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

[yellowbritches]

Regarding DC’s guys names (and others), you should be able to register them with USEF and FEI and still have their breeding, listed. I know when I did Vernon’s reg with both, I took the time to fill in sire and dam, etc. I believe they also ask if the horse is registered with a breed (JC, in this case) and it’s registered name.

There is no reason you HAVE to keep an awful JC name (seriously? Would any of you really have wanted to keep “Go Senor Go”?), but not have their breeding listed. The people just have to do the teeny tiny extra work.

I know Tebogo Sporthorses tries to keep JC names, but they do change them sometimes. They do make a point of listing their horses’ JC names and including a link to their pedigreequery.com page, so you can look up their breeding. Now, this is a business big in promoting OTTBs, so, you would hope they would, but I don’t think you have to stick your horse with a horrible JC name for the rest of their lives and not honor their JC heritage. And, in the case of CANTER horses, you can always add the CMA prefix, even to their new and improved name. :yes:

[TBPONY]

Some of these names are really bad… and some are really funny! I love Lisamarie8’s story about meeting the person who foaled her horse after an eventful event. My horse’s JC name is Mel’s No Stocking. Strange, right? Well her sire was Meltheme and the dam was No Stocking. When I got her she went by the name “Mel” and everyone thought she was a gelding. Yikes. I quickly changed her barn name and 12 years later she is still the apple of my eye!

[Sedona]

I gave my current girl a new barn name. Her JC name is Kissing Santa, which I LOVE. But when I spoke to the adoption agency, they referred to her as Santa. Now I know that Santa really means Saint, but all I could picture was a fat, bearded old man in a red suit! My little girl is a refined type. The name didn’t suit her at least to me. So she walked off the trailer as Kiss. As far as any bad luck, we have had a great first year together with hopefully many more to come (knock on wood!).

The only thing I did realize when I changed her name is that my little “family” consists of me, a K name, my dog, Kael, and Kiss. One year we are sending out Christmas cards wishing a Merry Christmas from the… Well you get my drift!

[TheJenners]

Oh heck yeah I changed my horse’s name! He wasn’t registered (yet), and his barn name was “Tahoe.” Having known a couple Paint mares named Tahoe, I wasn’t really interested in keeping it, plus he didn’t know it anyways, so I didn’t even stress finding something that rhymed. I did some searching for Irish names, and posted on FB for ideas, which is ultimately what helped. Now he’s a Rory. Registered name is a nod to his imported sire and that is that.

I have changed lots of barn names. Had one lovely TB come in named “Coyote.” It’s cute, and honestly I would have kept it, but the BO hated it, so we came up with “Brodie.” That’s the only one I can come up with at the mo’, but none of the horses have come to a bad end.

No superstitions for me…I was kinda surprised there are any to begin with.

[eventer_mi]

Meadow36 - I LOVE that name! I think you should go for it!

Divine Comedy - I’ve been meaning to tell you for years how much I love your horse’s name, both barn and show. I’m an English teacher, so all my babies are named after literary allusions, or the like.

I’m a big fan of naming them something that reflects their personality. I really, truly tried to keep Oliver’s registered name (he’s registered Oldenburg) - Olezka, because it means “holy” and I think that’s so pretty, but every. single. time. the announcer would butcher it and call him “Ola-zek-a” and I would cringe. He is now shown under the name of “Benvolio”, because, like the character, he is sweet and always trying to keep the peace, no matter what.

[Hawks_Nest]

I never really bother to change show names, yeah they might not be the prettiest but it keeps things congruent.

On the other hand, Skyline seems to be becoming ‘Pony’ simply because Skyline is a bit of a mouth full and I don’t want to make anything up that is more official so he is Pony until further notice. Thankfully Pony suits him since he is like an overgrown Pony with way to much personality.

[frugalannie]

Oh yes, I’ve changed names. While I can’t say what that has done to the luck, but it’s made me happier! First example: plain bay mare on the track came with the name Golden Bangle. Really? What does one do with that? She became Jane, and she knows her name well. Next was a chestnut mare JC name Tap Rabbit. OUCH! She became TR, then True, which suited her. Then there was the mare I bought in Canada that came with the name Ashton Cryolite Lovely mare, but no announcer could pronounce her name, so she became Anastasia (which suited her, too, since she thought she was visiting royalty).

But my one eventing superstition is that any braiding elastics that remain on my fingers after I’ve braided for the event must stay on until the event is over. It’s a good thing I don’t keep them in my mouth like some people I’ve seen!:lol:

[angelssix]

I am reopening the thread because I am purchasing an OTTB who has a HORRIBLE name! His registered JC name is Not Good News and they call him Mischief at the barn. I hate both names. He chipped on his first breeze, so he never raced. I need to come up with something way better than his current name, however. [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Not Good News resized.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10618572}[/ATTACH]

[OverandOnward]

My OTTB gelding’s registered name is on a par with your one’s, and will never be spoken again. :winkgrin: It’s not tasteless or anything, it’s just negative.

His old barn name is fine, so he still has that, but he definitely has a new , forward-looking optimistic show name.

Same with my last horse. Was fine with the old barn name, but he got a new show name. His registered name was unpronounceable by most announcers and I just didn’t want to deal with it.

I‘m with those who posted back in 2012 that the name needs to suit you both. And that a change can mark a new beginning.

[Jenerationx]

A woman I boarded with years ago had family in Australia who went to look at an OTTB there. His registered name was Naked. Can you imagine that in a show? “Now on course, so and so riding Naked.”

[angelssix]

@Jenerationx

A woman I boarded with years ago had family in Australia who went to look at an OTTB there. His registered name was Naked. Can you imagine that in a show? “Now on course, so and so riding Naked.”

Well, that might get lots of attention, LOL!!

[ClassyJumper]

@angelssix

I am reopening the thread because I am purchasing an OTTB who has a HORRIBLE name! His registered JC name is Not Good News and they call him Mischief at the barn. I hate both names. He chipped on his first breeze, so he never raced. I need to come up with something way better than his current name, however. [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Not Good News resized.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10618572}[/ATTACH]

How about Good News and barn name Chief? I usually like to keep names but when I really hate them I try to just modify a bit.

[angelssix]

@ClassyJumper

How about Good News and barn name Chief? I usually like to keep names but when I really hate them I try to just modify a bit.

I am calling him Chief!

I wanted to actually change his name on the JC papers to coincide with TIP and USDF registrations, but the prior two owners have refused to hand over any papers, which means they do not have them. I cannot change his name without them at least turning in the foal registration certificate stamped “sold as retired”. The girl that runs the program has made millions off these horses and she is fussing about something so small it’s ridiculous. I do understand why they won’t turn over papers. The JC should be allowed to do a re-issue of non-racing papers to someone who wants to rename a TB. He never raced. The whole thing has me pissed off right now.:mad:

[xeroxchick]

I once got this kinda rough Appaloosa for $500 that would take off with you, had a really hard mouth and would jig jig jig. The name he came with was “Whisper.” So I changed it to “Christopher” and he just thought I had a speech impediment. He was a bruiser.
Knew a lady who had a young horse named “Solo” and he was just that, a solo act. Not good. I’m superstitious about names like that.

[angelssix]

@xeroxchick

I once got this kinda rough Appaloosa for $500 that would take off with you, had a really hard mouth and would jig jig jig. The name he came with was “Whisper.” So I changed it to “Christopher” and he just thought I had a speech impediment. He was a bruiser.
Knew a lady who had a young horse named “Solo” and he was just that, a solo act. Not good. I’m superstitious about names like that.

I tried to explain to the prior owners why I wanted to change his name. I am superstitious as well when it comes to that sort of thing. UGH!!

[SinMiedo]

One of my favorite lesson horses ever had the unfortunate JC name of Due Elk. No surprise he was a bust at the track with a name that conjures the image of full term cervine pregnancy! 😂 He had a number 6 freeze branded on his neck for some reason, so Six he was and it was a vast improvement.

[jumpsnake]

My first OTTB years and a lifetime ago had the JC name Willing Star. Blech!! Previous owner had
changed it to Has To Be Grey, also dumb but better at least.

[Sleipnir]

I am in care for a gelding whose name was Mouse. He was terribly sickly, weak, had sweet itch, chronic lameness and, at a point, his owners considered putting him down. Then their teenage daughter decided on renaming him and renamed him Spartacus. Since then, he’s made a TERRIFIC recovery, and, although he’ll never be ridden, he’s field sound, no sweet itch to be seen, much more confident and playful as ever before. His vets and bodyworkers all call him “a miracle” and I have to agree. Not superstitious in the least, but, in the case of Spartacus, changing his name somehow fell in line with him starting to feel MUCH better in this life.

[streamline]

My SO is superstitious about it! I didn’t know that was a thing! We got a horse named Amarillo recently and I wanted to call him George. I was shot down.

The only name I’ve changed was my failed racehorses name, was La Purga. Changed it to Vargo and I call him Vinny. Our three other horses have their original names.

[BayBondGirl]

I will always change a name if I don’t like it, since I’m the one who has to forever refer to them/think of them by their name lol.

First gelding was JC registered as Malmo’s Hope (by Malmo out of a mare called Truth and Light or something, yikes) and came to me as Chester. By the time I finally brought him home, everyone knew him as Chester so I couldn’t change it, but always hated it. And yes he was chestnut, UGH lol. Showed him as “Winchester” as it sounded at least semi-classy. I think his old EC passport had him registered as Good Friday though… I just never acknowledged it as I didn’t show at levels requiring a passport. Definitely would have changed it if I had!

Current mare came to me as Wednesday, I refused to acknowledge her name to anyone (how do you shorten that into a nickname?!) and had in my calendar written down “pick up new mare” when I went to fetch her. Immediately changed it to Vesper and shows under Queen V (a play off queen bee, which she is). Vet still has her as “Vesper-Wednesday” which forever makes me cringe.