Renaming a horse discuss

ibot

ibot

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what do you think out there about renaming a horse i was from the old school where it is unlucky to rename. what would the breaking in period be to renaming a horse?
do you think there is an age where you should keep the name you get it with?
 
I’m a bit suppositious so probably wouldn't ever change a name. Mind I guess I might rethink the stance if I was ever to buy a horse called Graham!!!! (yes I do know one).
 
renaming horses...... why??? the only main reason i can think of is so you can keep completing at a level u jumped out off without too many people noticing!!
 
i have worked at so many yard over the years and most named but i am not sure how comfortable i would with changing the name.
People are always calling me a different name i have to say i don't answer.......lol
what is weird is they call me jackie and i am nicky which is bizarre i am talking over 49 people now very strange....
 
I renamed my gelding when I got him (against the advice of superstitious friends & family).

Needless to say I had nothing but problems with him - riding him & vets bills - & NO WAY would I do it again!
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I am totally against renaming any animal as it's drummed into me that it is unlucky.

However I renamed my mare when I got her purely because I bought her from an old fashioned dealer who had her running in a herd and didn't have a clue what any of their names were , so my son named her Misty, about 4 months later we tracked down previous owner and it turned out she was called Blue. By then she had got used to Misty so we stuck with it, at first though she didn't have a clue who we were talking too, bless her.

In this case I was glad we renamed her as we were told that she had a very bad history of chucking people off, and being very very unpredictable, since i've had her, her back legs have never left the ground and she takes my 12 year old son on 2 hour hacks regulary on roads/fields/woods etc, without any concerns from me whatsoever, i've had her for nearly a year now. Lots of people have told me it was just a case of wrong owner before me.

So in this case I call it "New Name, New Start".
 
Well as a rule I wouldn't rename a horse, but years ago my first pony was black and was called - you guessed it - Black Beauty, Beauty for short. I absolutely hated that and so I renamed him Bertie. I felt that wasn't too much different (to him) than Beauty. He probably thought I had a funny accent!

My next horse was called Pip and as she was a CBxTB it seemed too 'small' a name for her and I renamed her Karis. I never had any problems with her and she soon recognised my call.

The ponies I have had recently for my children, I have not renamed, Tom, Trevor and now Toby. I was tempted to rename Trevor, but everyone said it was kind of 'cool' for a pony to have such a traditionally 'human' name! And also it was on his passport and I couldn't be bothered to change that too!

Bertie and Karis were in pre-passport days and didn't even come with vaccination cards or anything!

So on the whole I wouldn't change a name, but I really don't believe that it will bring bad luck if you do change it.

I would be interested to know if a horse really knows it's name, or just know the sound of it's owners call. Often if someone else calls the horse's name, it doesn't respond because it is listening for it's owner's 'sound'. Does that make sense?
 
i think it does make sense. I was always recognised in the yard as i was the only one who brought my dog to the field so the horse knew it was me before i said anything.

i am just worried that i am going to be saddled with a horse with an embaracing name like fluffy......lol
 
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what do you think out there about renaming a horse i was from the old school where it is unlucky to rename. what would the breaking in period be to renaming a horse?
do you think there is an age where you should keep the name you get it with?

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The only pony I know of who had a justifiable rename was called 'B.J'
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He was bought for a riding school, so not a very appropriate name
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Kao was named Chaos when she was born due to her owners complete lack of sleep and running around when her dam was due to foal. Her other owner hated the name and changed it to Kao (she hated changing names so kept it very similar).
I don't know about bad luck, I just prefer to keep their names unless it's something really horrible
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I changed my newish horse's name and so far have been nothing but lucky with her.

The horse I bought before her kept her name and she is lame and bonkers.

Its superstitious crap, do what you like, its your horse!
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It is superstitious rubbish, I would have to agree! I have had horses/ponies who have arrived without a stable name, so had to give them a name. However, I would never rename anything but then I salute single magpies!

In the pre passport days we had a rescue pony who arrived without a name, long story but we had spotted her tethered by the side of the road all skin and bone. My daughters named her Lady, when it came to her show name they gave her the highly original name of Grey Lady. Mind you, she was incredible, hunted all winter, pony clubbed all spring and summer and inbetween was a fabulous affiliated 122 cms Show Hunter Pony and did a side saddle display at Olympia! Some rescue pony!
 
I wish I had changed my horses name when I got him. He is called Sam. I am forever being asked if its a male/female Sam? Grrrr!
oh and he's been a vet bill nightmare ....
 
When I got Ellie, her name was 'Chicka', and after a couple of lessons where my instructor kept calling out, "Right then, Tikka Masala, come down this line of poles" etc, I just knew I had to change it
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The funny thing is, I kept dreaming up all these fancy names - I always wanted a horse called Dante - yet when it actually came to naming her, she was just Ellie
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i am just worried that i am going to be saddled with a horse with an embaracing name like fluffy......lol

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Ha, ha!! My new horse is called Fluffy. I changed his name to Paddy though but as he is on loan I still call him Fluffy to his owner !

I also changed my horses name in my Avatar from Peppe to Beppe & he was my horse of a lifetime - so no, not unlucky for me
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Aaaaaaaagh!!!!! It's unlucky - don't do it!!!!!!!

On a slightly different note, I would never, ever buy a horse called Rocket, Dynamite, Sonic, Damien, Satan, Spitfire, Rodeo etc! Cuddles, Sweetie, Slowcoach, Smoochie, Dopey yes! Guess what sort of a rider I am??? That's why when I bought Sunny, he had no passport and no-one knew if he was Sunny or Sonny. He has such a sweet and loving nature that I registered him as Sunny. And he is x
 
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renaming horses...... why??? the only main reason i can think of is so you can keep completing at a level u jumped out off without too many people noticing!!

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Because breeders give their babies stupid names. Would you really want to ride a horse called Valentino from Nun's Wood??

Changing a horses name to carry on competing it only works if you move to the other end of the country - even then you will probably get caught out.
 
My friend bought a horse called Charlie and changed his name cos he'd already got TWO horses on his yard called Charlie and it would have led to total confusion. He was renamed Trevor, which suited him and he got used to, but if you called 'Charlie' he would still look up, even years later
 
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renaming horses...... why??? the only main reason i can think of is so you can keep completing at a level u jumped out off without too many people noticing!!

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Thats a bit harsh, I have a loan pony who was passported as Cheyenne, her previous loan owner changed her stable name to Bella because she didn't like it. I didn't think either suited her and liked ruby, but ended up always caling her 'pony' or 'pone' She was just a companion, never been shown/ competed in her life but i can promise you if i were to ride her (were i small enough!) I would not be seen dead on a pony called bella or cheyenne (no offense to any who have neds with those names, it just really did not suit her)

I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that there are such low people who would change the name of their horse for your reason, but would say from my experience it is far more to do with the current name not suiting the horses character or the riders taste, or someone who has just bought their dream horse and wants to give it the name they have always dreamed about.
 
I renamed my first horse from Whispy (yuk!) to Gypsy - we tried to keep it sounding similar as she was in her 20's when we got her - she went another 10 years after that with no problems whatsoever! I see no problems in renaming horses, especially if their name doesn't seem to suit them...
 
Well, mine was called Norman II when I got him on his passport, but his last owner called him Numpty around the stables
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Needless to say I call him Norman, not the the horrid name, and he really does suit his name!
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(I have changed his name in the passport though thanks to the vet - Norman II is a rubbish show name!)
 
I think it is unlucky.
I bought two of my three, and they had been named by their first owners, so I kept them. Tbh, they aren't bad names, and are short and practical.
Instead of risking the wrath of the devils by renaming - why don't you add a name...relegating the original name?
B
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I renamed my QH simply because I didn't like the name Luke, at all, and the horse really wasn't a Luke. He is now called Zeus, which suits him far better and kind of sounds like Luke anyway.

I had my bay mare from a feedlot, the seller simply referred to her as 'the little bay mare' and thought that her name could have been Sky, she didn't take any notice and so became Lola for no reason at all other than it suited her more than Sky did.

I, too, was bought up in the 'unlucky to rename a horse' era, but it has never made any difference to the horses. I rarely call them by name anyway, when I call them in it is more like calling cows home "Come on" or banging on the gate brings them all in fast enough.

The only things I would never call mine is any name that sounds like "whoa" that would be too confusing, they would think I was telling them to stand!
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I think that I wouldn't rename if a horse obviously responded to his/her original name. For that reason Robin has remained Robin, even though she is affectionately referred to as Dobbin.
 
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