Can't believe I'm posting a Name This Horse thread, but here we go

[EssexFells]

Just purchased this 5 y/o QHxGV grade mare and she delivers next week. She’ll join two pasture puff retirees and I’m so excited to have a riding horse again. I’ll have the vet and farrier out quickly after she arrives, so I want to have a shortlist of possibilities and then see what fits as I get to know her once she’s here. I keep running through names but haven’t landed on anything yet.

She’s tacked western in her sales ads, but also goes english and that’s how I’ll use her. I ride dressage and x-c jumping, mostly I just tool around my big farm. But there’s an eventing venue local to me, so my goal would be to bring her up to beg novice/novice level and see how we do. (Or just bring her to that level of training, without needing competitions to validate it.)

[endlessclimb]

You need to get to know her a little first, I think - to know if she needs a sharp name or a sweet one. She’s gorgeous, congrats!!

[NancyM]

Give it time and get to know her a bit, and she will tell you her name.

[Training_Cupid]

Esmeralda, like the gypsy girl in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[LCDR]

Does she already have a name that she reacts to? I’d check that out and if so consider keeping or slightly modifying it as her barn name.

[ThreeWishes]

Serenade. Call her Sera. She’s lovely.

[EssexFells]

She comes with the name “BB”.

I’m thinking maybe Bonny Pirate or Bonny Sails, Bonny for short. Named after the fierce Irish pirate Anne Bonny who hailed from County Cork (where my family’s from ) and seems fitting for a GV given their Irish foundations.

Or maybe Bonny Kinsale.

On 2nd thought probably not Bonny Sails – I did some googling and there’s some online game about pirates that features a boat called Bonny Bell Sails. No idea the background on the game, and don’t want to find out later that it’s violent or otherwise something I’d rather not be linked to

[reefy]

She is soooo pretty!

Kinsale is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been so I like your second choice

[Lusoluv]

If you know you like Bonny/Bonnie, how about Bonny Betty? I think Betty is a great name for robust and beautiful gal like this one!

[MunchingonHay]

She is so pretty!

Here are some names to kick around:
Freya
Merida
Cheyenne
Riona (Re-oh-na) it means queen.

She is so lovely! With such a regal head and stature

[JBCool]

Ooh, I like her! The name Talia came into my head as soon as I saw her pic. Or
Nadia
Hester
Bridgette

[2DogsFarm]

She’s a handsome hunka horseflesh

I’m currently bingeing the Pirate series Black Sails & the Anne Bonney character is a favorite of mine.
So my vote goes for Anne Bonney

[Renn_aissance]

@EssexFells

On 2nd thought probably not Bonny Sails – I did some googling and there’s some online game about pirates that features a boat called Bonny Bell Sails.

I understand your position, but can I convince you to think again? Bonny Sails just sounds like you have an interest in maritime history, especially with the Anne Bonney connection. My first association was “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.”

I like the name, if you can’t tell. Attractive mare!

[moonlitoaksranch]

Anne Bonny was a female pirate. Grace O’Malley was a much more badass Irish pirate. She defied Queen Elizabeth I in the 1600s. Her Irish name was Gráinne (Graw-nye). She even has a song.

Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile

(I’ve studied Irish for years. Even had a cow named Gráinne).

[clanter]

@EssexFells

She comes with the name “BB”.

then her name is Daisy? I had several Daisy BB guns as a kid, Daisy still make the most legendary BB guns

[2DogsFarm]

How would you make that pronounceable by Announcers?
I showed with a Jr who called her horse Sophocles.
& had to hear:
"On course, SopHockles

[moonlitoaksranch]

I suppose Grace (Grace O’Malley?). would be better as a show name. Gráinne as a barn name? It’s very much an Irish rebel song. Patrick Pearse changed the lyrics to mention Grace because she was an Irish hero by standing up to the British. She even convinced Queen Elizabeth I to release her son (also a pirate) from prison.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Whatever you decide, it’s a fun song and a good story. Others are welcome to use it. Here’s a video that tells some of the more interesting aspects of Grainne’s legend with translation of the song (Patrick Pearse’s lyrics).

Óró 'sé do bheatha 'bhaile - LYRICS + Translation

[Xanthoria]

Brown Betty - it’s a dessert first mentioned in print in 1864. Call her Bee for short?

[risuenaVT]

A friend of mine got a gorgeous draft cross mare from a feedlot a couple of years ago. She came with the name Bonnie. We kept trying to change it, but wound up going with BB.

The nice thing with a name like BB is it can mean a lot of different things depending on the mood. Because she’s a thicc draft X, BB initially meant “Big Bonnie”. Turns out this mare is also very defensive and difficult on the ground (she wants to be friendly, she just doesn’t trust people enough, which I can understand), so sometimes one of the 'B’s rhymes with “witch”, and usually said with affection even though it’s not exactly a nice word.

But BB has stuck with her. And as we’ve gotten to know BB better, she’s still very defensive and wary of my friend and I, but she’ll follow me around the field if I have treats. She’ll let me catch her. I am only occasionally allowed to pet her face and I’m never allowed to pet her shoulder or anything further back. She is much more tolerant of my friend, but still defensive. She’s a good girl and really not at all witchy (though we all have our moments)

And just, in general, at this point, BB is her name. We didn’t expect it to suit her but it does.