Readers Respond: Horse Naming Tips from Readers

Responses: 38

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I like different names. Especially Native American Names! Flo means arrow Tala means wolf Olathe means beautiful Awendela means morning come on people let's be CREATIVE!!! Enough of Jumper,Fast,Dash,Brownie, Blaaaah! Compound ones make great horse names too! Starburst Sunfire Skylark Starburst Dynamite Weeeeeee Think of ALL the possibilities out there! Oh and Big Long names to make your horse sound important....are...well, lame...yup, So no Champion SilverSunStar Dancing in the Sparkling Raindrops Glittering Like the Invisible Wind....ok maybe not!But you get it.....i think:P Well, that's 'bout it....Oh and yeah, for get Chloe.
—Guest Nomes

people like a name that stands out...take your time and don't use a average name. Please stop naming horse brownie,chip,snowball,ect come on they deserve better!
—Guest meadow

I named my horse Blaze after a few days his main marking on his face is a blaze so i decided to name him for his marking but it is kinda cool but unfortunate that his name actually (before i named him i had no idea) matches his speed when riding perfectly
—Guest blazingurl

It isn't easy naming your horse. But my friend, Audie, named her horse Dreamfire and I think that is pretty clever.
—Guest posygirl

I think that you should think back to your childhood. What was one name that you thought was an incredibly beautiful name? My favorite name when I was little was Olivia. Guess what I named my mare? Just remember your childhood names whether it be Missy, Danny, Cloudy, even spider-man would be okay!
—Guest Jumper girl 42

My horses have many various, exotic names, such as Rhiannon, Anastasia, Celaeno, Phoenix, Lomasi, Halinor (girl names) and Jicarilla, Karlin, Keriak, Soren, Entia and Denarii (boy names) I keep my eyes open for interesting-sounding words that could provide a good name for a horse. There are unique, exotic names out there everywhere, you just have to look. My friend named her horse Anziehen after a german verb that means 'to buy'. You have to admit, it is an interesting name. There also lots of sites you can look at to find exotic names. For instance, google Celtic names and you'll get a whole list of unique things. That's where I got the name Rhiannon, and I got the name Celaeno from a search on Greek names, Lomasi and Jicarilla from searches on native American names. Like other people have suggested, try looking at various aspects of your horse's appearance. There's also a lot you can do with show names. Whole sentences work very well, I've found, such as Yeah Hes Firen.
—Guest Silver Winds

yes i agree naming a horse is hard but at first don't name if ride him then if he has a kind heart name him something sweet and if he is strong give him a strog name or if he has a good temper or bad .
—Guest sarah

i think you should name a horse by its color ,like if you have a dirty white horse you could name it somethig like storm. if you have a black horse, midnight. a bay colored horse,light or bay. a darkly colored horse,moon. a lightly colored horse, sunlight. a spoted horse, spot or marker. there are a lot more names i could just keep going on and on but i think this is good enough to give you an idea for your horse.
—Guest horse.lover234

Remember your first toy horse, Brownie? Or Brownie's best friend, Goldie? Stop right there - It's not illegal to name your horses that, but seriously. I like looking through books of Greek Myths. Zeus, Athena, Hermes, a lot ofgood names. Each character has their own personalities and feelings that can match your horse!
—Guest JMG

when a horse is named i like to name it something that relates to the breed. you can usually come up with something sophisticated, but you can also make cute names. For example my PINTO horse's name is bean.
—Guest k

my four year has adhd/aspberger's and she named our colt "Music" because her imagnary friend's (whom is a talking horse, that sings) name is Music. I'm pretty stoked that she's involving herself like that.
—Guest adhd mommy

i like to name horses after dances. some sound corny , but others can be very unique and they can often fit the personality well, if chosen wisely. such as an upbeat horse could be called jive, or another quick-paced dance. Dances work well, because whether you want an elegant name or just a fun name, there's a dance that fits it. I think it's an exceptional way of naming a horse, especially because often their movements and body languages remind me of a dance. It's worth a try!
—Guest Dressage

I agree to see what the horse's personality is like around you and other horses. Two sylaball names like Ringo are easy to pronounce. Also, what is obvious about the baby horse makes for a great name but it's just fun to toss around all kinds of names until you find one that suits everyone.
—247rider

i named my horse flecks because he has a flea-bite coat.i name horses after characteristics they have.if i can't think of something good i give them a simpler name like bob or girls brihannah or something like that!
—Guest n/a

I like to do a lot of research by first deciding on an English description of the horse and then look at different languages which express basically the same thing. One of our horses we named Keiko Shinshi, which means Beloved Angel in Japanese. She was a dollbaby from the day we bought her at age 2. My husband just named the little buckskin quarterhorse filly he got for Christmas, Tehya Yahzi which means Precious Little One in an American Indian Language. We call the horses Keiko and Tehya respectively.
—Lexipaige