Just bought a delightful, really well broke ranch horse for my husband.
He’s gray, with his dapples fading since he’s an 04 model.
He was sold without papers, and as a ‘grade Quarter Horse’.
He’s really attractive, very fancy to have no papers. A horse with looks, temperament and training like this would likely go for $15K or so at the Red Bluff Gelding Sale (but that sale only accepts registered AQHA or Paints, no breeding stock Paints either.)
He has a very Quarter Horse face and cheeks, and a very Quarter Horse chest/forearm. But he also has an extra long neck, an uphill build, and a hip that doesn’t really say Quarter Horse. He’s really smooth and floats when he trots…kind of like a warmblood…
His name is “Little Horse”. He is NOT little, he’s about 15.3 and 1350 pounds, wears a size two shoe.
I suspect that someone took a Quarter Horse mare to a warmblood stallion and ended up with something too small to market as a warmblood.
Anyway, he’s a real sweetheart and I think he needs a better name than Little Horse. He’s cowy and athletic and has some go, but also pretty even tempered and a bit sensitive under the good training.
Sterling
I’m a fan of gun names…
Ruger
Winchester
Remington
Buckshot
Hawkeye/Blackhawk/Hawk
…alcohol names…
Whiskey
Bourbon
Maker’s Mark
Guinness
Corona
Budweiser
…place names…
Amarillo
Denver
Dakota
Cody
…and classic Western names…
Wyatt
Hondo
Jesse James (JJ)
Clint
Pics are probably necessary…
[QUOTE=sirbeastmom;6365386]
…and classic Western names…
Wyatt
Hondo
Jesse James (JJ)
Clint
Pics are probably necessary…:D[/QUOTE]
:yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:
I love classic western names and we definitely need pics.
Where’s the pics?! Unacceptable.
There’s also always Widow Maker 
For a grey I like Remington, Dakota (Kota, Koty {said like cody})
What about Elliot…you know…like Sam.
Good looking quarter horse without papers?
First, I would watch for HYPP episodes, maybe test to rule that out.
For a man’s horse, you need a name a man can relate to and feel good saying it.
Winchester was a really nice big horse that was showing in the 70’s.
The ground shook when he came into the arena.
I always liked the name Hank.
Not to be Debbie Downer, but I’m with Bluey-- good looking QH type without papers-- I’d pull hair and run and HYPP test, and probably a PSSM test, as well. UC Davis does the HYPP test. http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/horse.php I think you still have to go through U of Minn for the PSSM test. http://www.cvm.umn.edu/umec/lab/Advances_in_PSSM/home.html
Both conditions are usually manageable, but better to manage up front than have a problem crop up down the road.
He sounds lovely and I hope he’s totally healthy, gives you many years and great rides and that he gets a good name. 
[QUOTE=spotnnotfarm;6365770]
I always liked the name Hank.[/QUOTE]
Me too, but in quarter horses, Hancock breeding comes thru and he may not be bred like that, if he is really good looking, other than in a handsome, rugged way.
I’ll third the suggestion to test for HYPP. I could see someone tossing the papers on a gelding that was out of known N/H lines.
How bout Trevor or Chaser
[QUOTE=BayRoan;6366064]
Not to be Debbie Downer, but I’m with Bluey-- good looking QH type without papers-- I’d pull hair and run and HYPP test, and probably a PSSM test, as well. UC Davis does the HYPP test. http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/horse.php I think you still have to go through U of Minn for the PSSM test. http://www.cvm.umn.edu/umec/lab/Advances_in_PSSM/home.html][/QUOTE]
Both tests can be done through Animal Genetics in Florida…both cheaper and quicker. www.animalgenetics.us
There are always the names from some great westerns:
Gus
Woodrow
Newt
Lamour (as in Louis L’Amour)
Hondo
etc…
Pictures!
How about some names related to Western shows?
Gunsmoke
Barkley
Cheyenne
Palladin
Dillon
Chester
Adam
Ben
Bodie
Eastwood
Nick
Stockton
Dodger (for Dodge City)
Jarrod
Heath
Maverick
PennyG
Waylon
Jennings
Drifter
J.R.
Houston
Cowboy
Buck
Branson
Nash
Steele
West
Weston
Ty
Stetson
Acme
Chuck
Looonnngggg weekend moving cattle, so I’ve been away from the computer.
I could pull hair and send in for some testing, but the horse was a ranch horse belonging to a friend of a friend…so they knew the horse and he’s not ever had any trouble being managed as a ranch horse (ridden long and hard days, turned out with the herd in a big barbed wire pasture, etc). He had no trouble this last week working for us, or for the last three years, so I probably won’t get to it. But yeah, thanks Bluey for the heads up, that is for sure a possibility on a nice QH without papers.
He’s also definitely got more the ruggedly handsome Hancock look than the ‘muscle with purdy’ Impressive look; I tend to think a roman nose is handsome rather than coarse or ugly! And he’s got BIG feet and lots of bone. And his hind leg conformation is pretty good, completely unlike the crooked pasterns/bowlegged Impressive thing. I still suspect he’s part warmblood from his looks and his floaty and very un-quarter horse trot, though he seems a lot more sensitive than most warmblood personalities I’ve known. For sure there’s some TB and some hot cowhorse in there, definitely tempered with what seems like ‘QH mellow’ rather than ‘warmblood mellow’, if that makes any sense at all. He knows he’s doing a job and helping you, and he participates to get it done, rather than just doing as he’s told. Really nice horse.
Love the Sterling name! And Winchester…I knew a neat Chester/Chet that passed away not too long ago. And Paladin, though he’s not so much warrior as very competent and likeable.
I was thinking through some Star Wars and Star Trek names, because he’s for sure a Jedi (though I don’t like Jedi as a name), and he is a lot like Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Not so much Captain Kirk, he’s not really the flashy one who gets the girl…
I do like the western theme names, though I’d be happy to entertain names from Shakespeare or other classic literature (or even Harry Potter, but the character that’s most like this horse is Molly Weasley and this horse is NOT a she!! Maybe one of the Aurors, though…). I’m really looking for a name that represents his personality, again he’s competent to mastery but not flashy or a prodigy, he’s definitely not a troubled soul, and both people and horses really seem to like him.
And yes, he is Mr. Fillabeana’s horse and needs a manly enough name.
I don’t really want to name him Buck…nothing like a good self-fulfilling prophecy! I knew a really special big, gray Stetson, so that name feels already taken.
It’ll be a bit before I can get a good pic- the camera is at the other ranch and you don’t want a pic from my phone- it might look like a gray bunny rabbit or a brahma cow, the phone camera is pretty bad.
But I WILL get to the pics, it just might be a couple of weeks.
He sounds all Hancock…
I look to Louis L’amour… Beaudry (not Bo, Beaudry) Hondo, Sackett, Ches, Chantry, Yance, Rafe, Runyon, Kane, Kin, Runyon…
Oh don’t freak her out about the HYPP, sure it could be but… I have seen tons of paperless quarterhorse types. Most for non-fishy reason, they get lost or just were not registered. I have a real nice looking mare that I got from a broker, said to be appendix bred but looks like a real nice quarter horse. No papers, no disease either. The broker just lost them, said sorry we had them when we bought her at auction now we don’t. Dropped the price to match a grade horse and off we went. Where we are people often buy the horse without papers, mostly english, trail riders, and ranchers. Registration is not really important in the english world unless you are into breeding. To show it dosn’t matter, you could enter anything really that could do the job. I even know some with pricy warmbloods that new ownrs never updated the papers on bc its a gelding and it didn’t matter too much to them. And many of the trail people and local ranchers don’t bother registering a gelding, they are more concerned about performance and it costs extra cash for a horse that you can’t breed anyway. The only reason papers really matter is for breed shows and breeding, which many people are not interested in. Good luck with your new pony!
[QUOTE=englishcowgirl;6370285]
Oh don’t freak her out about the HYPP, sure it could be but… I have seen tons of paperless quarterhorse types. Most for non-fishy reason, they get lost or just were not registered. I have a real nice looking mare that I got from a broker, said to be appendix bred but looks like a real nice quarter horse. No papers, no disease either. The broker just lost them, said sorry we had them when we bought her at auction now we don’t. Dropped the price to match a grade horse and off we went. Where we are people often buy the horse without papers, mostly english, trail riders, and ranchers. Registration is not really important in the english world unless you are into breeding. To show it dosn’t matter, you could enter anything really that could do the job. I even know some with pricy warmbloods that new ownrs never updated the papers on bc its a gelding and it didn’t matter too much to them. And many of the trail people and local ranchers don’t bother registering a gelding, they are more concerned about performance and it costs extra cash for a horse that you can’t breed anyway. The only reason papers really matter is for breed shows and breeding, which many people are not interested in. Good luck with your new pony![/QUOTE]
Some years ago, our neighbor needed an extra ranch horse and bought a beautiful gray soggy gelding thru a sale.
The papers were “lost”, they said.
Boy, was he proud of his good buy, he was a very nice horse.
Sadly, he was HYPP and could never do a day’s work without getting sick.
Registration certificates are important to know what your horse comes from and to be sure of it’s age.
May not matter to some, but when your horse of unknown history is either 15 or 25, it really matters a bit more.
Sure, there are many nice horses out there without papers, but it really cost the same to feed those with papers.
Oh don’t freak her out about the HYPP, sure it could be but…
Don’t worry, I’m not freaked out!
We spent last week moving cows up to the forest, and this horse really got put to work. His shortest ride was about 45 minutes, the longest about 8 hours. He can go up a rocky and downright scary steep hill no problem, he can sort off cows, he’s not fussed about the dog. We haven’t roped anything on him, but I have seen him rope/brand calves.
I still agree with Bluey, there are all sorts of nefarious reasons that a horse might not have papers. I did in fact pass on another fancy, unpapered, apparently competent gelding that had something about his backstory that smelled a little off.
But again, I’m not worried about this particular horse’s ability to work pretty darned hard as a ranch horse. And of course, there are plenty of good horses without papers, without any funny business at all. And as long as a person does their homework to make sure a horse is suitable for its proposed new job, there’s not a lot of reason not to buy a horse without papers.
Mr. Fillabeana had the camera in his pickup, so here are a few photos. He looks pure quarter horse in these photos, I couldn’t get a picture of his magical telescoping neck or his floaty trot, he’s pretty much too tired for that right now!
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii110/Buxombeefcowdairy/Gray%20gelding/
DH turned down Sterling…but likes Luke (as in JeanLuc or Cool Hand Luke).
He’s nice. And Luke is a great name.
