How many of you created a show name that you are really proud of?

[Another-Bay]

Since I am not a horse owner now, I have this running list of possible barn and show names on my phone for when the day comes.

I always love when a name has sentimental value / a story. What are ones that you guys have created that you are especially proud of? I would love to hear your stories.

I rode a horse growing up whose show name was “Finally”, owned by an older amateur. I always loved this name because she worked so hard and long for that horse.

A few of my more strange ones -
Barn names - Eli, Nugget, Waldo
Show names - Supernovae, Resolute, Armstrong, Astral

[Calzini16]

Third Times A Charm - This was the show name for an OTTB, grand son (or great grandson, can’t remember) of Secretariat who went from the track to a HJ trainer who couldn’t get along with him and claimed he needed to be put down because he was “crazy”. I basically saved his life and he turned out to be a great little horse! Wish I knew where he was now though… He was a project that I sold to an event rider.

[Another-Bay]

@Calzini16

Third Times A Charm - This was the show name for an OTTB, grand son (or great grandson, can’t remember) of Secretariat who went from the track to a HJ trainer who couldn’t get along with him and claimed he needed to be put down because he was “crazy”. I basically saved his life and he turned out to be a great little horse! Wish I knew where he was now though… He was a project that I sold to an event rider.

Very cute! Sad you lost touch with him, but maybe one day he will find his way back into your life.

[Toblersmom]

I saw an ad for a POA once, I’m not sure what the proper term for her pattern was, but looked like a dark strawberry roan with a whole lot of larger white "birdcatcher " spots. Her name was “Randrops on Roses.”

[ohmylivia]

My guy came to me with his barn name Frankie, but no show name.
We thought up a million different ideas around Frank Sinatra, Frankie Vallie, etc. but after getting to know him for a while, we settled on To Be Frank for his show name. He’s such an honest, straightforward, kind ride and it fits him perfectly! I love hearing the announcer say it- it’s almost like a little reminder to trust my horse when I go in the ring.

[EmilyM]

Ordained-sadly my mother told her friend who was breeding the same year and she used that name too.

Indelible

Prestige

Vixen

[Arelle]

I had an OTTB at one time who had a little bit of a 'tude; named him “Frankly My Dear”.

I really enjoy a few of the APHA names I’ve come up with over the years (which double as their show names). I was friends with a stallion owner whose offspring all had “Big” in their names - I suggested “Big Shoes to Fill” and “What’s the Big Idea” - both of which were later used. I always thought “Ambiguity” would’ve been a good, one word name - but the stallion has since passed.

I have a yearling currently who is by a AQHA sire name Nite Moves and out of my Sonny Dee Bar mare - I was pleased as pie when I got my first name choice for her: “Nite at Dee Bar”.

I had a resell POA back in 2011 who was black with roaning with more white along her butt/back like an Appaloosa. USEF permanent pony card was “Demitasse”, which means “a black coffee that is served in a small cup”. I though I was pretty clever. :lol:

[KBC]

My favourite was one my son came up with. I bought an Appaloosa, we were discussing names, and son popped up with Appy Gilmore, perfect.

[pony4me]

I was well into my 40’s when I bought a large pony to ride and show. I never had a pony when I was a kid, and was not able to ride much at all. Pony’s show name was Second Childhood.

[Foxglove]

Favorite name (racehorse) World War Juan --my now adult kid named her eventer Hugh Jackman --every cross country announcer has said a version of the same thing: “Next [daughter name] astride Hugh Jackman --something we’d all like to do.” And worst name: Pot Roast. I mean, seriously? Who would do that! But there he was --poor Pot Roast --fancy halter plate and all.

[NoSuchPerson]

During a spell of really nice winter weather, I started sneaking out of the office in the afternoon to ride my new horse. Coworkers teased me about sneaking off to have a little “afternoon delight.” So, when we went to our first show together, I showed him under the name “Afternoon Delight.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu1UXCdyNo0

[King_Creole]

The one I’m most proud of is my OTTB Chance.

I made the deal to get him when I was 14 by trading a pony I had for him. So we went pick him up, sight unseen, and he was in rough shape. They called him “Slim” and there was NO WAY I was keeping that name. I brainstormed on the way back home and decided to call him Chance since I was taking a huge one on him.

His JC name is Moments Work. I tweaked it to A Moments Worth b/c he was (and still is) worth every moment.

My trainer/BO is really great at coming up with names. We recently lost two horses in a week. The school horse she lost was Major Addition (QH). The new horse we got that we hope will replace him came from a friend whose barn is Time and Again Farm.

His show name will be Timely Addition as an homage to Major and the farm he came from.

[Quinn]

I think my favourite one was a superb Rio Grande baby I had bred. He was a little bit of a handful when he was very young and I named him, “Blame it on Rio.”

[Brutus614]

When I bought my horse last year, I renamed him to Niko and show him as All I Need. Very sentimental for me after my previous horse didn’t work out and I was heartbroken. Niko has totally changed my riding life and is a horse of a lifetime for me <3

[Jealoushe]

One of the best ones I ever saw was “Home Run”, barn name, Homer. I love names that connect from barn to show name.

[KBC]

@NoSuchPerson

During a spell of really nice winter weather, I started sneaking out of the office in the afternoon to ride my new horse. Coworkers teased me about sneaking off to have a little “afternoon delight.” So, when we went to our first show together, I showed him under the name “Afternoon Delight.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu1UXCdyNo0

Great, now i’m Going to be singing that all day, and going straight back to those wonderful days…

Great name

[DiamondJubilee]

All of our ponies have to (or I like them to) have Cat in them as their sire is Rosedale Top Cat. We also do carriage driving so I like them to be car themed or driving related at least.

I have a Ducati and Jaguar (not cat in that name, but at least its a cat lol!), and I just purchased from a friend a Staccato (aka Taco) and though its not a car name, I just love it and couldnt change it. Who doesnt want a Taco in their barn!

I’ve also had a Catillac and my next pony will either be Artic Cat or Tiger Cat (one a snowmobile and the other an older car model).

I had to have one pony with Blue in his name (by Jackets Classical Blue) and I called him Blue Corvette (as in Prince’s Red Corvette), but I have sold him on.

Its hard to think of these names lol!

[beowulf]

As a 15 y/o I was given a TB that flipped in the gate and was disbarred from all race-tracks in NY. He was 2 and if I remember correctly, my parents were tipped by him from someone from COTH. He didn’t have an actual barn name, they would call him ‘the spooky one’ when referring to him directly. His JC name was Watral’s Nat Star.

Wasn’t going to keep that, so showed him under “The Spooky Pony” as a homage to his racing days. He ended up being very reliable and not spooky at all, but his first four years with me were incredibly trying in every way. He bucked me off so many times I’m amazed my parents didn’t haul him off, and I got more than one Alpo speech about him from trainers… flunked a few clinics and horroshowed plenty of BNTs… he even bucked off a BNT that I was a W/S for… except for one, who stuck with me through thick and thin so we could realize our potential… so he made his new debut as an eventer under the name ‘Invictus’, because both he and I managed to claw our way to competing despite all shortcomings. :winkgrin:

[Huntin_Pony]

On the west coast years ago, there was an Appy with a dark coat and a sparse blanket of white dots. His name was “Paris After Dark.” Always loved that one!

I have a friend now with a similar-looking Appy that is a Stonewall horse. Maybe the west coast one was too.

[ParadoxFarm]

Okay, I have a list of names that I’ve kept for years too. However, whenever I get a new horse, I go through the list, and nothing sticks!

Here’s a totally nonsensical one. I have a Appy/Trakhe cross. When I first got him, he was my fifth horse, so for a short while we were calling him Cinco. Well, eventually that changed to a barn name of Chico. I had not shown him yet. When I showed him, however, for fun we named him Chico de Mayo. Makes no sense without the back story, I know. But it was kind of funny to hear nine out of ten announcers call him Cinco de Mayo even though it was written as Chico de Mayo.

And then there’s my poor latest TB. I keep his JC name for showing, but a barn name never really stuck, so we call him The Big Guy (TBG in written form). (Though when naughty, he’s the Grinch.)