We thought for a long time about what to name our farm and ultimately narrowed the list to 3: Wanderlust Farm, Sonoma Farm and Fall Line Farm. Each name had a special meaning-Wanderlust because we love to travel, Sonoma because of my love of wine and Fall Line because of our other favorite hobby, skiing.
Ultimately we settled on Fall Line Farm because skiing was my first love long before horses. The Fall Line is the line down the mountain that is most directly downhill-if you rolled a ball from the top it would be the path it followed.
I’ve always wondering how people come up with show names for their horses. My first horse came to me with his name (High Tide), growing up on the water I thought it was a good fit so I kept it. In hindsight, he only showed twice with me so his name didn’t matter all that much.
Marcus came to me as “Moscato” and since he had a long record behind that name, I kept it. It wouldn’t have been my pick but I do love wine, so I guess it fits. I toyed with the idea of showing him under his TJC name “Eureka Graffiti” when I switched to eventing but didn’t have the heart to change it.
Frankie was the first horse where I really had to think about a name for. His TJC name was “F’lar” and there was no way I was going to show him as that. I debated calling him “Petite Syrah” because he’s a little guy and it would follow the wine theme behind Marcus. Another option was “Double Helix”-a bit of a tribute to my background in molecular biology, but as silly as it is, he looks like my first horse and “Double Helix” was a name I thought about for Ty and I didn’t want that association in my head.
After much debate we settled on “Intuition” for Frankie. While it sounds random, he’s named after a bowl on Breckenridge’s Peak 6 that I skied and loved on a trip out west last year. We felt it also fit given what we named our farm. My trainer also always says “I just knew…” when she talks about Frankie, so the name fits a few ways.
I hope my “Intuition” is correct and he turns out to be a great little eventing partner for me.
Fall Line Farm 
We named our farm using a combining our first names – MyLeah Meadows (yes the meadows part it hokey but I like alliteration haha). But it’s more frequently referred to as MyLeah Andalusians, since I dabble(d) in breeding Iberian horses. Most of my horses have come to me already named, but I bred Cinna myself. Her registered name is Cintia Memoria MLA, which is Spanish for Cynthia’s memory. Cynthia sold me my first Andalusians (including Cinna’s dam), and she lost her battle with cancer 3 weeks before Cinna was born. I’m a sucker for a good name and a story behind it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I like that! I love learning how people come up with names for their farms and their horses-especially if there’s a good story.
We had a horse at the barn I rode at that came from a sales barn with the name Diane or something. He was a big bay TB gelding which made the name even more ridiculous. They had the “animal communicator” out and apparently he told her he wanted to be called Harry so thats what they started calling him 🙂
LikeLike
I think that’s a great name! I remember when you found him and thinking I hoped he would work out!
Houston was named by his breeder and since his registered name was Houston B we just called him Houston for a barn name too. It never occurred to me to change it and honestly kind of made him call out to me because my dad spent a lot of time in Houston at MD Anderson.
Annie’s JC name is LittleOrphanAnnex because she was an orphan foal. They called her Annex when I bought her and I decided to call her Annie like orphan Annie. I refuse to have the word little or lil in front of stuff so her show name is Orphan Annex.
Luna is the first horse that I have really gotten to name. Her registered name needed to start with L and I wanted it to tie back to her sire Big Star. I wanted Luna Star but a quick google search proved that would not be a great name and so I decided on Laguna Star as Kyle and I were married at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel.
I love stories about horses names!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would have kept either’s TJC name if they weren’t so bad! I think M’s name was sort of cool though-he came from Eureka TBs and he was super dark with a lot of white, so it looked like someone had spray painted his face like graffiti. But together its a silly.
I love Laguna Star. Its such a pretty name.
LikeLike
I love that name for Frankie! I’m honestly terrible at choosing names – if at all possible I keep whatever the animal has already gone by, including pets with random names assigned by the shelter lol. My horse goes by his JC name, Charlie Murray. Kinda goofy but it works.
LikeLike
Marcus is the only one I’ve kept. I guess I always look at it as “new life, new name” but I’ve also ended up with animals with really dumb names (my house cat is a big Tom cat that came to me as “Juniper” and my dog was “Hooch”). With Frankie he just sort of looked like a Frankie.
Marcus was know as “Spoof” off the track so there are people in town who still call him that 🙂
LikeLike
I too am a huge sucker for a good name and a name with a story, meaning, and potentially history. I have an absolute stack of names lined up for horses I will never own, because I will either never own horses that “big”, or because I wouldn’t want to name a young horse that! It’s hard because I want to avoid changing the horse’s name from their youth, but young horses don’t always live up to big names! Names like “Hercules Mulligan” or “Nautical Twilight”. So I’m kinda stuck. Probably just in a box of my own making, though.
LikeLike