Horse Show Names
Horse Names
| Choosing a perfect name for a horse is like a parent choosing a name for their baby. Horse owners also go through great lengths to find a perfect name for their horse just like a human parent would take a great deal of time choosing a name for their bundle of joy. |  |
A lot of prevailing factors can go into choosing a horse’s name. There are specific requirements one must consider aside from just being a nice name or the favored name of the owner, like names based on the breed, origin, and registry.
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For example, Canadian horse names are generally long, and sound somewhat arrogant. On the other hand, you can tell a lot about the horse from its name. The horse’s name contains three parts: the herd name, the sire’s name, and the subject’s name with the letter assigned to the year of birth. |
The Herd Name
| When naming all foals born to mares of Canadian horse breeders, they register a herd name in the Canadian Horse Breeder Association. This herd name may be the breeder’s last name, their farm name, or any other name they select. For example, “Hidden Meadow Charbon Fargo” and “Hidden Meadow Star Gambit” are not related but Hidden Meadow Farm owned both their mothers at the time of their births. |  |
The Sire’s Name
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A last name may only be used by one stallion. The stallion’s name should be used in the middle of the foals (sired by the stallion) registered name. For example, “Hidden Meadow Adanac Hudson” is a foal sired by the stallion “Adanac” (Piggott Xavier Adanac.) The horses “ Cosyland Lalou Desiree” and “Piggott Lalou Shimmreee” both have the same sire. |
Assigned Letters
There are assigned letter's for each year, like letter G for 1997, H for 1998, and for 1999 is the letter J and so on. The foals will have the last part of their name starting with the letter of their year of birth. For example, in 1999, “Hidden Meadow Adanac Jamieson” was born while “Rose’s Velour Dolly-April” was born in 1994. This part of the naming procedures has been enforced in recent years, it is not always the case. A lot of older horses do not have their names beginning with the letter representing the year of their birth.
Registered Names
There are rules and guidelines for naming horses in certain breed registries. An example of this is the Jockey Club rules for naming Thoroughbreds.
| A Thoroughbred must be named by February of its 2nd year or a late fee will be charged to the owner. The owner may submit six names in order of preference to the Jockey Club, and the club will decide which name they can have. Unless the horse has already raced or been bred, names can be change for a fee. |  |
Names can have up to 18 characters, including spaces and punctuation, and all names must be approved by the Jockey Club and there are rules about what owners can’t use such as:
- No initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc.
- No names will end in “filly,” “colt,” “mare,” “stud,” “stallion” or any similar horse related terms.
- Names consisting entirely of numbers are prohibited except numbers above thirty may be used if they are spelled out.
- Names ending with numerical designation like “2 nd” or “3 rd” whether or not such a designation is spelled-out is not permissible.
- No names of person unless with a written permission to use their name is on file with The Jockey Club.
- Names of racetracks or graded stake races are not allowed.
- Trade names are also not allowed.
- Names that suggest or have obscene meaning or vulgar, names consider in poor taste, and names that are offensive to religious, political, or ethnic groups are also not permissible.
- No names from the restricted list (Hall of Fame members, Eclipse Awards winner, Kentucky derby winners, etc.)
Changing a Registered Horse Name
Changing a registered horse name is also difficult and quite expensive. Like the Jockey Club, as mentioned before, if the horse has already been raced or bred, the owner cannot change its name.
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The Swedish Warmblood Association of North America is another example. They discourage the changing of a horse’s registered name. Show names can be entered into the SWANA database with no charge and without changing the name recorded on the horse’s registration papers. |
To change the horse’s registered name, the owner must send the following to SWANA:
- the original registration papers of their horse.
- a signed letter requesting the change of name.
- $500 fee for change name.
Choosing a name for a baby horse or changing a horse name can be fun and needs a bit of work. There are a lot of things to consider, the breed, the specific registry guidelines for your horse’s name, your horse’s show names or his everyday barn name.
