This is: Had a foal born to a rescue type mare who wasn’t letting me real close to her baby, got a quick look, and called her Daisy…came back out to check them over, and realized that Daisy was not going to do, so I was going to call HIM Duke…only every time I was with him all I could here was something saying Stewie…so Stewie he was.
Bought a mare called Gracie, every time I got near her all I could hear was Gloria…never did change her name, but called her Gloria when no one else was around!
I’m not generally one to change a name… but now that I am looking at APHA/AQHA horses-- I’m changing my mind. OMG some of those registered names are awful!!!
Yeah…APHA/AQHA and track names are typically horrible. I lucked out with my OTTB mare with a one-word name that beautifully paid tribute to her grandsire, Sham…but now I find the nickname the barn owner calls her by putrid.
I have been lucky - my two came with Eko and Fabian and they kept them. Though Fabian became bean in the barn.
A clients horse is registered as wasabi, but we have been playing with finding a barn name - he was w (dubya), then dub - which he responds to, then Yabba dabba do, then Fred (Flintstone). I think he likes Fred the best.
Some of ours have been renamed and others a different variation of their registered names. Most recently I got a horse and spent a while thinking I would change his name but the old name stuck so I figure he must like it!
T (QT Danceman) became Dan
Panning became Yukon in sticking with the gold rush theme
Tiz (Tiz I Is) became Flint
Lovey became Titan (which was a name that two owners prior had called the horse)
River stayed River
Stewie I wanted to call Steele but he wants to be Stew. My husband calls him Fluffy, which cracks me up.
(Tongue in Cheek) Changing a boat’s name is also considered “bad luck” unless you have a virgin christen (pee) on the deck…! :lol: Wonder what the horsey equivalent is!
Changing a horse’s name (especially the barn name or nickname) is a very minor affair. If you are superstitious, I guess that would be a possible impediment. I rename horses reasonably frequently, especially barn names or nicknames, with the exception of JC registered racehorses.
FWIW, horses hear tone and inflection and the sound of an individual person’s voice–but actual words such as names, not so much. Horses speak to one another almost exclusively with body language and so they are far more adept at noticing mood, posture, etc. vs. discerning spoken words.
As far as calling a horse in from a pasture, horses come because they hear a noise and look up and see you at the gate with a (presumed) treat or bit of grain, not because you called them by name.
Your daughter should rename her beautiful new horse as she wishes!
My horse came with the name Llyod.
I’m going to let you guess as to whether I changed it or not :lol:
He was basically an unbroke stud colt with mange and a good 150-200lb underweight… he certainly didn’t know his name, his manners or what good hay tasted like!
Both my unregisteted horses came with silly but simple names which I kept. But I don’t think either of them know or knew their name. Current one knows my whistle but most of the time I address her as sweetie or silly girl or dolly or doodles or something like that.
It’s obviously standard practice to give simple, appropriate barn names to all the registered horses that have long, ridiculous registered names ( JC, sb, aqha, Arab etc). For OTTB and otsb this also throws a bit of a veil over the track history and provenance and any track mishaps. For registered horses the “real” legal name never changes and you might need to show under it, but the barn name can shift from owner to owner.
My personal peeve is giving long complicated names that sound registered to grade horses. The point of those names is to track lineage especially in the aqha world.
The warmblood world has simpler names but some of the registries do follow initial letters either for bloodlines or for year of birth. Some of the horses get barn names, some not.
Anyhow I would test whether the name has any meaning to the horse and if not, change it.
It’s interesting what names sound OK for animals versus just humans. A lot of animal names are out of fashion human names, like Billy or Jack. I have yet to see a horse named Liam or Lydia or Liz or Susan. There have been times when I’ve needed to specify horse or person for some names though.
Name the unregistered horse anything you like, it is ok.
What I do have a problem with is people who change the registered names - the reasons being that they often include a breeder prefix and I think it is disrespectful to the breeder as they lose the reputation that horse could have earned them.
It also makes it harder for a new purchaser to check the record of the horse.
I think it is ok to change the ‘show name’ or ‘barn name’ but the passport name should be the one on the papers…and stuff like that.
I’d only say keep his name if he knows it! When I bought my horse, he half knew his name but I couldn’t stand it. Found another G name that suits him perfectly, and five years later he’s a dog and comes when called. If he doesn’t really respond to his current name, go for it and name him whatever you’d like!
I think Bali is a very cool name! Balthazar… not so much. I have never changed a horse’s name and don’t love my current horses name but that’s who he was introduced to me as and my brain couldn’t seem to call him anything else.
My most recent buy is a gelding who was named “Century”. I hated it, and he’d been in a field nearly feral for the better part of a year and didn’t seem to acknowledge it so I changed it. I had his new name before unloading him from the trailer. It has way more meaning and I think it is still unique but fits him - Graffiti. He has a shoulder brand that I can’t trace and he is the horse equivalent of a street rat; uncertain breeding, iffy training, and horribly cared for before I got him. But that doesn’t make him any less of a good horse then my registered, branded WB mare. She’s more European ‘art’ with her classic lines and elegance while he is street ‘art’ with his rough edges and sharp angles (his shoulders were literally pointy when I brought him home) and his unknown brand. So he’s Graffiti now, often Graff in the barn.
I’ve always heard its bad luck to change a name too, but sometimes I think it was worse luck that the horse got a name that didn’t suit it so I don’t worry about changing them. Just a suggestion though - even if you haven’t decided on a new name never tell anyone at the barn his old name or it will get ‘stuck’ to him and no one will remember the new name. Leave him nameless until you decide.
We had a horse come to us with “Goober” for his barn name.
No one liked that name.
We tried to change it, but he knew his name so well, we had to let him keep it.
That’s what I did with my most recent horse. I’ve never changed a name before, but I just couldn’t stomach Lady. That’s a fine name for a pony or a horse owned by a kid or old person, just not me!
Her registered name is Generator Lou, so I went with Lucy. Lucy also lends itself well to further derivations such as Lucy Goosey, Lucy Lou, etc.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, We have another beautiful day here at Rolex. Up next in the Grand Prix Dressage Freestyle event, we have CFFarm riding Fish Lips!”
