I Hate My Horses Name.....

miss_c

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Not officially, however all of mine end up with a 'nickname'.

Genie's old owners changed her name from 'Scooter' to 'Miss Congeniality', which suits her much more!

Fanfare who I sold a little while ago is now called 'Pippa' which I'm really not keen on... to me it doesn't suit her at all! However I no longer own her so nowt to be done about it and it's their choice.
 

rachk89

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My horse used to be called tardy. Worst name ever really. He was renamed harley immediately due to his registered name being harlequin spirit which I love.
 

*Sahara

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The horse will live. They will probably cope with a name change better than their new owner will cope with a name they hate, or that causes them to want to die a little bit of embarassment whenever someone asks what their horse is called. Like the guy I knew who bought an Arab named Bubba. He changed it to Grey Hawk. I'm sure the horse was happier for it; the owner definitely was.

Defiantly, btw grey hawk is a gorgeous name :)

I know I will be changing the name of my new horse, there has been a lot of thought put into it, and I've never (or have any of my friends) been unlucky, just an old wife's tale :D I agree with Orca that it's a fresh start in a new home :)
 
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Equine_Dream

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We changed my OH's horses name. His name is Panache or "nash" which we HATED! So we now call him Mr P. It really suits him. Much more personal than "panache" :)
 

Sologirl

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My horse's official name is Morris, but was called Balloo by his previous owner. That got changed back to Morris sharpish :) But now he is Mo, Mo-Man, Twit, Fat B*stard....
 

Deltaflyer

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Mine was called Sam by the person who sold him to the person I bought him from. Not a name I'd choose myself, too ordinary for my tastes, but he responded to it. I tend to call him Samuel just to make it a little less ordinary. He also gets called Samwell and Samwise by the girls at the yard.

What's worse though is his passport name which is Heathcliff. No way is Samuel a Heathcliff. He's way too cute looking. I know several horses who'd suit that name but not my chap. But, it's on his passport so we're stuck with it :( When I compete unaffiliated where I don't need to use his passport name I call him Chicago Blues (he's grey (blue) and white) and that's what I'd go for if I can ever change his passport name (He's breeding unknown so I can't upset any breeders or studs.) It was something I heard in an interview with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on the radio and I kind of thought it would make a great name for my boy.

My previous two horses I never knew their names when I bought them. The dark bay ISH mare I called Kazia, Kaz for short and that ended up as Kaz-Monster even though she was the sweetest natured mare you could ever wish to meet) and my roan Irish boy was obvious - so Ronan it was and it really suited him, (I often used to call him Ronan Ponanski :) )

My first horse was my little chesnut Arab/Welsh and she was called Moon (Registered name Raybrook Moonshee) because all the females in her line had Moon in their names. She was most commonly known as Moonski or Moonskita.
 

ThePiebaldMoomin

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My Mare is passported Ardlea Tayto and havnt officially changed her name or anything but for awhile she went by Moomin and now it's just Moo and my YO's kids call her Bertha because when they bought her that's what they had nicknamed her for the short time they had her before she became my Moo 😊
 

pepsimaxrock

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I wish I hadn't
My mare came to me as Meg and it was on her passport too. I renamed her Iona. I was able to change her passport so I put Iona on her passport too.
A year later she colicked in the field and we are still coping - 5 months on - with a very difficult recovery and she has dodged the bullet 4 times.
I'm sure - I think - that changing her name had nothing to do with this, but what was that about bad luck ..........
:(
 

Bav

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New mare I have coming is currently called Frizz - thanks to her frizzy mane (it looks as though it's been crimped!) but her passport is Poppy's Silver Dream, so I shall be calling her Poppy!

Does that count as a proper change of name?
 

chillipup

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Oh no, not Poppy, surely she deserves a better name than this? As a stable name how about Ms Fizz, Frizz or Frizzy? Or Silvie, short for Silver. 'Poppy' just sounds like some sort of cross bred dog. And no, this doesn't count as a proper change of name unless you come up with something more suitable:D
 

windand rain

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I dont think it is necessarily unlucky but I do think it is a shame for breeders when people compete under a different name to the foal name given. They put a lot of money, effort and care into getting the foal on the ground for it then to compete in dressage and showjumping under a false and usually not very nice name. I like to credit the breeders of my ponies so no matter where they go they are entered with their full pedigree name. Where it is essential ie affiliated showing the ponies have to be entered with their passport name so why not any competition. I guess the commentators amongst us wouldnt agree as some of the celtic names are a bit unpronouncable but thats the animals given name
 

Cowpony

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I dont think it is necessarily unlucky but I do think it is a shame for breeders when people compete under a different name to the foal name given. They put a lot of money, effort and care into getting the foal on the ground for it then to compete in dressage and showjumping under a false and usually not very nice name. I like to credit the breeders of my ponies so no matter where they go they are entered with their full pedigree name. Where it is essential ie affiliated showing the ponies have to be entered with their passport name so why not any competition. I guess the commentators amongst us wouldnt agree as some of the celtic names are a bit unpronouncable but thats the animals given name

I agree. I always compete my mare under her passport name. I am unlikely ever to sell her, but if I did it would also be easier for potential buyers to check her results.
 

Cinnamontoast

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Do you mean passport or stable name? Mine's Coloured Firefly, but the dealer never knew his stable name so we picked. I don't think it's bad luck, you have to be happy with the name. I hate human names for horses.
 

BuzzyBea

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Our first boy was Freddy and although not a name I would ever have chosen it suited him. He was my daughter's pony and she liked, it so it stayed!

We then got her first horse who came to us as Larry!! By this point my daughter was 13 and it really wasn't a fun, cool name for a teenager's horse so we changed it to Magic which really suited him. He was with us for 7 1/2 years and although we had no initial problems we spent the last 2 years battling colic and IBD. We finally PTS in early September this year :(

After a few months break the horse hunt on is for a new boy but my daughter insists that no matter what happens his name has to remain as she thinks we brought bad luck by changing last time. I am now terrified that we find the perfect horse with a horrendous name that we'll be stuck with and a name is very important to me!! Let's hope I can get used to it!!!!
 

Bojingles

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My old Welsh D had been given the stable name Sasha by her dealer. Didn't like that and couldn't think of anything from her reg name so called her Genie. Really suited her :)
 

cornbrodolly

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We usually change if we really dont like the name , and couldnt care less about superstitions! Try to keep the name similar so Tony became Toby Twirl, Keano became Keanu. At one time we had a Holly and bought another Holly - she became Polly. Were a bit stuck with Gertie - so took part of her prefix and she is now Heather.
 

gingernut81

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I have never changed a horse's name but a couple of horses I sold had their names changed and I found it a bit upsetting to be honest. Sometimes they are named a certain name for a reason. Although that said, my connie was renamed his prefix by a previous owner as he was called Highway and they didn't like it! The prefix actually really suits him.
 

Arniebear

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who would look at a cute foal and decide to call it aaron!??

My thoughts exactly!!! he's a big 17.2hh warmblood so didnt suit him at all, his registered name isnt much better, he's called after the village he was born in...... how imaginative!!!

Arnie suits him far more but 9 times out of 10 he is called bear as he's sooo big and cuddly!!!
 

Arniebear

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im not sure if i believe the old wives tale, but out of the 2 horses names i did change, freddie was pts shortly after for an old racing injury and Arnie/bear has had 2 tendon injuris in less than 3 yrs, so yes i have ***** luck but theres no way i was shouting aaron across a field at a 17.2hh!!!
 

saltpetres

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I've changed both my horse's names! Definitely no bad luck as I had my first one for 11 years, he was 100% perfect for me and never got sick or injured ONCE in the whole 11 years! Plus he lived to 35. My lease is named Frankie but I call him Charley (short for Charleston, thanks to my mum) as I have two friends who already have Frankies, one of them is also a big fleabitten grey TBxClydie like mine! I also know several dogs named Frankie. It just wasn't going to work ;)
 

*Sahara

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Mine was called Sam by the person who sold him to the person I bought him from. Not a name I'd choose myself, too ordinary for my tastes, but he responded to it. I tend to call him Samuel just to make it a little less ordinary. He also gets called Samwell and Samwise by the girls at the yard.

What's worse though is his passport name which is Heathcliff. No way is Samuel a Heathcliff. He's way too cute looking. I know several horses who'd suit that name but not my chap. But, it's on his passport so we're stuck with it :( When I compete unaffiliated where I don't need to use his passport name I call him Chicago Blues (he's grey (blue) and white) and that's what I'd go for if I can ever change his passport name (He's breeding unknown so I can't upset any breeders or studs.) It was something I heard in an interview with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on the radio and I kind of thought it would make a great name for my boy.

My previous two horses I never knew their names when I bought them. The dark bay ISH mare I called Kazia, Kaz for short and that ended up as Kaz-Monster even though she was the sweetest natured mare you could ever wish to meet) and my roan Irish boy was obvious - so Ronan it was and it really suited him, (I often used to call him Ronan Ponanski :) )

My first horse was my little chesnut Arab/Welsh and she was called Moon (Registered name Raybrook Moonshee) because all the females in her line had Moon in their names. She was most commonly known as Moonski or Moonskita.

I never found out what Harvey's registered name was but Rupert's is Laugherne Zeus, which I quite like, Max's name was Theater time, I don't think that sounds too bad ether :)
 

Crosshill Pacers

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I'm one of those people who won't change a horse's name - it's why I think so carefully both when I give my foals registered names but also stable names!

I bought a horse in 2013 (anybody who followed our 2014 racing season updates on C&T will remember the grumpy moose) whose stable name was Merlin. I didn't roll with that for two reasons - the first being that I only found this out a couple of days after purchasing him at public auction, by which time I'd started calling him something else, and secondly because I used to ride a lovely grey gelding called Merlin who had a wonderful temperament. The grumpy moose did not. Upon discovering his previous nickname, I decided to stick with my name on the basis that it wasn't technically a name change - his registered name was Merrington Missile and I was calling him Missile. It suited him better.

I sold the horse three months ago and told the new owner that his name was Missile but that his previous stable name was Merlin so they had options. They have renamed him 'Sergeant Bash'. Maybe I'm wrong, because he's no longer my horse, but I don't really like that. It doesn't sit comfortably with me at all.

I've got another horse called Tracey, and aside from the fact she looks nothing like a Tracey, I don't think Tracey is a particularly strong name for any horse (apologies to anybody on here either called Tracey or whose horse is called Tracey!). I wouldn't dream of changing it though!
 

Emma_H

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A friend of mine had a cob called BJ and after a lot of sniggering behind her back from the girls at her yard...... someone had to explain to her what it meant......Bless her.....she changed it Bee!!!!!!!!!

I had a BJ!!! I loved it

ETA: that sounds soooo bad. I loved his name but yes it did get a few sniggers and questions of "what does that stand for?"
 
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laura_nash

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I didn't like the name of either of the horse I've owned!

My first was called Lorna, which is fine except that I am Laura. I'd already known her over a year and knew her breeders, so couldn't really change it sadly. We just had to both get used to being called either (still not sure YO at the time knew which was which).

My current one is Trigger, which doesn't suit him at all. I had intended changing it, but within a week everyone knew him by that name and it just seemed to hard. 6 years on I still contemplate it occasionally, as I still don't think it suits him.
 

xDundryx

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My TBs Weatherbys name is Michaels Nook, but he was always called Mike which I hated but don't like changing their names, however seeing as my dad and boyfriend are both called Mike it gets a bit confusing so I stuck a Y on the end and now he's Mikey which seems to suit his cute cheeky little face!
 

AppyLover

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My Boys Passported Name is Theodore Orion he was sold as Teddy which stuck for a few months and he was called Tedster for awhile but for almost the last year he's just been known as Ted easier to scream across a field, He never gets called his full name unless Grandma is having a talk with him if he's been abit of dick lol Yes my mother has words on occasion she's had 24 years to perfect the mother voice i've only had 1 year haha sounds stupid scary thing is that it actually works sometimes haha
 

*Sahara

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My Boys Passported Name is Theodore Orion he was sold as Teddy which stuck for a few months and he was called Tedster for awhile but for almost the last year he's just been known as Ted easier to scream across a field, He never gets called his full name unless Grandma is having a talk with him if he's been abit of dick lol Yes my mother has words on occasion she's had 24 years to perfect the mother voice i've only had 1 year haha sounds stupid scary thing is that it actually works sometimes haha

Same as me :D Legend was always called Leg (ledge) unless he was being naughty!
 
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