= new reply since forum marked as read
I like opposums! Most folks don't know that possums are immune to rabies or that they vacuum up ticks are part of their warm-weather diet.
A couple of yrs ago I had to beat my mother's dog off of one he was trying to kill. The poor thing had gone into his catatonic state* & if I'd not shown up that disobedient dog would've killed him.
*Possums don't actually play dead when they're threatened. Instead, they involuntarily enter a catatonic state. ... people believe it's a good act, but according to scientists that enters this catatonic state in response to fear.
You Do Not want possums near horses however! One really bad thing: possums carry a parasite that's responsible for equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, or EPM. It's transmitted from opossums to horses when they eat or drink where infected opossums have defecated. So, horse owners rightfully don't want possums anywhere near their horses or on their property.
A good dog or 2 or 3 
can take care of keeping those critters off "their" property. (Thanks to DUer Bayard, who owns horses, for this info.)