I’m buying a new horse and realized she doesn’t have a barn name…show name is Without a Shadow. I want something really clever and unique (I like names like Cassio, Khaleesi, Serenity and not so much names like Shadow, Spirit, Whiskey…not that there’s anything bad with those names and they go with many horses I just like more unique names that people don’t hear much on a horse) She’s a big dark bay and has a gentle disposition.
How does she not have a barn name? What is she called at the moment, must be something.
Dark bay, Without a Shadow? has to be something to do with darkness…
In Old English there were three words that could mean darkness: heolstor, genip, and sceadu.
Xena Warrior Princess
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I’m assuming you want a feminine name.
Saraphina, Fiona, Kate, Sybelle, Belle or Bella, Sierra, Phylledra, Jazz, Monet, Velvet, Autumn, Garbo, Monroe, Pandora, Athena, Gaia,
Babe is a cute girly name, but there are a lot of Babe’s. It’s pretty common.
Get her home & let her show you who she is.
Barn name is a “pet name” & will come to you as you handle/interact with her.
My Hackney Pony was a terror when I first got him home so his show name is Japanese for Pony from Hell.
Part of that - Kouma (means Pony) - became his barn name.
WB was registered Jaybee Altair, but I gave him the barn name Sam (for my Dad) & show name Don’t Tell Me! < for a favorite phrase of Dad’s
TWH was called Harley when I got him, so barn name already in place - I gave him the show name of He’s My Harley.
Mini was registerable as Windfyre’s Missing in Action but I changed that to Wascally Wabbit (he’s dark bay with roaning & ears are lined in white). Barn name: Bugs.
Seems that our horses came with their own names already installed.
Can you ask what her barn name was, see if you can live with it, or gives you the unique name off that one you are looking for?
We had horses named after who sold them, after the city/state they came from, etc.
I second giving this some time, see if a name comes naturally from handling her.
Sounds like you have a nice one there, being gentle is always a plus.
If you take a while, and listen closely, she will tell you her name.
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Names can be a forebearer of what is to come. We bought a long yearling at an English pleasure horse farm… horse was named Foxie which is often used in reference to smart cattle horses. Foxie actually was a great western horse, never did any English other than hunter
Then we named our farm Sanctuary thinking we were providing a safe place for our kids to grow up … which they did… but now the Sanctuary is a heaven for their horses who are still alive and kicking and eating (one pony is well over forty years old)
Besides being careful in naming do not even think about promising to your daughter’s horse that if he would take care of daughter child I would take care of him in his retirement years …which is now over half way through his second decade
She’s just come off the track, so the trainer that got her has only had her a little while and kept it as her JC reg name.
You could possibly play off of these to come up with a name - things that don’t (or sometimes don’t) cast a shadow:
Pennywise from IT
Peter Pan after his is stolen
Vampires in certain literature/shows/movies
Anything at high Noon
Fire/flames
I too like unique names but I let the animal choose what they will respond to and sometimes it’s something we might think is just stupid. But if it’s what they respond to so be it. I had a cat that I could not figure out what his name was. I tried all kinds of unusual and witty names and he never responded to any one them. In fact, I got quite a few crusty looks. One day the name Ned just popped in my head, I called him Ned and he came right over. That was his name and forget all those other clever ones.
Just out of the blue try Annie on her. I know it’s not what you want, but it just came to me after I re-read your description of her.
ordinarily they are named after the sire in the racing barn, so the trainer wont say ‘go bring in the dark bay filly’ as there are probably 50 of them. But ‘go bring in the bay Omnicorp filly’
In NZ they dont get racing names until they are registered to race, so go to jump outs under the sires name too.
So in my experience working in racing barns, she is probably named after her sire, and it might be shortened. We had a lot of random names too, like pebbles, and bam-bam, but everyone knew the sires.
A vampire casts no shadow, and these days there are a lot of vampire stories to pull a name from.
Since you mentioned Serenity, how about Kaylee, River, Zoe or Inara.
Without a shadow= without a doubt=NO Doubt= Gwen Stephani= Gwen!!!
So many nice names but we decided on a name for her! Saaya, pronounced (sye-uh) it means shadow in hindi. 
Thanks for all the help you guys, you had some really nice suggestions!
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LOL, how literally do you mean that?
Had a foal born here, to a very protective momma, who I called Daisy…until a couple of hours later when I found out he was in fact a Duke…Only every time I got near him I could hear Stewie, in my head, as clear as it being spoken…Stewie he was from that day on.
Happened one more time a mare we bought called Gracie, same name all her life, but every time I got near her it was like i could hear someone shouting Gloria…I didn’t like that, so told her she would have to stay a Gracie.
:lol: buahahaha that is hilarious.
:lol::lol::lol::lol:
