Reub's journey

03 May 2012

Name your horse


I was probably 12 years old and a serious horse lover when I saw the contest on the back of a cereal box: Name This Racehorse and He is Yours! The winner of this simple contest would get...gasp...a thoroughbred horse?



I was a shoe-in to win that horse. I lived and breathed horses. 



 
Their portraits were doodled all over my papers. On road trips, I counted them through the car window. I owned every Marguerite Henry book ever written and memorized every Wesley Dennis illustration ever drawn. I knew the elaborate pedigree of the first thoroughbred horse, and I imagined being the stable boy for the Godolphin Arabian. If only I had been there for Black Beauty's friend, Ginger...omg does anybody know what I'm talking about right now???



In my head I would visualize the flight from stressful situations, always atop a pure white horse. (Perfect getaway, hahaha, leaving all those losers in the dust.)

Ahem. I really need to get a grip.

Despite living on a farm I didn't actually own a horse.  So of course I entered the cereal box contest. I think I might have named him "Silver Bullet" or something very similar...and so some other lucky kid got that horse.


But I still love horse names, and when my beloved niece-and-commenter, Slim Pickens, challenged me to "name my horse" I haven't stopped thinking about it. There are rules, though, and these have been explained to me by my brother-in-law who retired from managing a thoroughbred brood mare farm in Kentucky:

Can't be suggestive or offensive.
Must be under 19 characters (much shorter than a tweet)
Can't have "artistic, commercial or creative" significance

This year's crop of Kentucky Derby hopefuls include fantastic names, like Daddy Nose Best, Creative Cause, Rousing Sermon, Daddy Long Legs, I'll Have Another, My Adonis...

So what's on your list for horse names? Can you top this, a race from Saratoga a few years ago:

11 comments:

  1. that announcer was cracking me up! :)

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  2. I was not a crazy horse kid but I did read all the horse stories that you mentioned and loved them all. I loved to watch horses and when I was a child I got to ride them some.

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  3. ok, my bando teacher's sister owned a quarterhorse (um, is that correct terminology?!) whose name was "Trust Me I'm a Doctor". HAAAAA!

    i was thinking about you during our yoga cool-down when she says, as she always does, "Adjust for Goose". That's my contender.

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  5. shoot! that was me, slim, not dan! hey...slim pickins would be a great name!

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  6. twg: the announcer's best day ever

    Tabor: thank god it wasn't just me reading all those books.

    Dan: Wow!! Awesome! Trust Me I'm a Doctor makes me think of all kinds of new options...All In Your Mind, Take This, Lab Test, Get More Exercise...

    But Adjust For Goose just kills me. I don't think I can top that one.

    Slim: Slim Pickens is super duper. So is Carry Bliss. Star Ball.

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  7. Superb picture of the contestants seated on the log & synchronizing beautifully with with their mirror image in the water

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  8. The first horse I ever rode was Old Bay Jugs....slow and easy. Horses spook easy and so do I. I am not comfortable around them. I enjoyed the book Sea Biscuit, and I have watched that movie three or four times. My niece does Dressage. That's my horse experience, except for the old cowboy movies. Lovely post, Kerry. Contests are always disappointing for non winners who think there is half a chance. (me) Thanks for sharing. =D

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  9. RR: I like the name Superb Picture.

    Linda: Old Bay Jugs! I'd put money on him any day!

    And yes, I learned early that pretty much everybody who enters a contest is a loser. darnit.

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  10. What a beautiful picture of the girls and their reflections!

    Horses are magnificent beings. I love them and am afraid of them, but there is something about women who own/ride/relate to horses. Women + horses becomes more than a sum of its parts.

    Of course you love horses! My goodness.

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  11. I should have bet on I'll Have Another, but I still love Creative Cause.

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