Many breeders have bloodlines where all the horses’ names must start with a certain letter. Once the horse is sold, would it be taboo to change the name? Why might a breeder get offended?
As a breeder of TBs I spend a lot of time and thought coming up with names that I think maybe a clever play with the names/meanings of family remembers. And also take into account the horse’s personality sometimes. Horses that we breed and sell I do not name. I figure that should be up to the people who put up their money. At times a LOT money. And naming maybe the most “fun” they get out of the horse if it turns out to be slow.
But there are a lot of IMO poorly named, silly named TBs so I can understand why those who buy them for other disciplines would want to change. If the horse is unraced it usually can be officially changed with the Jockey Club for a fee of around $150.
Some young TBs, yearlings, 2 year olds that were bred for the market are named by their breeders. But these are usually “hobby” breeders. And a lot of times the new owners change it. Commercial breeders rarely if ever name their horses if they were bred for the market.
There are a lot of warmblood horses that seem to incorporate their sire’s name, I would assume this is done by the breeder? Fernhill comes to mind, Fernhill Cublawn, Fernhill by Night, Fernhill Flutter. None of which do much for me and don’t lend themselves to coming up with a good “nickname”.
As a breeder I hope, would like the people that own our horses would keep the given name. But I certainly wouldn’t get offended if they are changed. Their horses now and they are the ones paying the bills and interacting with the horse on a daily bases.
I like to follow our horses as much as possible so when I sell I ask the new owners if they should decide to change the name to please let me know.
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Fernhill is a suffix - I don’t want to say it is a “breeder’s suffix” because Fernhill horses are not all bred by the same people - Fernhill Sporthorses sources various horses around Ireland/UK (of various breeds, too) and attaches their business name Fernhill to the horse’s name.
My friend has a full TB that is a “Fernhill” horse… but before he was a Fernhill, he was an irish chaser, and not a brilliant one either… Funny how the horse’s worth increases dramatically once Fernhill is attached to it. :winkgrin:
As far as the original question, I assume here we are talking about a warmblood… in which case… I think it depends.
Most TB breeders operate on a much bigger scale than the average WB breeder. With TBs, once they are in their second career it can be a nod to their former career to keep their name - it makes it easy for the horse to be tracked down by its breeders and past connections… but at the same time, and no offense to gumtree or other TB breeders on here who I know care VERY much about the horses they produce, but I’ve very rarely seen a TB breeder track down or even care about how their horses are doing after the track. Not all TB breeders are like this (the ones on this forum certainly aren’t) but how often do you see TB breeders step forward to rehabilitate/save/rescue/provide for the TB they bred in the kill-pen? Not often enough IMHO.
I take it upon myself to try to track down the breeders of FLF horses that end up in kill pens and the lack of responses have left me very jaded to the breeders in the TB world.
For that reason I don’t always keep the TB name, because I haven’t found that most TB breeders are interested in keeping up to date on the horses that they bred. I’ve always emailed/mailed the breeders of my TBs letting them know how to contact me, with pictures of their horse, how they are doing, etc – not a single one has ever written back.
Anyway, warmblood breeders operate on a much smaller-scale… and the societal taboos are different in the WB world than they are in the TB world. In the WB world, I think it would be a disservice to the breeder to remove the breeder suffix… but if you don’t like the name, you don’t like the name.
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Ya I think WB breeders get pretty ticked when you change a registered name. They loose the credit for breeding in some cases, and the name often was for a reason.
But I bought a mare and changed her registered name. Her breeder had issues and the farm went downhill to the point that my girl was very underweight, had gotten hung in a fence trying to feed herself, and was left permanently scared from the experience. The farm was liquidated at auction because the breeder could not feed them. So changing my mare’s name was partially about giving her a new start. She may carry the scars but she doesn’t need to carry the name too.
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Most warmblood registries have naming rules, so the registered name must start with either the letter of that year, or match the first letter of the Stallion/Mare. Even a registry name change (if possible) would still have to follow those rules.
There’s also the “birth name” vs “show name” thing. There’s no shortage of riders that compete horses as XYZ but their registered name is actually ABC. Both names follow the horse in records/passport, although the show name tends to be more colloquially known.
Sometimes it’s simply a language barrier. I’ve known people to import a horse with a Dutch or German name and switch it to English so they can pronounce it. In my area we get that with French/English as horses are sold from or to more francophone areas. (An aside: I always loved Jus de Pomme as a name…until I found out it meant “apple juice.”)
I’ve changed names, and have sold horses and had the name changed. As long as breeder is still identified, I think it is ok. Some of the biggest WB breeders/dealers I know of change prefixes and suffixes, so I guess it is ok. Some registries require you show under the registered name for USDF awards, so a show name isn’t as common in dressage as it is in hunters.
If you want to change the name, go ahead and change it. That is your right. Personally, I don’t think it is worth the bother or the expense to change the breed registered name. We will change the USEF name if it is wonky or over-used, but I’ve probably only done that twice in 30 years.
Regardless of the name, the USEF number stays with the horse, so the breeder can keep tabs on the horse.
i think you’d be surprised to see how many people “reinvent” a horses history by changing all the numbers. Sometimes even dropping the registration
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Yes. There are always going to be some folks that don’t play by the rules. Hopefully that will be become a bit more difficult with the USEF microchip requirements.
We ask our buyers that if they change the name, PLEASE do it through USEF so the life number stays with the horse. Then the breeder, gets “credit” and the pedigree is there.
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I was surprised to find, during my recent horse search, that two of the horses I tried had had their show names changed with USEF to something very different from what was on their registration papers. One a Hanoverian whose registered name started with F, to follow his well-known sire’s name, but whose show name did not. The other a KWPN whose name should, as a 2011, have started with G but whose show name did not. They had just completely random names that their owners had chosen and that they were shown under their entire careers.
In both cases, the owners were more hunter people than dressage (my discipline) and had switched their horse’s focus to dressage since recording them with USEF, so I had the impression that maybe name changes are more common in the hunter world. In both cases, had I bought the horse, I would have changed it with USEF back to the registered name. Because I wouldn’t want to give the impression that I’m the one who doesn’t know how naming of WBs works, or that there’s something illegitimate going on when I show a registered horse. I did have one of the two vetted and I even gave the PPE vet the registered name, because I wanted the paperwork on him to reflect what he was going to be called if I had ended up with him (but he didn’t vet).
And then ironically, the horse I did just end up buying uses a farm-name suffix of two letters in the show name that I plan to discontinue using with USEF and with my show entries. Because it’s something the importer added when they listed him with USEF, as his brokers, rather than as his breeders. If it were the breeder’s suffix then I would absolutely keep it. Having bred two WBs myself, I respect the tradition, the farm name, and the naming process.
But for a seller/broker to add a suffix that isn’t on the papers seems a little bit precocious. It’s a great marketing tool for them, but I didn’t purchase the horse from them so have no reason to advertise their business at shows. The suffix will be dropped when I file the transfer with USEF.
I personally wouldn’t go through the rigmarole of changing a name with a registry, but with USEF it’s not such a big deal. And as others have said the number makes clear which horse’s record is being tracked and there won’t be any confusion, on paper.
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Changing the name of the horse that the breeder gave it is wrong. You want to call the horse something else around the barn, go ahead, but its original name should stay. Furthermore, if the horse goes up to FEI rated show, they require that the FEI passport match the original registered papers or be charged $1000. Breeders need to be able to follow their production. Changing the name makes it more difficult, an unnecessary.
Tim
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