Getting a new horse in your life is always fun… but sometimes they come with baggage. Like a horrible show or barn name. Horse folks can be superstitious folks–so tell me, do YOU think it’s bad luck to change a name? And if so, why?
No. It’s just a name. They are very much a matter of personal taste and I’m not having to call something a name that I hate or cringe over on a daily basis. I’ve even heard names that I find downright offensive. I’m no prude but I’m also not calling an animal an innuendo, especially in a barn with kids.
I guess it’s a little more difficult if they actually know their name, but they can learn the new one too. And sometimes you’re just stuck with show names, when certain breeds or organizations require use of the registered name.
I do keep names if I like them or feel indifferent. Both of my cats came with the names that they have. But if they were awful I would have changed them in a heartbeat.
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I do not believe it is bad luck at all. I like to call a horse by a name that I feel really suits them. Their personalities, their likes and dislikes, their behavior. I have kept some names, because they were fitting, I liked them, etc, but many times I have changed their name to something more fitting, or easier to yell across a pasture 
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I don’t think it’s bad luck, necessarily, but I would never change an animal’s name. That’s its name, you know?
I show Arabs/Half Arabs, so changing the registered/show name has never been an option, anyway, so maybe that’s where my perspective comes from. But my dog came with one of the most generic names EVER - Max - and I still didn’t change it. Just wouldn’t have felt right to me.
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Nope! I love changing their name to something I like, and suits them 
I wouldn’t ordinarily change an animal’s name - as @Montanas_Girl Girl points out, “It’s his name, you know?” - but I did change the name of a horse with a horrible background, just because I wanted to give him a whole new start with a clean slate.
This guy had come off a slaughter truck where he’d ended up because he was supposedly violent and “untrainable,” so I thought of the name change as part of his own witness protection program.
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I have never changed a name when a horse comes here. Not because it is bad luck, but just because I am not good at naming…
Bad luck, probably not.
I have changed a few barn names that I felt really didn’t fit or were demeaning, and have had a surprising number of horses come to me with no name at all. Those are fun because I can just wait until it comes to me, based on personality.
No
I have a fun story on changing a name. Years ago I had my mare in an Equine Affaire demonstration and lecture on acupuncture with Dr. Joyce Harman. AE organizers needed a horse for another session with Lydia Hiby, who wrote Conversations with Animals. So I volunteered us.
I bought this mare because I felt sorry for her and knew something was wrong. Went from vet to vet trying to figure it out and finally had a good dentist in her mouth and they found a fractured tooth. Once it was out she was a happy girl.
Do you know, Lydia Hiby tells me that my horse tells her I am the first person in a very long time that she calls out to (something like that) and how happy she was to be with me. AND, that she wants a different name and Lydia said she wanted something like Aurora or Ariel. That was it. In the moment she went from Murphy to Ariel.
So how’s that? Sometimes horses WANT a different name.
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I guess for me, my horses all have so many names. The registered name, the show name (if the registered name is bad) the barn name, the in trouble name, the joking name.
For instance the my new horse is Edward (in trouble) Eddie (everyday), house mouse ( when he is endearing), splotchy pony (goofy). His registered name is awful, so favored show name choice so far is “Eddie the Cruiser” (showing my age).
He has been Edward since birth, but I think he will end up being “mouse” , it suits his personality. Edward seems stiff and this guy is just cute and kind of shy and when he gets nervous his nose and ears twitch.
No, I think just like us, horses can change as they age. I also know a lot of horses got names an owner liked, the name never fit or the horse outgrew it.
I don’t think it’s bad luck, but I personally don’t like it. I wouldn’t hesitate to change the name if it was something offensive though.
That doesn’t stop me from coming up with about a million nicknames!
I think it’s awful NOT to change it if you don’t like the name. Why have a name you don’t like associated with an animal you want to love?
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I never change a horse’s name if I know it. A little bit because of superstition, but mostly just because I feel uncomfortable doing it. I guess I anthropomorphize too much, but animals learn their names. 
And registered names are “official,” I kind of feel like they should follow the animal for tracking purposes no matter how atrocious.
I’m so committed to this that I even had a horse who came with the name “Bus Stop.” Terrible, but that’s what I called her.
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Yes, it depends what name a new horse comes with, if any.
Lately most horses we bought had a good name, so we didn’t change it.
Years ago, they came without or with strange unsuitable names that were then changed.
Horses were fine with any name as soon as you mean it is them you are addressing.
Mine now know their name very well, come like a dog when you call.
Both came with nice names, already trained to respond to them, made the transition easier.
Who do you think would be sending the bad luck your way?
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No.
That said, I can’t think that I’ve changed a horse’s barn name. I never had a problem with the ones they came with.
But I changed all of their show names from their registered names. Because the registered names didn’t make much sense in the show context, plus I didn’t like them much.
i have adopted 9 horses from humane society’s rescue ranch. They all came-with rescue names, which, are ALWAYS changed from the place from which they were rescued. When i felt like it i changed that name…when i thought the name they came-with was good for them, it stuck.
Festus became Ollie. Fury became Robin. Pandora stayed Pandora. Midas stayed Midas. Buckshot became Castillo. Colton stayed Colton. Brenna stayed Brenna. Titus became Ben. Zeeb became Christine.
I feel that the only thing a domestic animal has of it’s very own is his/her name. So i kinda wish to leave it be for them when i can. But since these rescue horses already had recently had a name change, it wouldn’t be that jarring a change for them.
All of the horses that i have purchased from other people have kept their barn names. (and of course their registered names).
i love naming animals…it’s so fun. We have a sheep flock (only around 80 or so now) and every single one of them has a name. They know their names too…just like horses or dogs or cows do.
I have four brand new mustangs, and naming them/teaching them their names, is one of the very first things i do in the gentling process. Call their name, make eyecontact, produce a handful of alfalfa hay. Name=treat
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There used to be a rescue around here that changed the name of every horse they got in, even if they knew the name. I can understand wanting to distance the horse from a former life with abuse or neglect, but every single new name was cutesy to the point of throwing up. Things along the line of Boo Boo Honey Bear or Snuggly Smookums. I absolutely would have renamed anything from there again.
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I can’t say I really believe it’s bad luck, but I do prefer to kind of “morph” a name instead of come up with something totally different, if only to ease them into it.
Horrendous names are different- there was an IHSA horse in our region whose name was his auction number. Same place had “Paint Mare”… who was solid bay with a small belly patch 
I would not hesitate to rename those ones.
