Is it bad luck to change a new horse's name? And other superstitions .....

[yellowbritches]

[QUOTE=deltawave;6726678]
I refuse to acknowledge superstitions. It is very liberating. And doing “unlucky” things has never, in my observation, changed the course of events in any meaningful way that I can perceive.

So do what you like–we are slaves to too many of these silly mental hangups, IMO. :)[/QUOTE]
I don’t know, dw…I have a bit of a superstition about introducing new-to-me equipment to the ground before I use it, especially before competing in it it. This year, I fell off twice in competition, both times while using new-to-me saddles…neither of which I introduced to the ground first!

[JWB]

I’m on the fence with keeping my new mare’s JC name for shows or using something different. Her name is Money Holder. I don’t love it but it is growing on me and I do want to be respectful of her breeder! Not so much a superstition as a moral dilemma.

I do have a superstition about not using new equipment at shows. Every saddle pad, set of horse boots, whip, whatever must be broken in first.

[RiverBendPol]

I’ve changed names. Can’t tell if my troubles have come from that ;-). I never use anything new in competition. My daughter refuses to put a name plate on her halters. I wear a 4-leaf clover in my arm band-not sure THAT has ever done me any good either…

[monstrpony]

I changed Samantha’s name shortly after I got her, and things started to go downhill. I changed it back, and the rest of her career went reasonably well. Lucky, on the other hand … turns out there was a good reason he was named Lucky, so I didn’t change it. His life had some good points, but a lot of it was just one long string of, well, bad luck. Go figure.

[deltawave]

[QUOTE=yellowbritches;6727528]
I don’t know, dw…I have a bit of a superstition about introducing new-to-me equipment to the ground before I use it, especially before competing in it it. This year, I fell off twice in competition, both times while using new-to-me saddles…neither of which I introduced to the ground first! :D[/QUOTE]

If the saddle stayed upright and you didn’t, why would it matter?

I get it that this is mostly funny, but truly, ditching the superstitions is not that hard and very liberating. The only one I had left after shucking a lifetime’s worth was never wearing NY Giants gear on game day. Well, my team went to the Super Bowl last year and I went too, and I was NOT going to be a fan with no game gear on. I dressed from HEAD TO TOE in Giants gear. And we won. Superstition defeated.

[yellowbritches]

[QUOTE=deltawave;6727680]
If the saddle stayed upright and you didn’t, why would it matter?

I get it that this is mostly funny, but truly, ditching the superstitions is not that hard and very liberating. The only one I had left after shucking a lifetime’s worth was never wearing NY Giants gear on game day. Well, my team went to the Super Bowl last year and I went too, and I was NOT going to be a fan with no game gear on. I dressed from HEAD TO TOE in Giants gear. And we won. Superstition defeated. :D[/QUOTE]
I know, I know…it’s mostly just for fun, and, really, I feel because my horse jumped poorly and I couldn’t stick it. Nothing to do with the saddle. What I needed was more sticky spray…Stephen Bradley told me to spray Toby’s neck after I couldn’t cling on through the finish flags after the second fall. :lol:

[Meadow36]

[QUOTE=monstrpony;6727658]
I changed Samantha’s name shortly after I got her, and things started to go downhill. I changed it back, and the rest of her career went reasonably well. Lucky, on the other hand … turns out there was a good reason he was named Lucky, so I didn’t change it. His life had some good points, but a lot of it was just one long string of, well, bad luck. Go figure.[/QUOTE]

Ugh, “Lucky” is the worst name for a horse! All the “Lucky”‘s that I’ve known have had horrible luck!! There was a racehorse trained by Bob Baffert a few years ago named "Lookin’ at Lucky". Super talented, probably the best 3 year old in that crop. Well, he lost several big races (including the KY Derby) due to terrible traffic problems. He should’ve been much more prominent then he was, but finished second one too many times.

So for new mare I’m thinking of:
New name: Mad About You
Barn name: Maddie

What do you think?

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I have bad luck regardless of whether I rename them or not That’s horses!

But If I can tollerate their JC name, I keep that for showing. Of my current 4 JC regeistered horses…one I showed under her barn name (which was part of her JC name). Two, I have and will show under their JC names. And the newest one…was such a terrible name I changed it before I even picked him up! JC name…Blame it on Bush. I did NOT want him to end up with the barn name Bushie So I call him Porter. Will probably show him under his barn name.

[jai65]

We try to keep the registered names a horse comes with. But there are a couple that needed new names. My daughter will never use her Arabs’ reg name, but since she competes in dressage with him and not at breed shows its not a big deal. My sons’ OTTB is named Tamayaz Gal. Calling her Gal was out of the question for him, so she became a Taz. My OTTB came to us with the nick name of Laddie. His reg name is Royal Lad. Since the stinker bombed out in the breeding shed before he was gelded and given to us, my son wanted him to have a more masculine name, so he became Roy.

[Lisamarie8]

[QUOTE=JER;6726370]

When it comes to OTTBs, however, I always keep their JC name as a show name. This way, people can find out the horse’s breeding very easily. If we are going to value the TB, we should also honor their heritage.[/QUOTE]

@Heinz 57;6727892

I agree with this. I have no problem changing barn names or nicknames.

What they said, but longer

I came off of XC at Waredaca one day and a woman came up to me and said “What is that horse’s breeding? Is he a OTTB?” I said yes, and told her his breeding. It turns out she FOALED him! She saw his stadium, heard his name announced and said “HOLY CRAP! That can’t be the SAME lookndownthebarrrel I foaled, he’s too quiet!” (Woody is typically a pretty solid citizen once we pick up a canter in the SJ ring).

She THEN told me that when she saw his Lord of the Dance/Spanish Riding School Graduate impersonation before XC :eek:she said “Yup, that has to be him.”

We spoke for a long time. She said Sir Woods just came out quirky. Never had a mean bone in his body, always tried SO HARD TO PLEASE, but he was always spooky and flamboyant… you know, “speshul.”

I can’t tell you how grateful I was to have the information. I am someone who ran EVERY test known to man to make sure there wasn’t a physical reason for his behavior. To meet someone who could tell me that it was just “how he rolled” seriously made me take a deep breath of relief.

That’s a long story just to say I’m a fan of keeping their name if you can stand it, if for no other reason that stuff like that. And let me tell you Lookndownthebarrel, while at times very much what it feels like to be riding him, is no bucketfull of awesome.

[Heinz_57]

[QUOTE=JER;6726370]
When it comes to OTTBs, however, I always keep their JC name as a show name. This way, people can find out the horse’s breeding very easily. If we are going to value the TB, we should also honor their heritage.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. I have no problem changing barn names or nicknames.

[Lisamarie8]

[QUOTE=JER;6726370]

When it comes to OTTBs, however, I always keep their JC name as a show name. This way, people can find out the horse’s breeding very easily. If we are going to value the TB, we should also honor their heritage.[/QUOTE]

@Heinz 57;6727892

I agree with this. I have no problem changing barn names or nicknames.

what they said…but longer

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=Lisamarie8;6727883]
Lookndownthebarrel, while at times very much what it feels like to be riding him, is no bucketfull of awesome.[/QUOTE]

I actually like the name…and would have kept it as well. It has to be pretty bad for me to change.

[Lisamarie8]

Me Too BFNE; I actually love the name. And not just because, considering his parents, I think it’s super funny (Down The Aisle and Shot Gun Kathy).

You know who I bet doesn’t love it? Organizers. Especially now that I added CMA as a prefix. Talk about screwing up the formatting on your times/entry status spreadsheet Sorry guys! As an excel/formatting nerd, I genuinely mean that.

[purplnurpl]

same here with keeping the JC name. I get frustrated when I try to look up other horses and can’t because their names have been changed.

I HATE my new OTTBs JC name. You guys will probably love it.
[B]Dont Jack with Me

[/B]I’m a bit of a dressage Nazi and the last thing I want is a horse with that attitude.
Plus (thankfully) he is the EXACT opposite. He’s a huge pushover and gets his butt kicked in the pasture.
My weanling puffed up and charged at him at their first meeting–he turned around and ran.

He’s Oklahoma bred. And he’s very compliant. So I call him Okie Dokie. or OK (pronounced Oak).

[B]now, for competition I don’t mind him saying “Dont Jack with Me” to competitors. But that just puts major pressure on me because with that name he better win!

[/B]***Also, I’m afraid of bringing bad luck by changing his name for rec competition.
So it’s been fun reading this thread.

Also, I kind of changed Boomer’s name. He was not named or JC reg when I bought him. He went through many names before ending up Kaboom. I should have named him Fast Fix. It went with his JC pedigree and also, he was just that. He was a last minute trade on the horse I had originally purchased.
His rents were Fast Forward and Marketing Mix.
Maybe if I had kept the first name I gave him (Share the Air) or named him Fast Fix he would have had self preservation skills in turn out. ??
The world will never know.

[purplnurpl]

concerning Divine Comedy.
It would be really nice to have him in the USEF database as Aiken Pike.

I was looking at Jet Phone last year as a breeding stallion but his lineage doesn’t have anything that has shown up in sport records. So he was considered a risk for breeding.

Though when I just looked up Aiken Pike he has Phone Trick right up there on top.
So the Trick line might be cool line…

I have to say what an odd name to give him. Especially with his dam being Madam Bear. You would have thought that someone could have come up with something super cute!!

I think Aiken Pike is kinda cool though.

here is Jet Phone.
http://www.valorfarm.com/jet_phone.html

[GutsNGlory]

I am not superstitious about changing names, but I personally prefer not to change them.

Now, I have changed barn names in the past… but that is a little different to me. A barn name is a “nickname” for a horse that is usually given out of affection (although sometimes not ;)) and with the horse’s personality in mind. For example, my sister’s old reining horse came with the barn name “Digger.” And we couldn’t even quite figure out why… It had nothing to do with his registered name & he was not a digger or pawer. He was only 3 at the time, so we changed it to a shortened version of his FQH registered name and he lived out his life happily being called that name (plus a variety of other nicknames as often is the case!) until he was laid to rest at our farm last year.

I guess I just feel that a horse’s registered name is just that - a registry name. I don’t think it has to fit their personality or even sound nice. Heck, I gave my boy his registered name and don’t even like it. It gets botched by announcers, it doesn’t match who my horse is, etc. BUT I had to have a name starting with the letter year for his registry (BWP) and the neighbor who helped foal him just happened to have a French last name starting with that letter. Voila! His barn name does fit him (although sometimes it has to be explained to people first :lol:) and that is what he goes by 99% of the time, so that’s good enough for me!

If it makes you feel less superstitious, just think about all of the animals (such as dogs & cats) that get adopted from shelters and get instant name changes. Is it bad luck for those animals/owners to change a randomly assigned name given at intake? :winkgrin:

[Divine_Comedy]

[QUOTE=purplnurpl;6728028]
concerning Divine Comedy.
It would be really nice to have him in the USEF database as Aiken Pike.

I was looking at Jet Phone last year as a breeding stallion but his lineage doesn’t have anything that has shown up in sport records. So he was considered a risk for breeding.

Though when I just looked up Aiken Pike he has Phone Trick right up there on top.
So the Trick line might be cool line…

I have to say what an odd name to give him. Especially with his dam being Madam Bear. You would have thought that someone could have come up with something super cute!!

I think Aiken Pike is kinda cool though.

here is Jet Phone.
http://www.valorfarm.com/jet_phone.html[/QUOTE]

He was named Aiken Pike because…drumroll…he was born on Aiken Pike in Lexington, KY. I was driving around there a few years ago and got a kick out of passing Aiken Pike.

It’s not a bad name. It’s pretty good so far as JC names go. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t love it either. I’d literally had a list of hundred of names I always thought would be good for horses. So I was pretty set on naming him myself.

If he’d had a ‘cute’ name, I definitely would have changed it. IMO, cute is for ponies. He has a half sister named Goldilocks Bear. Ugh.

I don’t know much about the Phone Trick line for horses. Mine certainly has a good brain, decent enough mover, is athletic enough for Advanced, and is sound as a rock, other than his shi**y feet, which have caused me much consternation. He does look almost identical to his sire Mazel Trick, including markings. I’m not sure I’d go after Mazel Trick babies again, considering the state of this one’s feet…although I feel it could be managed better with advanced knowledge of their tendencies. Phone Trick lines though, you’d have to ask experts on the forum about.

I have never been able to dig up any information on his broodie sire, Dreadnought. Google gets me nowhere.

Having said that, if I could pick up his half-nephew Mazel Monarch, I probably would. Although he’s a 2005 model, so a bit older than I’d like. Same sire as Dante, but he’s out of Dante’s older half-sister, Goldilocks Bear. I’d be curious to see what his mind is like.

If I can put his JC name in the USEF registry as well, I have no issue with that. Just not sure if I can. I did update Pedigree Query under his JC name to state that I was the owner, he was eventing, and I was showing him under the name Divine Comedy. If his breeder wants to track him down, he could. Probably just Googling “Aiken Pike” would find him.

For the record, trying to change the name of a horse with an FEI passport costs $$$, plus once they have an FEI passport, I always feel as if there’s street cred. So I’d never change the name of a horse who had competed FEI.

[gr8fulrider]

I started a thread on the same topic when I bought my OTTB this past summer and the best advice I got was to do whatever made me happy and not to worry because event people aren’t uptight about such things.

I ended up sticking with her JC name but only because I’d already gotten kind of used to it and liked it better than when I first heard it.

Have fun. You’re writing the checks; you pick the name.

[RiverBendPol]

My OTTB’s JC name is Too Many Numbers. Ya, it shows off his parentage (Numerous~Lady Trilogy) but to hear that over the loudspeaker? No thanks.

My daughter’s OTTB’s JC name is Diggin’ on Doug-slightly awkward when she’s in the warm-up with Doug Payne