Mountain Lion experience

After yesterday's ride of lots of turns away from home and taking trails in directions that I usually don't go in...I decided that today's ride should be simple.  A short ride on familiar trails.  We did come across 2 sets of riders and Zoe was pretty good about continuing on with our ride and not worrying about them.  I find myself coming up the back side of "the rock"--the rock the 4-wheelers like to climb on, the one that you would go over on the way to Inspiration Pt.  I was trotting and posting.  At the very top, Zoe spooks at something.  She didn't give me any clues that something was worrying her as we approached that area.  Just all the sudden she spooked and was spinning and kept on spinning.  I was on the "up" of my post, so now I was riding my horse on it's side...and I couldn't "spider monkey crawl" and pull myself back up...she kept moving too much.  So I decided to let go and fall.  Once on the ground she was still spooking, not at me but something else.  I would not let go of the reins, so now I'm being dragged thru the burrs and brush.  I dig in my feet for some traction and loose my left shoe in the process.  Finally she stops.  I stand up and look in the direction that she is focused on and see a large fawn colored cat with a very long tail trotting away from us...in no particular hurry.  Mountain Lion.  Great.  I know I need to leave the area...but not without my shoe.  It takes me a while to find it.  I look over Zoe-she's ok, and now she is calm.  I'm ok-just covered in burrs from the waist down and my sock is covered in burrs.  I have a few blisters on my hands from holding onto the reins and lots of stickers in my arms.  I try to brush myself off, finally find my shoe, go to sit down on a rock to put it back on when I notice that the bushes are moving again.  Great-it may be back.  I cram my shoe on-forget the burrs-and start walking-making lots of noise as I go.  Now I'm mad, not scared just mad.  I guess I was mad because I fell off, mad at the mountain lion, and somewhat mad at my horse.   She has seen alot of different wildlife out there, but I'm not sure she has actually seen a mountain lion-until today.  Usually I'm telling Zoe that she is fine in a scary situation, but I can just hear Zoe say-"mom you'll be fine, you don't have to be so mad, I'll be good" I find 2 other riders headed towards the area I just left and told them about  the mountain lion.  They decided to go in different directions.  I get on my horse and we walk the rest of the way home.    Later I was talking to Chris about this.  He had some interesting insights.  He is a hunter, and has also taken classes on mountain lions.  Being a cat they are stealthy and I would never have had a warning that it was there.  This time of year their cubs are old enough to travel some, so it probably wasn't a mom protecting her small little cubs.  Also the size I described to him told him it was probably a male.  Their territory can stretch 50+ miles, sometimes overlapping with other lions.  He was probably traveling thru the area or sticking around because he had killed something.  But I didn't smell anything dead...so hopefully he was just traveling thru.  Anyway next time I go thru that area I will go with other people and make sure we make lots of noise.  Maybe the 4-wheelers will go thru that area and make it not so comfortable for a mountain lion.   I did report it to parkwatch.org.  Later I found out that one of the riders I warned about it...and she went towards Barking Dog Hill....also saw the mountain lion.  Hope her ride went better than mine.