Picking names for horses & ponies

Forever~Autumn

Forever~Autumn

Member
Aug 30, 2002
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Highlands of Scotland
How do you decide on a name for your horse? Do you base it on colour, character, breeding???

Secondly, if the horse had a name and you hated it would you change it, or is that bad luck?:confused:

I was wondering if a thread dedicated to horse names would be an idea, and a help for the future, or maybe just some website addresses for finding good names.


I really like the names

Skye
Savannah
Sahara
Diesel
 
We normally go off personality at the barn I ride it. But that sometimes takes some time....could explain why we have two 4-month old colts who we refer to as Spunky 1 and Spunky 2.
 
Well when it comes to choosing names for the babies I will have a short list and then watch them to see what personality they have and choose a name accordingly. I also like to use names that are sensible for their registration, some poor horses have some odd names:D

I never change an adult horses name I am superstitious and according to the old wives tale it is bad luck to :o :)
 
Oi! My Skye is completely sane!!(by my definition anyway) And mine's also a gelding...:o How embarrassing for the poor horse, it's like calling a boy child Keely:eek: :D
If I'm naming, I keep trying until something fits. I tested Sparks, Firefly, Wildfire, Tigger, Fancy-Pants and a few other names out on Skye before someone suggested Skye, and it was Skye that stuck:)
 
I'd base it on personality, I have a crazy pony whos paddock name is Sparky and show name is Sparks Will Fly.
Don't name the horses anything which they don't suit. Just imagine a 16hh half-Clydie named "Tinkerbell" or something :D
And name it something that you would not be embarrased to yell out so loud that all the neighbours could here, if you don't think you'd want to do that with the name, maybe choose something else?
 
Yeah I changed my horses name (he didnt respond to it, it was just a dealer's yard name) from Busta to Archer, and my shetland was Banyo which was just crying out to be changed to Banjo (but she mainly gets called Banjita:) ) Wizard knew his name and it really suits him so left it.
I love naming animals! We have a tradition of drinks names for ours- dogs are/have been Metz, Moet, Chianti, horse Archer(s), snakes Tequila and Sol.
I really like the name Diesel- I know a big gorgeous husky of that name :)
My YO's mum has rescued 8 baby Dartmoor Ponies and her granddaughter named them all after sweets!!!!!cuuuuuute!
 
I had a short-list for Indy.... Ok, it wasn't "short" at all, there were about 25 names on it :o She was called Honey but I just didn't take to it, sweet name that it is. I kind of hoped the right name would find me! Failing that, I would have got her and seen how I felt... but then I was worried she would end up being called "Little S*d"!!!

So in the week between the deposit and collecting, I asked all and sundry for their opinions and we got together a list. Some of the ones I can remember were Poppy, Bramble, Nutmeg, Savannah, Summer, Sky, Penny, Sienna, Sorrel, Tea (pronounced Tayer!), Faith and Hope. A friend suggested Indian Summer, "Indy", by email approximately three days before she was collected and it just clicked. In my head I found myself referring to her as Indy every time I thought of her.... so that was that decided!!! :D
 
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Ours generally find their own names, Something to do with events or characters.

Iacs is known as Mr. Bimble as he is a 3 gaited Icelandic and his trot is neither here not there, so it is the official 6th gait of the Icleandic, It's a bimble.

Hákon is Piggy, and he answers to it better than Hákon.....simply because he has the same shape as a naive painting of a 17th/18thcentury farmyard pig! :D :D :D

Winne is Winnie the Poo, as she fell into the septic tank as a 3 week old foal and named herself.
 
Falcon was already called that when I got him. I haven't changed the name as he knows it and it would only confuse the little darling!!!
 
Mr. Piggy Nose!

'Cos he's got a nosey like a piggy......when you actually see it.....or him! :D :D :D
 
Here he is, but without the spots!
 

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ours tend to name themselves too. i changed the old git from turpin to copper because everyone called him turnip! being a sensitive 10 year old at the time i changed it, and he is just the colour of copper wire, so it suited him.

petal was named after a boddington's advert, and we had 2 foals (denim and spice) named in a competition in the local paper.

the foals are 'squirt' until a name presents itself.
 
I dont like Oscar's name, but didn't change it because his previous owner put it on his passport. He was called Blue before, despite being conspicuosly, well, brown.....Though Blue is a nicer name I think:o

My old pony was called Clover, a name I gave her (as she was bought un-named at a sales), chosen from a botanical book, because I liked the idea of calling her after a flower! Oh well, my daughter is also called after a flower, but it wouldnt suit Oscar! My cat is called Mescal, because he was full of worms when I got him as a feral kitten, and my dog is called nell, after nell Mcandrew who was in the celebrity jungle thing when we got her, and she is a sexy blonde!:D
 
I didn't choose my horses stable name but I changed his party name.

He was Stonelaws Happy Blackie

Now he is Mr Cellophane. I have a Chicago thing going on. My Last mare was Megann aka Funny Honey and my TbxID was Bimbo aka All That Jazz.

Am I a bit obsessed or what???

I chose that for him on personality and looks as until he moves or jumps you wouldn't notice him!!!

Nikki and ...............
 
Most of our horses have human names, like Ellie, Lucy, Dennis, Alice and Jack. The only ones that don't are Misty Scooby and Sparky, Misty named because his coat is a dodgy sort of mist colour, and Sparky because of her hyperactive personality! Most of them have nicknames coming from their appearance or personality, like 'Fatty', which was the nickname of an overweight mare!
 
In the old days of the coaching Post Houses, it was considered very bad form to give a horse a human name. Coach horses rely so much upon respondong to a name there was too much risk of a horse and a stable boy sharing the same name. If the driver was to give a stable boy a shouting at, a horse with the same name , ready to go, in harness might take offence.


What they used to do was name any new, un-named horse after an event in the local paper the same day the horse arrived. That way they could accurately pin the age, or amount of time a horse had been in the stable.
 
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