  My second thought was wandering stray cat, raccoon, squirrel or skunk.  My third thought was that the border collie was having another seizure.   So, I put on my insulated coveralls and headed out into the freezing cold morning to see what had stirred up the dog.  I drove the car even though it isn't far away because, let's face it, car lights on bright are better than any flashlight I own and I have protection.   Guess what??  I hate to admit it, but sure enough, my lights highlighted horses' patooties .  I called Boyd and told him he was right, we had seven horses in our yard.  Hard for me to do!    Poor Boyd once again had to get dressed and come out to deal with a problem on the farm discovered by me and somehow connected to my dogs.  Here's the deal...  My golden retriever thinks she owns the farm.  If you move equipment around the farm, she barks at it.  If the cows are put back to pasture across the river, she barks at them.  If fishermen set up camp, she barks at them.  So, horses milling around right through the chain link fence from her, she's gonna bark!!!  In fact, the poor thing sounded kind of hoarse.    So even though she was just trying to warn us, Boyd blames her for being up at o'dark hundred in the morning.  Long story short, Boyd shoo'd them away from the hay and we watched them for a bit while trying to figure out who they belonged to.   Guess what I learned during this time.   If you try to take a picture of strange horses for your blog, in the dark,  and are standing as close as you can get to them, with the flash on, when the flash goes off, the horses will stampede!   Luckily I moved enough they didn't run over the top of me.  Instead, they headed off our property and into the neighbors back yard across the street.   Problem solved!!!
(Actually, after a few phone calls, the horses were put back where they belong.) 
No pictures, but we have a lovely pile of road apples (horse poo) at the end of the lane.