Changing a horse's name ...... yes or no?

[Auslander]

All our gremlins have had their names changed! Timmy Tiptoes is now Ivan the Terrible, Hunca Munca is now Duncan the Despicable, and Ash is now Willy One Eye (NOT my choice!)
I think Ivan would have been a monster even if I'd kept his original name - and the other two are angelic!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I haven't changed any that have come to us. I give our youngsters stupid names which they grow out of and get their proper names as 4yo's. In theory. The latest 2 were Gummy Bear who has now grown into her proper name of Callisto and Dum Dum who is Retrojet but given that he is just a yearling he will stay Dum Dum for a while yet! If not forever because I hate the name Retrojet...

The racehorses are mostly given stable names that are part of their racing names as it confuses Scu too much otherwise. Obviously some youngsters come in unnamed and we give them stable names, usually along the lines of their parents which will then have nothing to do with their racing names. A few of the good ones over the years have been Starboard Bow who I named Skipper. We already had a Star and a Beau so by a twisted route I named him Skipper (starboard bow of a ship, a ships captian is also known as a Skipper) then you have Cockle Bay who I named Dickie. He actually really suits the name because he is an all round Nice chap! Obviously Big Midnight became Midnight as his father is Midnight Legend and he didn't have a racing name when he came. He is now Grand Morning so it all still works, kind of.

A few people change the stable names when they leave us but not often.

 

[Pippity]

I wish I'd changed Blue's. She's never responded to it, there are always eight other Blues on any yard, and it just doesn't particularly suit her. Unfortunately, three years on, it's probably too late to change.

 

[Equi]

The only horse i changed the name of was the only horse i had to sell (as he became too much for me) so i refuse to change a horse name now no matter what. That being said my Elvis has never actually been called elvis to his face, he gets called jelly...which i think he prefers

This is all about stable names though. Changing a prefix/breeders given name though is a big no no. That is super rude.

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

Yep, I always change names if I don't like them. Rex was Prince when I got him, I just couldn't see him as a Prince so he got upgraded lol. He answers to Rex every time
Rocket would never have stayed with that name if he had been mine from the outset. It doesn't suit him at all. He mainly gets called Rockstar or WreckItRocket though ???
ShitPig earned his named and I can barely remember what he was called when I got him. He's ShitPig and it's the absolute best possible name for him...he answers to it as well ???

 

[Lurfy]

I haven't changed any of my horse's names. I felt like their names were part of the package, so just left them.

 

[HashRouge]

I haven't changed any of my horse's names. I felt like their names were part of the package, so just left them.

I'm the same as this. Probably the reason I've got a cat called Stanley too!
That said, when I was 10 we adopted a kitten from a nearby shelter and we did change her name. She was called Kirsty, which is such a rubbish name for a cat!

 

[ycbm]

I've never understood how people think changing a horse's name can alter the course of its future life.

I've always changed names I don't like. Some horses have worked out, some haven't and there's no correlation with whether I changed their name or not. One of the best names, Woody, was a dangerous disaster, one of the worst, Lace, was a lovely mare. I would love to change Ludo's passport name (not his stud prefix) but he has offspring, so I can't. I am going to try and change Joe's. He wasn't passported by his breeder, his breeding is unknown, and his name, Royal Dalton, doesn't suit him at all as he isn't a fragile piece of pottery, regal, or a James Bond. I might call him Honest Joe, that really does suit him.
.

 

[Ratface]

My horse has a long and "difficult-to-spell correctly" registered name. Not what one would be shouting across the field.
He has a field name, which he knows, but takes no notice of, unless he thinks it's in his interests - showing-off vs. feed time.
All totally forgiven, because he's such a dude!

 

[ycbm]

I wouldn’t If your instructor knows the horse it would be a insult to the previous owner everyone will know the horse by its original name so it’s pointless. Also if the horse is over 3 chances are it wouldn’t respond to the name you would need a very similar name that sounds the same.

I can't agree with this at all I'm afraid. The name changes I've done have rarely sounded anything like the previous name and I've never noticed any difference in behaviour between the ones I kept and the ones I changed.

And if someone has decided that they don't want their horse any more, and you're paying for its keep, then they don't have any right to feel insulted that you don't like the name they gave it, imo. In most cases you would also have zero idea whether they themselves changed it from someone else's idea of a good name. I would keep it if it was specially requested for some reason, eg a death forced the sale and the name really mattered to the seller.
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[Peglo]

I can't agree with this at all I'm afraid. The name changes I've done have rarely sounded anything like the previous name and I've never noticed any difference in behaviour between the ones I kept and the ones I changed.

And if someone has decided that they don't want their horse any more, and you're paying for its keep, then they don't have any right to feel insulted that you don't like the name they gave it, imo. In most cases you would also have zero idea whether they themselves changed it from someone else's idea of a good name. I would keep it if it was specially requested for some reason, eg a death forced the sale and the name really mattered to the seller.
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i agree. I rarely use their names, especially the ones that’s difficult to shout. I shout ‘are you coming in?’ and my voice is what they respond to rather than what I’m saying.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

My old horse had her stable name changed before she came to me, I only found out when I spoke to her original owner. She responded to her name fine.

My Shetland came from a dealer without a stable name. So I don’t know what he was called. He comes when I call his new name.

I can’t see an issue changing a stable name. I assume they care about tone and what happens when they hear that sound.

 

[Smogul]

Friend worked for a dealer. Horse in box 1 was called Alf, horse in box 2 was called Bobbie, horse in box 3 was called Cookie. You get the picture. Made it simple for the staff. So buyer who worried about changing the horse's was totally deluded if they thought this was the horse's "real" name.

 

[Otherwise]

I have no problem changing names, one horse I bought had a passport name, stable name and BD name that were all completely unrelated single words so I changed the passport name to match the BD name. I might feel slightly different about changing a passport name if the breeder has added a prefix but some names really are just awful.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I would never change a breed register name but stable names yes. Very few of ours have ever been called by their 'proper' names and most have been homebred. Doesn't matter what I call my current mare as she is deaf.

 

[smolmaus]

I know superstition isn't real and in all likelihood the horse or whatever animal doesn't care but I still don't like changing a name unless its truly awful. See; the hamster I rescued with the name Corona (yes after the virus) which is just disrespectful to the poor creature. She's Cora now which is close but not rude.

The cats were originally Marmalade and Marmite when they were first rescued which are... bad... but by the time I adopted them it had gone Marmalade-Marmaduke-Duke and Marmite-Marnie. Another lady at the rescue had done the name correction for me, ty Anne.

Sadie is just Sadie on her passport. I might change it to include the name of the rescue if we ever get to a show because I think that would be nice. I didn't like her name when I first heard it but its grown on me and it suits her.

 

[rabatsa]

Years ago my vet told me that the superstition arose as horses changed hands, area and name, losing a goodly amount off their age at the same time.

Now with passports that should not happen quite as frequently as it used to.

I have changed the names of quite a lot of mine. Even one who was prefixed. The prefix was kept in front of the new name. The breed society was happy and as it was only sold due to the death of the breeder, he was unable to be asked his thoughts about it.

 

[HashRouge]

I've never understood how people think changing a horse's name can alter the course of its future life.

I've always changed names I don't like. Some horses have worked out, some haven't and there's no correlation with whether I changed their name or not. One of the best names, Woody, was a dangerous disaster, one of the worst, Lace, was a lovely mare. I would love to change Ludo's passport name (not his stud prefix) but he has offspring, so I can't. I am going to try and change Joe's. He wasn't passported by his breeder, his breeding is unknown, and his name, Royal Dalton, doesn't suit him at all as he isn't a fragile piece of pottery, regal, or a James Bond. I might call him Honest Joe, that really does suit him.
.

I think Lace is a lovely name!

 

[ycbm]

I find it very hard to say and hard sounding. She was Chantilly Lace, so I called her Tilly, much softer.
.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Mimosa was known as Mozie until I got her. That didn’t seem to suit such a determined, fiery little thing so I call her Mimosa or Mim.

 

[Gloi]

I nearly bought a mare called (prefix)Fanny. She would have ended up with a different stable name especially as my other one at the time had a stable name of Dicky.
I don't remember changing any names, though one or two came unnamed.

 

[J&S]

I bought a horse called Heidi, which was most unsuitable for her, I changed it to Indiana (she was a very shiny red chestnut) and called her Indie as her pet name.
Our companion pony of the last three years was already named Winnie, which we really liked any way but she did not have a passport so on her new passport she is Eyowyns Windfola (from Tolkein) . It is a very big name for a short fat pony!

 

[rabatsa]

I nearly bought a mare called (prefix)Fanny. She would have ended up with a different stable name especially as my other one at the time had a stable name of Dicky.
I don't remember changing any names, though one or two came unnamed.

I did buy a mare called Coffee Hollow Kiss My Fannie. I changed her stable name to Phlossi.

 

[Caol Ila]

I always said that if I got one that shared a name with an ex or someone else I knew, I would change it.

My friends’ horse was called Darky when they got him. The Glasgow riding school who sold him probably had no idea what that means (sounds like a reasonable name for a black horse), but one of the owners is American, so he was like, nope.

 

[Carlosmum]

Keep the passport name for competitions etc but give him a nickname. No reason why Rocket cant be called Lucy!!

 

[Red-1]

I have often changed the stable name, it just morphs into something comfortable. George stayed as George and some of the others who were well named stayed too. However, Cat became Charlie, JJ was Jay. You get the picture. I haven't noticed that they notice! I find they respond to intent and tone of voice rather than their name.

Until recently, the passport names always stayed the same.

Rigsby had his passport name changed though, he had a semi fancy name. He was passported as a... rig, but I had him blood tested and he wasn't. So, I had to change his sex on the passport (in case I got Covid or something and he had to go into livery) and I found that it was only £15 or something to change his passport name too. Rigsby it had to be!

Baby horse was unnamed. His stable name was Homer, which I was going to change. Tried a few different names, sadly Homer is just as big and clumsy as Homer Simpson, so it has stuck - as a stable name at least!

 

[fankino04]

My first horse was called gertie, no way was that staying, it got simplified to Gee, we often rode out with a horse called Tristan who was frequently shortened to Tee, so I liked that they went out together as G&T

 

[scats]

Diva was called Amber. The previous owner called her Flo and I extended it to Florence, though often called her Flo, but mostly the Diva.

 

[canteron]

I changed one once - and it went very wrong ?

 

[Mule]

I changed my current horse's name. I just didn't like the one he came with. I never changed his registered name, I couldn't be bothered with that